Beta's Runaway Bride: 8 - Xiomara
Beta's Runaway Bride: 8 - Xiomara
I don’t know how to answer that question, so I just shake my head. “Let us head back, hmm?” I say in
an attempt to change the subject and thankfully she doesn’t press me.
When we get back to the other women, Luna Mia gets to her feet and walks over to me. “Are you okay?
Do you want to go home?” she asks, and I nearly laugh at her use of the word ‘home’ when talking
about Maxim’s place.
I shake my head. “It’s okay, I’m alright,” I say and am about to walk away when she gently grabs my
shoulders and shoots me an apologetic look.
“Is this about Maxim’s decision? Are you upset about it?” she asks, and now it’s my turn to frown.
“What do you mean?” I ask, cocking my head to the side. “What decision?”
The look on her face tells me she’s just told me something I was not supposed to know. Her eyes
widen and her mouth opens in a gasp; then she puts her hand in front of her mouth. “Oh…Oh,
Xiomara, I’m so sorry! I shouldn’t have mentioned a thing!”
I cross my arms and feel myself glaring. “What were you not supposed to mention, Luna Mia? What
decision did Maxim make?” I ask. She breathes out a sigh and her eyes shine with tears as she tells
me the decision Maxim has made.
“When was the last time you trusted someone other than yourself?”
Gianna’s words still ring in my head even after Maxim collects me later in the evening to go back to his
place. When was the last time I trusted someone…I’ve never had the luxury of trusting anyone other
than my mother.
Trusting their partners seems as easy as breathing to them, but I’ve never had someone who was
worthy of being trusted. Is that the key to this, I need to completely trust Maxim in order to be happy? I
was willing…before Luna Mia told me the decision Maxim made without me.
“...What do you think?”
My eyes snap toward Maxim and I realize we’re standing in the kitchen of his home. I also think he’s
been talking to me this entire time - damn it!
“I…uh, I’m sorry I didn’t catch that,” I say with an embarrassed smile. “What was it?”
Maxim has his one eyebrow lifted at my reaction, but he continues anyway. “I said I’ll order some take-
out if you’re up for it. You’ve been cooking the entire week, I’m sure you’d like to rest tonight,” he says,
acting kind again and giving me whiplash.
“Sure,” I say, offering him a small smile. “I’d like that, thank you. Do you mind if I go clean up before
dinner?”
“Go right ahead, I’ll be in the gym,” he says and we make our way to separate rooms.
I watch him walk towards the gym with something akin to sadness settling in my heart. When did it
come to this? Was it our easy understanding that had me falling into a routine while slowly accepting
him without even knowing?
I wish I’d stayed dumb to everything, wish Luna Mia didn’t inform me about Maxim being sick of me and
sending me back to my father. I know the shame I’ll be carrying when I go back home, how my father
will treat me because the SilverCrest Beta didn’t want me.
This was what I wanted, right? I wanted to go away from here, wanted to escape and be free so why
am I feeling like this? Why do I feel like unwanted goods tossed to the side?
Not only that but if Maxim made this decision a while ago, why is he still being nice to me? Why try to
make this work when he doesn’t want me? I suppose that I can ask all these questions and never get
to any answer because I am asking the wrong person.
The more I’m thinking about it, the angrier I get and by the time Maxim calls me to say dinner is here, I
am fuming.
I tried to make this work, I was nice and courteous because I was coming to terms with being his wife.
Meanwhile, he had other plans on the side, plans to not only send me back to my father but he’ll have
another bride here before I even reach home!
Stupid, desperate Xiomara.
Sighing, I walk downstairs in my cotton night dress so I can head straight to bed afterward, my mouth
goes dry when I see the object of my thoughts looking gorgeous without even trying.
Dressed in nothing but a pair of loose jogger shorts and no t-shirt, he places the Thai take-out on the
kitchen island so I walk around to grab some cutlery. His hair is still damp from his shower and his
sandalwood scent is making my head swim.
It just makes me feel more pissed off. Why did he have to be so goddamn attractive and flaunt it in front
of me?
I sit down opposite him and we take out whatever we want to eat; I don’t particularly feel very hungry
because of my seething right now but I pick at my food and hope that my feelings don’t show.
“I won’t be here for a while,” he decides right there to cut the silence and I grit my teeth. “Niko is All text © NôvelD(r)a'ma.Org.
sending me away for a few weeks.”
My heartbeat picks up at the mention of him being gone for so long. Does that mean he doesn’t even
want to say goodbye to me before I go? Did I completely misread his kindness?
“So, how was it meeting the other brides?” he asks when I don’t answer him.
“It was okay; they seem really nice,” I manage to say through a swallow of Pad Thai. “I like Gianna.”
At the mention of the woman I thought he would like, he simply nods and takes a sip of his soda. I
never know what’s up with this man, he drives me up the fucking wall with his kindness and then his
nonchalance.
“If you’d like, the brides can come here or you can go visit them since I won’t be here,” he says, sitting
back and looking at me. “I could see you all got along and it would be good for you to get to know them
better.”
I scoff and put down my fork. “Would it now? I didn’t think I’d need to make friends since I’m apparently
leaving soon.”
The forkful of food stops halfway to his mouth and his brows knit into a frown. “Why would you think
that?” he says, then his gaze turns into a scowl and he puts his fork down so hard, it clatters. “Fucking
Mia.”
