Hybrid Alpha’s Prettiest Obsession

selfishly pos

Malakai

Pompeo constantly barked orders while I waited for Wulfgar to get me my ride home. Natalie leaned back, inspecting her work with a critical eye. “There. You’ll live.”

"Shame," I muttered, and she rolled her eyes, yet I could see the amusement breaking through her supposedly ‘stern’ expression. Her gaze lingered on me for a moment too long, and I knew she was trying to figure me out, trying to see if there was more beneath the surface. But she wouldn’t find anything there. Not the truth, anyway.

Because the truth was dark. Twisted.

I wasn’t just waiting for Mina to be caught—I was hoping for it. Ruthlessly, selfishly hoping. While I was still thinking, Natalie reached for another strip of cotton in a movement so precise and… controlled, as if tending to me was some kind of art. I let her work, watching her without really seeing her. What was she doing? Was she purposely acting like someone I knew? Mina’s face flashed again in my mind. This time, I’d caught her. And soon, she’d know it too that I had tricked her.

What would she think of me then?

Or she may never find out.

My attention snapped to Natalie's hands that felt gentle as they moved carefully, her fingers lightly grazing my skin when she bandaged my arm. I blinked. I could tell she was concentrating, yet there was this heaviness in the air. It was coming from her.

Did she know of my unspoken rule to always have s*x after a good fight? This wasn't just a good fight. It was one man’s war. I breathed in the silence that seemed to grow thicker between us. I was quite unfortunate that I wasn't thinking about her, though. My mind was far away… consumed by thoughts of someone else.

Mina.

That slippery halfling had gotten away too many times, I could tell. No. I knew she would try to avoid me with everything she's got. But not this time. This time, I'd make sure she'd feel my presence before I even laid a hand on her.

I would never chase after her. She would come crawling to me for making me sign her name stupidly in blood. What in the name of the goddess possessed me to even do that? I flinched just as Natalie’s touch brought me back to the present.

She finished her work and stepped back, her eyes meeting mine, searching and wondering why I was acting jumpy. I saw the curiosity in her gaze as if she were trying to read me, trying to see if there was anything left of the man she f****d the first time. used to know. But she wouldn’t find him. That version…

“You’re staring,” I said, to which she didn’t even flinch but just kept looking at me like she had all the answers.

"I'm not staring. I'm just making sure I did it right," she replied, folding her arms across her chest, yet I could sense a slight unease behind her cool act. Her father really trained her to ‘hide’ her emotions well; when I'm fact, she was like an open book—easy for me to read and decipher.

This b***h was probably waiting for me to ignite it. I mean, we were standing so close to each other now, and there was this tense oddity, I noticed... It was the kind that hovered in the air, waiting for someone with balls to actually ignite it. I didn't pay it much mind because I didn't really see Mina in her. I could only kiss and love mina. She was the last person I f****d before this. There was that sensuality with the way she moved and the way she thought she had the upper hand. She was weak, someone I would crush under my heavy paws.

I gripped the edge of the van door, trying to shake the thought away. But the more I tried, the more I saw her.

“You don’t have to carry it all, you know.” I didn't realise Natalie was that close to me. Her voice was soft and tender, just like Mina's. I blinked at her, feeling something stirring in my chest, but it wasn’t for her.

…Just that the way she looked at me reminded me too much of Mina.

Mina, mina, mina... that was all my mind could think of. It was just the one way that Mina would pretend she cared before twisting the knife deeper. She was that poisonous.

What did she do the moment she saw me after many years? She tried to drive a dagger into my chest without an ounce of pity. And that’s when I made the mistake. I let my mind go where it shouldn’t. I glanced at Natalie again, fighting off the feeling in my head that I wasn’t actually seeing Mina! seeing her. Yet I saw Mina—her sharp eyes, her mocking smile, the way she always pushed me to the edge. I bit my lower lips just as my body reacted on instinct.

