Anastasia wanted to growl in frustration, because she should have known better than to trust this Alpha when he looked at her like that.
"Elliot, I swear, if you think you can—"
She didn't get to finish.
Elliot closed the distance in a heartbeat and kissed her.
Not hesitant. Not testing. Claiming.
His Alpha instinct surged forward like a released chain, and she could feel it in the way he held her—controlled, dominant, as if something inside him refused to let her go once he had decided she was his focus. To him, Anastasia was a pull he couldn't ignore, something that triggered both restraint and hunger at the same time.
She shoved at his chest for a few seconds, but it lacked real force. There was nowhere to escape once he was this close, once his presence had fully enclosed her space. Slowly, her resistance weakened as his kiss deepened, pulling at something in her instincts that reacted before her mind could stop it.
But a warning still lingered.
Quiet. Persistent.