The fact that he knew it was Luna Mia just cements the fact that she wasn’t lying; he was going to send
me away and replace me.
I scoff and get to my feet. “So, it’s true, then? You want me to make nice with the other women here,
but for what reason exactly? I’ll probably be gone soon!”
Maxim slowly rises to his feet and breathes out a sigh. “I recall you saying you wanted your freedom,
now you’re against it?” he asks and I can see him clenching his jaw. “Isn’t this what you wanted?”
“Of course, it’s what I wanted!” I exclaim. “But why are you making it-” I stop myself before I say
something I know I’m going to regret, then I rush past him to run to my bedroom.
I can’t be around him; I can’t let him know how being close to him physically hurts me. How him being
this kind and thoughtful towards me is chipping away at the wall I’ve built up, how I don’t really want to
go away.
Maxim doesn’t give me a chance to run away, instead, he pulls me back by my wrist and pushes me
against the wall at the foot of the stairs. The look in his eyes tells me he’s close to snapping and when
he places both his hands next to my head, caging me in, I see how much he’s struggling to hold back.
“You don’t get to do that,” he says through gritted teeth. “You do not start an argument with me and run
away in the middle of it. What were you about to say, Xiomara?”
I shake my head and place my hands on his chest to push him away from me, but that just makes him
move closer. “Just drop it, okay? We can go back to pretending the other doesn’t exist since I’ll be gone
soon!”
My words seem to set something off inside of him and he takes my wrists and pins them above my
head. “I really hate repeating myself, Bambi; what were you about to fucking say?”
The threat should scare me…it shouldn’t send a sinful ripple down my spine. Just like that murderous
look in his Beta gold eyes should send fear into my heart, instead, it makes my heart beat faster for
other reasons.
I swallow deeply and try to pull my wrists out of his grasp, but it’s useless. There’s no way I’m getting
out of here unless he lets me go…unless I tell him what I was about to say.
“Let me go, Maxim-”
“Tell me why you’re so fucking pissed off with me for doing the right thing?” he grits out and I see red.
“The right thing?” I scoff. “You tell me to be subservient, you tell me to play nice with the other women
here. Then you argue with me and in the space of the same hour, you were kind to me and five minutes
later pissed off with me again! You’re giving me whiplash, Maxim! What do you want from me?!”
My throat is hoarse from screaming out my honesty, and I expect him to give me as good as he just
got. I expect him to tell me how this is all my fault because his Alpha had to make arrangements to
have this done. I expect his anger. I expect his ire.
I didn’t expect him to claim my mouth in a rough kiss that has me tasting blood.
Shocked at his reaction, but my body immediately responds in the way he wants it to. His lips are soft
against mine, his tongue begging for entry and when I give in, the moan that comes from me is nothing
short of filthy.
Maxim lets go of my wrists and deepens the kiss by gripping my hair at the nape of my neck and
pushing himself up against me. I can feel the outline of his rapidly thickening cock against my belly, and
my core tightens knowing it's because of me.
He trails kisses toward my neck and nips my skin hard. “You’re so fucking infuriating,” he groans
against my skin sending a ripple of desire shooting between my legs. “So fucking infuriating.”
“What are you going to do about it?” leaves my lips before I can even register that I’m taunting a Beta
with murder on his mind and when he looks at me again, I wish I never said that.
Grinning, he slips his hand in between my legs “I’m going to make you regret pushing my fucking
buttons,” he growls in my ear and slips a finger inside me to find my traitorous pussy wet for him. His
chest rumbles with a groan and he proceeds to spread my wetness all around my folds, encircling my
clit over and over.
“Hmm, guess I drive you just as fucking crazy, don’t I?” he says in a low voice and grins against the
nape of my neck, then he rips my panties from my body. “Does fighting with me always get your pussy
this wet, Xiomara?”
“I hate you,” I moan, leaning my head against his chest while my body shakes with need. He gives a
deep chuckle then he picks me up and when his cock lines up with my entrance, it takes me a few
seconds to realize what’s happening.
In one swift motion he thrusts inside of me so hard that it elicits a scream from me; I dig my nails into
his shoulders and wrap my legs around his waist for purchase. Sucking in a sharp breath, Maxim
groans when he’s buried inside of me completely and I feel his cock throbbing inside of me.
“Fuck,” he growls and his hold on my hips tightens…only for his thrusting to grow frenzied.
I’ve had sex before, but only to scratch an itch when needed…but the way Maxim is fucking me right
now makes me feel like he’s trying to brand himself right on my soul. The sounds we’re making
together, slapping of skin, groans, moans, Maxim’s growls of appreciation…
It throws me over the edge and when I find myself screaming out his name and trembling on his cock, I
feel him stiffen up and pull out of me. He grabs my hair and pushes me onto my knees, and right now I
am more than willing to be on my knees for him.
I take his cock into my mouth and taste myself; my lips stretching around his girth has my pussy
throbbing with need again. His cock hits the back of my throat and I gag, but it doesn’t take long for
Maxim to reach his peak either. He grips my hair tight and pushes my head down so I can swallow
everything he has to give me.
It strikes me there, at that moment, that I want to stay here with him…but I know I can’t. What
happened just now cannot happen again; Maxim and I are bad for each other. We’ll make a toxic pair
that will only end in death.