When I feel my sick and twisted grin form, I shake my head, forcing the monster back. Damn, I need a minute. Alone. To get myself under control.

“She’s not going to come just because you asked her—”

My door opens, and I dart a very confused look toward it when I smell the wolf stench roll in with the wind.

Emit is going to see me like this too?

I made a point of walking out without showing an ounce of weakness. The one time I try looking strong—

My thoughts cut out as Violet rounds the corner. Why the bloody hell is she wearing a trench coat on a warm day like this?

The scent of the wolf dissipates, as though he was just close enough to let me get a whiff of him, but he’s not here. His scent barely lingers on her, because that son of a bitch has already claimed her as his.

A growl tries to bubble out, but I swallow it down. My monster is more jealous and possessive than I am.

The sight of her…really relieves and infuriates me. I certainly don’t want her seeing what this has done to me.

Not when I’m this close to losing control.

I need a damn minute—

She drops the trench coat she’s donning, and my mind goes blank. She fidgets awkwardly, tugging at the lacy ends of the very scandalous black lace number she’s wearing, complete with garters and stockings.

The negligee is mostly transparent, revealing her scanty, devious underwear. She came to seduce me?

Take her.

Claim her.

Mark her.

Devour her.

She drops the high heels she apparently couldn’t walk in or something, and she juts out a hip, as I barely ignore the monster inside me.

With a firm tone, she says, “I think you should start feeding at least twice a week. At minimum. If you want me back, that’s going to be one of my new expectations. It doesn’t have to be romantic, but—”

“Talbot,” I say in interruption to Violet, as the incubus stares a little too hard at the very edible woman.

“Yes, Alpha?” he asks, almost absently, as Violet blushes, apparently not feeling as brazen as she did when she dropped that coat.

“Go away before I kill you for seeing her like this,” I inform him. “And you’re my new beta. Congratu-fucking-lations,” I tell him as I force myself to my feet.

I end up falling back to the couch, unable to wring out another ounce of strength.

Take her.

Claim her.

Mark her.

Devour her.

Talbot quickly exits, leaving me alone with Violet. With a concentrated amount of effort, I push the monster back.

“You should leave. I’m particularly dangerous in this moment,” I warn her, my vision blurring when the monster damn near rushes to the surface in protest.

She quickly crosses the distance between us, taking my hand, and then abruptly climbs onto my lap.

This isn’t helping me suppress the dark, starving beast inside me. Not at all.

Free me.

Free me.

Give her to me.

My arms go around her, and I fight the urge to rip the daring little outfit from her delectable, tempting body.

I can’t make myself release her. This isn’t going to end well.

Give her to me.

“I’m sorry. About Idun using Dorian. I didn’t understand how broken—”

“Don’t feel sorry for Dorian,” I tell her, closing my eyes and straining for control. “It’s been too long for him to still be this weak. He was weak to a demon’s influence, as he led our family into battle, unknowingly claiming his right as firstborn. He may have been influenced, but he’s made all his own choices. Just as we all have. I genuinely have few regrets, because my conscience is nothing more than a sliver. I’m a monster, I created monsters, and monsters need a monster to keep order. Dorian, however, is a broken monster. A man who couldn’t handle his life as a human and was forced into an alpha role by birthright.”

I run my hand through her hair, inhaling it against my nose. Just her nearly muted scent is comforting. In fact, I find it more comforting than when it was so potent I could smell her from a mile away.

Free me.

“Today, you had to hurt your brother. I came there wanting you to win, and ready to see him hurting,” she says as her jaw wobbles. “Then I saw the tears in your eyes. I genuinely wanted to see him hurting, because—”

She stops talking and takes a breath, and I fight to keep my monster in check. It’s too close to the surface in my weakened state, and it really does want to claim her.

Ever since I smelled Dorian’s scent on her, it’s been clawing to the surface. Then I used my monster’s strength, knowing it’d be that much harder to reel in.

This never happened with Idun. Violet soothes me all the way down to the worst part of me, while baiting my monster to the surface too easily. I’ve been in control for well over a thousand years.

Violet shatters a male’s control without even meaning to.

“Because,” she says with a firmer, less shaky tone, “I was scared. I’ve been scared plenty of times, but this time was different,” she confesses, as though she feels the need to defend herself.

I smelled her terror. She doesn’t have to tell me about it.

She should run. More terror is on the horizon if I keep her while I’m in this state.

“I was scared because it was the first time my monster didn’t step in to save me. I’ve been scared when it broke free without me summoning it, but to need and not have it…was true terror. I’ve never felt that before today. I only thought I had,” she says quietly, releasing another breath. “Maybe you guys aren’t the problem. I think I’m in over my head. I’m twenty-six and throwing together a sanctuary to protect people. I was arrogant to think my monster could hold its own with—”

She stops abruptly and looks down, clearing her throat.

“I’m starting to feel really stupid, because I had this really good idea to start Sanctuary. A place to keep omegas safe. A place for the Simpletons to be free from Idun’s psychotic tantrums and unwarranted wrath. I’m resilient. I can take whatever physical shots Idun is willing to send my way,” she continues, exhaling another shaky breath.

My fingers dig into her hips, and I glance down to where our laps meet. She smells so good. I want to taste every inch of her body.

Free me.

“Now I finally see what a fool I am, because I never considered her true power being the power she has over others. People dance like puppets on her strings, even though they know she’s sending them into the line of fire,” she says as her forehead falls to mine. “I really thought I could box her out and leave her powerless. She’s already shown me how stupid I am, and she’s just getting started. I’m sorry, Damien. I really wanted Sanctuary to work, but I didn’t factor in all the personal costs to you guys, because I thought I had the gist of everything. Now I finally feel like the girl you’ve all been coddling this entire time.”

I resist the urge to laugh under my breath, because it’s not funny at all.

She’s vulnerable.

Claim her.

Free me.

Take her.

Mark her.

Devour her.

“Of course we fucking coddle you. Marta raised you in the human society. You’re twenty-six,” I tell her with a small, somewhat mocking smile, hiding the fact I’m too on edge to be sharing heart-to-heart conversations, at the moment.