Before I knew it, I’d pulled Natalie closer. Her body pressed against mine before her breath caught in her throat. Of course, her lips parted slightly in surprise, but I didn’t care. My hands found her waist, pulling her even closer until there was no space between us. Her eyes widened, but I didn’t stop. I couldn’t stop. Not when I felt Mina’s ghost standing right in front of me, daring me to do it.

What was wrong with me? This was wrong!

“Stop it, Malakai!” I tried to stop myself, but I was already in too deep. Natalie didn’t resist. She leaned in, her plump lips brushing against mine in a way that felt too familiar, too soft. I kissed her back, hard, desperate to feel something that wasn’t this anger and this endless need to ruthlessly possess and own her. Even as I kissed her, all I could think of was Mina.

I deepened the kiss, my hands tangling in her hair, pulling her impossibly closer, not giving her a moment to breathe and run away from me. My mind kept playing tricks on me. I wasn’t kissing Natalie. In my head, it was Mina—always Mina. I could feel her slipping away again, taunting me, just out of reach.

Natalie gasped against my mouth once more, her body tensing for a second before she melted into me. I felt this Mina was up to the task. She was up to... Her hands gripped my shoulders, pulling me in like she didn’t care about anything else, like this was what she wanted. She didn't even care to breathe anymore! But as I kissed her harder...

“Mina…” I growled against her lips, not even realising that a strange name had slipped out of my own lips. I felt her stiffen in my arms, and the warmth between us was suddenly replaced by coldness. Her fingers loosened their grip on me, and she pulled back slightly with a shaky breath.

She was yet to recover from my powerful kiss.

“What did you just say?” she whispered in confusion and what else…? hurt, maybe.

I blinked, the haze of my thoughts clearing just enough for me to see her face. Natalie. Not Mina. Natalie. I didn’t answer right away and just kept my hands on her waist to show her that I wasn't a lost cause.

“What did you hear?” I muttered like the idiotic Alpha I was. And in response, Natalie brows knitted together. That was to remind me that she was no fool.

When she spoke the next time, I knew I had touched a nerve by mentioning Mina’s name. It was such a random name, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to ask but couldn’t stop herself.

“Kai… what did you just say?” she asked again, more deliberately.

Hearing that nickname again made me feel all wrong on her lips. Like I didn’t belong to her in the first place. That was Mina’s nickname for me. And just like that, the final fog in my brain lifted, slamming into me.

I stiffened.

My hands dropped away from her waist as if I’d been burned. “It’s the injury,” I said quickly, scrambling for any excuse. “The rogue’s poison... It must be messing with my head.”

Natalie didn’t move. She just stood there, searching my eyes, looking for something else that made sense to her other than my flimsy excuse. I could see it then—the crack in her fragile stance. It was as if she knew I was lying but didn’t want to admit it.

“Kai…” she whispered again, somewhat softer this time. Like, maybe if she said it gently enough, it would hurt less.

“It’s nothing,” I snapped. Why was she dragging the matter longer than necessary? It got me irked. “Forget it. I didn’t mean anything by it.” I could feel the walls going back up, shutting her out. I needed to regain control fast.

“You didn't mean anything by the name ‘Mina?”

I nodded, ignoring the stiffness in my bones. She exhaled slowly, her shoulders sagging as if she were trying to release whatever emotion had built up in her chest. Of course, she didn't believe me. And she shouldn't. I thought that would be the end of it, but then she did something that caught me off guard—she started to lean in again.

Whoa… “Natalie, don’t—” I warned, but she silenced me by pressing her lips to mine in a soft and hasty manner. It wasn’t urgent this time, just a slow, careful kiss. A kiss that felt too much like hope.

But there was no room for hope in my heart. My hands shot up between us, and I gently but firmly pushed her away. “No,” I said in a low growl. “This… can’t happen again.”

She looked stunned, blinking at me like she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “You kissed me first,” she whispered.

“I know,” I muttered, running a hand through my hair in frustration. “That's why we shouldn't continue. This is something we would both regret if we did it in the heat of the moment.”

“But the last time…”

“Has it gotten you anywhere?” I raised an obvious eyebrow.