Controlled Surrender by Christin Lovell Page A

And, by the way, good
luck finding someone who will do all that I did with them and for
them.” Laina spun around and walked away with her head held
high.
    Pride erupted, but it quickly faltered under
the notion that she thought she wasn’t good enough for me. Had I
really not conveyed how much I wanted her? How could she not have
seen it?
    Hope swept through my chest for the first
time.
    I shook myself. Fuck! I needed to get to
her.
    I shot past a flabbergasted Edna, still
opening and closing her mouth. I quickly closed the distance
between me and Laina. I reached out and grabbed her, pulling her
into my arms.
    She gasped as she collided into my chest. She
gazed up at me wide-eyed.
    “Do you really think you’re not good enough?”
I damn near did a fucking dance when she didn’t cast her gaze
away.
    She gave me a small smile. “You’ll find
someone who is. I’m confident of it.”
    “Why aren’t you good enough?” I was riding a
fine line as my wolf roared.
    She briefly looked away before facing me
again. “I love this pack, and I love its alpha. You both deserve to
have the best of the female weres representing you. You don’t need
a fat-“
    I slapped her ass.
    She yelped, frowning at me.
    “Say one more demeaning thing about yourself
and I swear I’ll strip you naked right here and give you forty
lashes in front of everyone.”
    Her face blanched, but her arousal faintly
slipped into the air around us.
    I leaned in close, nuzzling her neck. “I
think that’d be sexy as hell. I could show everyone that you’re
mine. By the end of those slaps, your ass would be red and your
pussy would be weeping for me.” I nipped her neck.
    She shivered, remaining silent.
    “You have thirty seconds to object, sweetie.”
I kissed her neck, trailing up to her jaw.
    Her eyes were wide with shock. Her lips were
trembling, tempting me to capture them and give them a reason to
quiver.
    I smiled mischievously, my wolf’s rumble
close to a purr of excitement. “Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five,
four-“
    “No!” She snapped.
    I pursed my lips, batting at my
disappointment. There was a reason I didn’t hope. Things were
better black and white. Hope was a grey area, an unknown part of
life.
    I painstakingly unglued myself from her. My
wolf went crazy, turning psycho on me. He could never destroy me
the way her single word rejection had though.
    “Please, don’t leave,” the familiar female
voice cut in.
    I was surprised to find my brothers and
mother there. I watched as Laina cast a wary gaze upon them.
    “I know we’ve been complete dicks, but don’t
leave him because of us,” Brad said.
    “Language, Bradford,” my mother snipped.
“What my foul son was trying to say was that we haven’t treated you
with respect, which was inappropriate and uncalled for. My eldest,
our alpha, has never agreed with us nor participated. Instead, he
reprimanded all of us and sent us away without supper the night you
didn’t join us. And last night he might as well have done the same
considering he sat there like a wilted flower staring at your empty
chair all evening.”
    I felt my cheeks heat. Leave it to my mother
to air out my dirty laundry. It was because they meant well, and
because I was fucking desperate, that I let them carry on.
    She cleared her throat. “My point is that
Jayson clearly sees you for who you are rather than what others say
you are. Don’t punish him because of the rest of us.”
    “What she said,” Aaron said.
    Laina fidgeted. Her gaze was everywhere as
she worried her bottom lip. It was a little while before she
finally focused on my family. “I’m not punishing him.”
    She abruptly turned and walked away, heading
for the road again.
    My wolf’s anger seeped into my veins. Without
thinking, I yanked her back into my arms. “Then what the hell are
you doing?”
    She stared at the ground, her body lightly
trembling in my arms. I was ready to throw my hands into the air
and scream when I caught