Daddy Alpha I’m In Heat (Lily and Connor) novel Chapter 39

~Connor~

I should have known. The moment I left her for five goddamn minutes, I should have known she’d attract trouble like honey drips calling in every starving fly.

My little Omega sitting at a table, looking nervous and too sweet for her own good, and of course some slick–haired, sun–burned dude.

As I walked the first thing I felt was how wrong the air was. You ever step into a place and instantly know something is off?

That gut–deep punch in your chest that says, someone is touching what’s mine. Yeah, that’s what hit me.

Not the smell of food, not the clinking of wine glasses, not the little violin player in the corner trying too hard to sound romantic. No.

It was the sound of her laugh. Too high. Too nervous. Too fake. That laugh that tells me she’s lying with her mouth but begging with her body for me to show up and take control.

And I did.

People always notice when I walk in. They might not know who I am, but their bodies know. Spines straighten, forks pause halfway to mouths, waiters freeze like they just forgot their orders. They feel the weight before they see me. That’s my favorite part. Watching fear ripple through a room like a stone tossed into water. They feel me. Always.

Then I saw her smiling. There was a man. A man sitting far too close, leaning in, teeth flashing like he thought his smile was a weapon sharp enough to touch her.

And oh, he was talking.

He was talking with that Spanish accent like caramel, and she was nodding and smiling like she didn’t already belong to me. Like she didn’t already wear my scent on her skin. Like she didn’t already know I’d kill for her.

My wolf growled so loud in my head I swear I could feel it in my bones. Kill him. Right here. Tear out his throat. Drag her home.

Not yet, I told him. But God, I wanted to. My fists were already curling, itching to break something, to remind everyone in this glittering little room who the fuck I was.

And then I watched her. Oh, Lily. Sweet little idiot. She was sweating. Laughing too loud. Tripping over her own words. Every tell in her body screamed she knew I’d come. She could feel me before she saw me. Her wolf already bowed, already bent her spine toward me like I was the only gravity in the room.

But this bastard..Rafael, that’s what he said, right? Rafael, with his sun–tanned skin and open shirt like he thought he was auditioning for some cheap romance movie.

He didn’t see it. He didn’t see the fear, the guilt, the way she kept glancing down like she was praying for the floor to swallow her whole. He thought she wanted him. He thought she was tempted.

Tempted.

The word alone almost broke me.

My jaw clenched so tight I thought my teeth might crack. Do you know what it feels like to watch another man’s eyes slide over the girl who belongs to you?

To hear him whisper filth in a language she doesn’t understand, but her body reacts anyway because her body reacts to everything? Do you know what it feels like to stand there and imagine his hands touching her, even though you know they won’t, because you’ll cut them off first?

It feels like fire under the skin. Like being eaten alive from the inside out. Like every bone in your body wants to shatter just so you can rebuild into something sharp enough to kill.

And the worst part? She was eating it up. Not because she wanted him. No. I know her better than she knows herself. She was panicking. Rambling. Smiling that too–big smile.

Nodding at whatever the fuck he was saying. And God, even in panic, even in humiliation, even when she’s one wrong word away from making me snap–she was still beautiful.

Mine.

Always fucking mine.

My wolf snarled. She’s ours. Do you see him? Look at him, leaning in like he thinks he can breathe her air. Tear out his tongue. Rip his throat. Make him choke on his own blood.

He’s staring at her mouth. Do you see that? He wants to kiss her. He wants to taste what’s mine. Break his jaw. Crush it so he can never open his mouth again. You should’ve done it the second you saw him sit down. You’re too slow. Too fucking slow.

I clenched my fists tighter. Not yet.

Not yet? my wolf roared in my skull, pacing, foaming at the edges of my sanity. He’s looking at her body. He’s thinking about her legs around him. He’s picturing what’s under that dress. Do you smell him? He’s hard. He’s fucking hard while he sits this close to her. And you’re just standing here like a fool?

Shut up.

Don’t you dare tell me to shut up. That’s our Omega. Our mate. Our fucking soul. And she’s nodding at him like an idiot, laughing, letting him think he has a chance.

Drag her out of that chair. Bend her over the table. Show every person in this room who she belongs to. Show her. Show him. Make her moan loud enough they all hear it. Make him watch before you cut his eyes out.

My chest tightened. It was rage, jealousy. All of it boiling together until I felt like my skin might split open.

I sucked in a breath.

He whispered in Spanish. Do you want me to translate for you? Do you want me to tell you what he said? He said he wants to fuck her. He said he wants her screaming.

