Page 41 of Specter Bred

Perfect! No witnesses.

I drove into him again, trying to take his legs out from under him, but Hayes planted his feet and stopped me cold. For a second, surprise flashed through me.

The idiot was strong. Not just beta strong. More like alpha strong.

Hell, Specter strong.

"Would you stop trying to murder me?" he grunted.

"I warned you to move! You brought it on yourself."

I hooked my leg around his and nearly got him. Nearly. Instead, Hayes caught my momentum, turned with it, and suddenly I was the one hitting the mat. My eyes widened.

Well, that was unexpected.

He pinned my wrists above my head and held me there, both of us breathing hard from the struggle.

"Stop fighting me, Maeve!"

"No!"

"I'm trying to fix this."

I twisted against his grip.

"You're doing a terrible job."

"I'm trying to apologize!"

"I don't need an apology!"

"Yeah, you do."

For once there was no smile, no teasing, and no dumb Boy Scout optimism. Just frustration and guilt.

"I'm sorry, Maeve."

I looked away.

"I should have told you."

Neither of us spoke for a moment. The only sound in the room was our heavy breathing as we were both still trying to recover from the fight.

When I glanced back at Hayes, I caught him. For a brief second, his attention slipped. His eyes dropped from my face, following the rise and fall of my chest, and I scented it immediately. The now-familiar trace of his arousal. God, he was terrible at hiding it.

His face flushed when he realized I'd noticed. That was all the opening I needed. I planted my foot, shifted my hips, and used his own weight against him. Hayes's eyes widened.

"Oh, come on—"

We rolled.

A second later, he hit the mat with a grunt. This time I was on top. I pinned his wrists against the floor and smirked down at him.

"Distraction is a rookie's mistake."

The strange thing was that he didn't fight or struggle. He didn't even attempt to reverse it. Hayes just lay there, looking up at me with those stupid, earnest eyes.

"I'm sorry," he breathed.