Ashelin's blood roared in her ears. She had to play this very, very carefully. In all of the scenarios they'd run, in all of the contingency plans, none had covered Nolan finding her out so quickly. In most of the hypothetical situations, she could play on a pre-existing relationship.

But right now? There was no relationship. Nothing except for their electricity on the beach. An electricity that still zinged through her despite the trepidation roiling in her gut like a storm.

She opened her eyes, her breath catching at the sight of him, leaning casually against the wall as if this were any normal meeting. His luscious skin glistened beneath a white button-down shirt, the top few undone so his chest could peek out at her, tease her. She wondered what he tasted like, and then her brain caught up and reminded her he'd asked her an important question.

She purposely didn't clear her throat so that her voice was hoarse. "I'm here as an Offering." She wasn't yet sure to play more fearful or more confident, so she settled for a middle ground of healthy nervousness.

Nolan tongued the inside of his cheek, regarding her with a steely gaze that she couldn't discern. It wasn't cold and calculating, it wasn't thoughtful, it wasn't angry...it just...was. Something flashed for a split second, like a solar flare in his eyes, but it was gone before she could take it in.

"See, I don't believe you." He held up his hand, inspecting his fingernails in a ludicrously casual display. "There is absolutely nothing about you that is, was, or will ever be omega."

Fuck. She'd tried. She'd tried so hard, taken all the precautions, literally became an omega specifically to avoid this. She could protest. She could act flabbergasted, beg him to believe that she'd always been at the bottom of her pack.

But he felt it, sensed it, somehow. And if he could sniff that out, then lying to him was going to be a thousand times more difficult.

"There's no law against Offerings not being omega," she said weakly, struggling to keep her composure.

He hooked a thumb into one of his pockets. "No, but it's rare. Much of you is rare." He drew his bottom lip between his teeth and then let it go with a squeaking pop. "I don't trust rare."

The way his mouth curled around his rs made Ashelin's throat thick. It was clear that he desired her, and despite said desire fueling his suspicion, it was the only thing she could use. But how, without digging her grave deeper?

Well aren't you dangerous, Nolan had said. This was what he'd meant. In crafting the perfect little Offering, she'd unknowingly become too perfect. Suspiciously so.

He stalked towards her, each step deliberate and powerful. Any semblance of casualness had evaporated. Dominance rolled off of him in waves, but somehow he wasn't exerting it on her. It ghosted over her skin, like a teasing kiss, so close but not quite touching.

He reached up, taking the chain in his hand and unclipping her collar. "Don't move."

His command left no room for argument, despite the fact he wasn't properly exerting his dominance over her wolf. Her thighs quivered as he let the chain hang, then took the sheer fabric of her robe at the shoulders and lifted it.

Her eyes fluttered shut as he ever-so-gently removed the one thin garment that separated her naked body from the rest of the world.

"This is an exquisite piece of history." He folded the robe neatly, and brought it around the corner into the parking lot, setting it down out of sight. "Its authenticity isn't in question, unlike where you got it from."

"I wasn't lying." The words came out breathy, her lungs working hard as if she weren't just standing still. In essence, she wasn't—her mind reeled, fighting for her life, and every nerve ending in her body sang with anticipation and fear. It was a lot of work for one body.

He stared her down, not breaking eye contact as he grabbed the chain and reattached it to her collar. She stayed on the balls of her feet so she had room to swallow hard beneath his scrutinizing gaze.

"Many have attempted to infiltrate my pack," he said in a low husk, and grabbed her jaw in his large hand, twisting her face away from him. His hot breath tickled her ear as he leaned in close, and her legs nearly buckled. "Many want what I have. What I can give. But they're fucking cowards that could never bond with me or join me fully."

Ashelin bit back a moan as his fingers dug into her face. "I wouldn't be an Offering if I were a coward."

"No, you've got stones on you, coming here under false pretenses." Venom dripped from his words like silken acid. "Most wouldn't fucking dare." He pushed away from her, stepping back far enough that she couldn't feel his heat anymore.

Her wolf whimpered, and she nearly forgot to stay up on her toes, her collar tightening around her neck as a reminder of the dangerous predicament she was in.

"This was an...impromptu setup." He waved a hand around his head. "I don't have my regular tools. But that doesn't mean I can't still do damage."

She licked her lips, pressing them into a tight line for a moment. Do I play fearful or confident? Fuck. She wished she could read him better, figure out what he wanted.

He ran his tongue over his teeth. "How did you fake it?"