He said he wants her trembling under him until she can’t walk. He wants to tie her to his bed and take her all night. And she smiled. She fucking smiled. Even if she doesn’t know what it means, she let him say it. She let him spit that filth at her.

My jaw cracked. My pulse thundered.

Do you know what I’d do if I were you? I’d rip his heart straight through his chest. I’d feed it to her. I’d make her lick her lips bloody so she never forgets the taste of betrayal.

I’d mark her right here, in front of everyone. Bite her throat until she bleeds my name. Breed her on the table until she cries. Until she begs. Until she forgets every other man exists. That’s what I’d do. That’s what you should do.

I took another step forward.

My wolf laughed. He doesn’t even see you yet. He’s too busy watching her lips. He’s too busy dreaming about sliding his cock into what belongs to us. He’s already dead, Connor. The second you walked in, he was already dead. Don’t make me wait. Don’t make her wait. She needs the reminder. You need the blood. End it.

And God help me, I wanted to.

I reached their table, and fuck, the sight of it nearly split me in half. My Omega sitting there, cheeks flushed, lips parted like she’d been caught in the act not touching him, not kissing him, but Christ, she didn’t need to.

The way her eyes darted, the way her hand clutched that fork like it was some pathetic weapon, the way she laughed too loud at whatever filth he’d just fed her… it was betrayal carved into flesh.

And my wolf was howling in my skull. Look at her. Look at him. He’s still leaning in. He’s still breathing her air. He thinks he can take her. He thinks she’s available. End him, Connor. Right now. Tear him open across this table. Feed him to the sea.

I pressed my palm flat on the wood between their glasses, leaning down just enough that my shadow swallowed both of them. I wanted them trapped. I wanted them pinned. I wanted Lily trembling and Rafael choking on the mistake of existing in front of me.

She looked up at me first. Always. Those wide doe eyes snapping to mine, pupils blown wide like her wolf had thrown her body into submission before her brain even caught up.

Her lips parted, but no sound came out, just a sharp inhale that tasted like guilt and adrenaline.

She knew. She knew she was mine and she knew she was in trouble.

And him? Rafael blinked like an idiot. He didn’t get it. He didn’t see the noose tightening around his throat. Not yet. He thought I was just a man interrupting.

He thought he could sit there, still half–smiling, still cocky in that rolled–up white shirt, still stinking of cologne and arrogance.

My jaw flexed. I could already see it..my fist exploding across his face, his nose shattering like cheap glass, blood pouring into that pretty little smile until it wasn’t pretty anymore.

I wanted to carve Spanish curses into his skin just to watch him try to charm his way out through broken teeth.

But I didn’t. Not yet. No, first I wanted to taste Lily’s shame. First I wanted her squirming in public, tongue tied, throat dry, pulse hammering so hard I could hear it from here. I wanted her to look me in the eye while another man still sat too close.

“Pumpkin,” I said at last with the kind of voice that makes the air shrink back into corners. I let my eyes flick from her to him, then back to her, dragging the moment out until the silence in the restaurant was thick enough to choke on. “Who do we have here?”

My wolf hissed with laughter in my skull. Make her say it. Make her name him. Make her confess right here, in front of him, that she let another man sit at her table. Then gut him. Then ruin her.

Her throat bobbed again. She opened her mouth, closed it, opened it again. She was shaking her head too fast, lips quivering around excuses that wouldn’t save her. God, she was beautiful when she panicked. My little liar who couldn’t lie, caught between two predators, both of them ready to devour her.

Rafael shifted, finally sensing it, finally picking up on the storm standing over him. His smirk faltered, his shoulders stiffened, and his hand twitched like he was about to reach for something maybe her wrist, maybe his pride. I didn’t care which.

Because the second he moved, I’d break him.

“And who the fuck are you, mister?” he said, sharp, biting, cocky in that accent that probably got him laid in half of Spain. He even lifted his chin, like he thought his posture meant something in front of me. “Huh? Who the fuck do you think you are!”

Oh, he really just said that.

My wolf snarled so loud in my head I could taste blood. Did you hear him? Did you hear that? He doesn’t know. He doesn’t fucking know who he’s talking to. Rip his tongue out. Feed it to him.

Make him choke on it.

And I should’ve laughed. I should’ve laughed because it was pathetic, this little man puffing up his chest at me like a peacock showing feathers, not realizing I was the hunter waiting with the gun already cocked.

But I didn’t laugh.

Instead, I leaned closer, slow, deliberate, pressing my palm harder into the table so the wood creaked. My grin stretched sharp. My eyes locked on his like I was already digging the grave behind them.

“Who am I?” I said this as I smirked darkly and licked my lips.

This mother fucker.