Resistance

Chapter 3

"Levi," Eren said, "I swear that I won't do anything."

I looked up at him, dazed. "Then prove it to me. Show me I can trust you." I tossed him the spray bottle, knowing I'd just given up my one defense against him. "Spray that on your neck, over your scent gland."

Without the least bit of hesitation, he did what I asked of him. The skin on his neck began to bubble and redden, like an acid burn. I stared at him in utter shock. I hadn't been expecting it to do that.

"Oh my god," I breathed. "I didn't know. I didn't think..."

"It's nothing I can't handle," he said, voice level and calm.

I hadn't asked Hanji if that spray would cause permanent damage to an alpha, and the realization that it could hurt me more than I thought was possible. Suddenly it was imperative that we hurry. Not for my sake, but for his. Even if I didn't want to mate with him, that didn't mean that I wanted to ruin his chances to bond with another omega. Was my self-preservation worth that? I didn't think that it was. Marking an omega was what alphas lived for, what they craved from the moment they went into their first rut. I couldn't take that away from him.

"Hurry the hell up," I snapped, in a panic. "We have to get to Hanji faster than ever now. Get your ass over here." I held my arms out to him in open invitation.

Eren didn't rush over to me like I assumed he would. All he did was stand there with a covetous expression on his face. "Give me a moment," he said through clenched teeth.

"We don't have a moment, you moron. Your neck—"

"Your scent changed."

"Of course it did. I smell like a foul skunk."

"That's not it." He moaned and a shudder shook his frame. He tilted his head to the side, eyes falling closed. When they opened up again, he pinned me to the spot with his heated gaze. "You're submitting."

I shook my head almost violently. The fear I'd felt minutes ago returning. "No. You're insane. I'd never submit to you, or any alpha."

"Don't worry. It doesn't change anything. Just makes it a bit harder for me. That's why I asked you to give me a moment."

I stayed frozen in place as he pulled himself back from the brink of caving in to his instincts. It didn't take as long as I was expecting it to, but I still couldn't bring myself to take my eyes off of his neck. The skin there was a bright, vicious red. It had to hurt, but he gave no sign that it did.

After he took another deep breath, he said, "Okay. I have it under control. Can I come over there now?"

"I already said you could, didn't I?" I shot back, trying to sound annoyed and exasperated, but I couldn't pull it off. Instead I sounded small and afraid, which irritated me to no end.

With slow steps, Eren closed the distance between us. The closer he got to me, the more out of control I felt. It took everything I had not to throw myself at him. His enticing scent made something inside me stir, a deep, primal need that demanded me to claim this alpha for my own. And how I wanted to. Then I caught sight of his neck, at his ravaged scent gland, and I made a whiny sound in the back of my throat. He was hurt and I'd been the one that caused it.

"I'm all right," Eren assured, because the sound I had released had been one of worry. It was the omega inside of me wondering why my alpha was hurt.

My alpha...

Fucking shit.

"I have you now," Eren whispered as he gathered me up in his arms. "I promise I won't hurt you. Please trust me on that, Levi."