Ashelin jutted out her chin. "Do you know how hard it is to not fit where you want to be?" Maybe staying as close to the truth as I can is the play, here. If I'm as genuine as I can be, then I'll be as believable as I can be. "Despite being desperate to be at the bottom, my wolf would never roll over, never submit to anyone. I could pretend but it was never real. Always a beta, once almost a fucking alpha." She choked on the last word, her exhaustion and hunger and desperation bringing her emotions up into her throat. She didn't want to remember that day, but it flashed through her mind anyway, in all its gory horrific detail.

Nolan waited patiently for her to continue, not moving a hair.

She took in a deep breath, letting it out slowly through her teeth. "My wolf and I have never been in harmony," she whispered, "until now." At this, she chanced looking him dead in the eyes, and it was as if time ceased to exist.

The molten heat that churned in his gaze was so palpable she could almost hear his beast snarling for her, scrabbling at the walls of its human prison to claim her in the way she so badly wanted him to.

"Eyes down," Nolan snapped, but despite the sharp dominance in the command, there was a slight hoarseness to it, an edge of hysteria.

Ashelin snapped her gaze to the floor. She remembered how to breathe and her heart remembered how to beat and the world began to turn again. She pressed her thighs together.

His footsteps echoed slow and deliberate as he stalked around her, less like a wolf and more like a cat circling its prey, toying with it. "So your wolf is unstable and you wrestled yourself into an omega position somehow to get yourself here, in front of me, for what?" He clucked his tongue. "Because you want to be at the bottom? Do you realize how ridiculous that is, especially given what you stand to gain in the ritual events?"

"You have a reputation." She could feel his energy humming behind her like an electric storm building and waiting to strike. She didn't dare look over her shoulder at him, despite how badly she wanted to, despite the magnetic draw of him.

He took a step closer, and her breath hitched in her chest, as if she were being smothered by a blanket and the only air to save her life was directly behind her. She fought it, fought the urge to turn, the urge to pant and whimper like her wolf.

"I do." The words came out on a breath that was close enough it shifted through some of her tangled hair. "They call me many things. But here you are, not for status or power or security. You came here, for what, to be dominated?" His voice took on a teasing lilt for the last sentence, but dissipated completely for the next. "This isn't a game."

She closed her eyes, her mouth dry as her heart hammered. "I don't want to be dominated," Ashelin whispered, "I want to be broken."

There was a long silence, but she let it stretch on. She wanted to think she was patient, wanted to pretend that she had complete inner control, but that was all bullshit.

She wanted to scream.

She wanted to beg.

She wanted him to touch her, so, so, badly that she ached down to her very bones.

Maybe it was the fasting, maybe the intensity of the last few days, maybe the fear and excitement of not knowing what was going to happen to her, but this deep arousal was something she'd never felt before, like being plunged into an undiscovered ocean abyss, suffocating, all-consuming, dark, dangerous.

Freezing.

Wet.

Ashelin's eyes flew open, widening to saucers at the sudden sensation of icy water down her back.

The hose. She'd forgotten he'd strung her up in a car wash bay.

"How can I believe anything that comes out of your mouth?" Nolan growled, and wound his fingers into her thick wet hair, jerking back hard on her scalp. "You came here under false pretenses. What else is a lie?"

He brought the nozzle of the hose to her throat and pulled the trigger harder, sending a frozen river down the front of her body.

She'd spent days in the heat, parched, and this should have been a balm, but it was so cold that it felt like pinpricks on her skin. When the water sluiced over her nipples they tightened to pebbles, so taut she couldn't hold back a hiss.

"What else is a lie?" he demanded, yanking down on her hair, and in turn, tightening the collar.

The sting of her scalp, the bite of the metal against her windpipe, the icy cold onslaught against her famished body—all Ashelin could do was ride it. She was deep in this ocean, now, she'd chosen this, chosen exactly this, but as amazing as it was, she had a mission, and that mission required surviving such delicious torture.

"My scent doesn't lie," she rasped, breaths coming in short gasps.

He let up on her hair, letting go of the hose handle to stop the flow of water. The relief was marginal—now her cold and wet skin puckered against the air, temperature lowering as the moisture evaporated, sending shivers through her exhausted body.

"You know I'm telling the truth because you can smell how much I want this," she continued, trying valiantly to keep her teeth from chattering.

"And I should trust you just because you're a horny fucking mess?" He ran the nozzle of the hose down her shoulder and she couldn't help but flinch as he brushed the side of her breast with it. "What is it that gets you the most, hm? The fear or the pain?" He disentangled his other hand from her hair, dancing his fingers down her bound arms to curl around to her belly.

She finally relaxed her thighs, forcing her ankles apart to hip width, as wide as she could go while still maintaining enough height to let her breathe. "Why don't you find out?"

Ashelin might have gotten herself into hot water, but at least she's enjoying herself, amirite? Snowbird fans might recognize a few easter eggs here and there, just for you. I couldn't help myself. ;)