Chapter 2
TWO
ELENA
Two Weeks Later
Elena flattened her lips into a hard line and ducked her head as she approached the restaurant. The giggling flock of females twirling around the lone male were immediately recognized, and she wanted nothing more than to avoid their notice.
If it had been possible to cross the street to bypass them, she would have. Her father’s wretched Beta wife Linda wouldn’t have it though and clucked in angry hen fashion every time Elena tried to veer off the sidewalk.
“What is wrong with you, Elena,” Linda squawked when Elena came to a hard stop and veered around their guard, Jamie.
“Elena? Elena Costanzo?” Marjory Tyler’s voice was nails on chalkboard, her squealing laughter a pig just before slaughter. “We haven’t seen you in ages, darling!”
Elena stared hard at the grimy sidewalk, murmuring a greeting before taking Linda’s elbow and now trying to hurry her along.
“Oh, come now,” Rosa Milano said as she linked arms with Marjory to block Elena’s path. “What have you been up to, Elena?”
“Don’t be rude,” Linda hissed at Elena’s shoulder, forcing her to stop.
“There’s this awful rumor going around,” Stacy Pavia began in a loud stage whisper. Interrupting herself with a vicious curl of her lips and a twittering giggle, she leaned closer to finish, “that your father is giving you to another ancient old man!”
Elena’s face grew cold then hot, and she knew she was doing a horrible job of hiding the tremble of her hands by the way they all sneered and cackled, their cruelty knowing no bounds as they petted at her hair and shoulders as if in consolation.
“Leave her be.”
She knew that voice. Had hoped to avoid it for the rest of eternity.
She’d once thought of him with fondness, though not a friend by any stretch.
This world they lived in didn’t allow for such things.
An ally, perhaps, a fellow soldier in this horrible reality.
Someone who saw her as more than a commodity.
He’d ruined it all in a single moment, and it seemed he hadn’t changed at all in the intervening years.
Leon Marchetti was tall, broad. Beautiful in a cold, aloof way even with the lustrous bronze cast to his already rich olive skin.
Despite the charming smile showing his perfectly white and even teeth, it didn’t reach the endless abyss of his deep chestnut eyes.
Powerful beyond anyone else his age, he already controlled a territory, won by his own hands.
He wasn’t just wealthy, by his own right or from his family’s name.
He probably bled diamonds and solid gold bars.
He was everything a woman could want in an Alpha.
Elena hated him to the very depths of her soul and would never forget his betrayal.
“She knows we’re just having a bit of fun,” Stacy simpered, sidling up to Leon’s side despite Marjory’s firm grip on his opposite arm.
Elena swallowed hard against the bile climbing up the back of her throat, her nails biting deep into the soft flesh of her palms. The burst of pain doing nothing to lash the fraying strands of her temper back together.
“Not everyone can be as lucky as I am.” Marjory’s voice dripped caustic venom, the flash of her teeth parading as a smile as she drove Stacy back. A wiggle of Marjory’s fingers brought Elena’s focus to the massive diamond decorating her ring finger.
“Oh, how beautiful,” Linda sighed, head tilting as if she were seeing off Prince Charming and his lady love to their happily ever after.
Of course Linda would find it all so lovely. All of these women were Betas and would marry a man of means and importance. They couldn’t care less for the plight of an Omega at the mercy of her father’s whims, traded like cattle to the highest bidder.
“Yes, congratulations,” Elena muttered, tugging on Linda’s arm. “We really should be going.”
“It’s a shame you’ll never know what it’s like, Elena.” Marjory hummed and squeezed her arms together, pushing her breasts forward as she turned a dazzling smile up to Leon. “To belong to a virile Alpha in his prime.”
“Eat shit, Marjory,” Elena snapped, letting Linda’s arm go in favor of stalking past the tight knot of glittering fabric and aghast painted faces.
“At least the Alpha vying for me hasn’t fucked half the city, and I damn sure mean a hell of a lot more than a good suck.
Which, by the way, is still in the library bathroom regarding you.
Maybe if you actually read, you would have noticed why they all ran after you like a bitch in heat. ”
Elena’s lungs worked like bellows as she walked as fast as she dared down the sidewalk, leaving Linda to stumble over apologies amid their squealing demands for retribution.
Jamie fell into step beside her, guarding her flank as he had since she turned twelve and her dynamic had presented itself in glorious chaos.
By the time they reached the brilliantly lit doors, Elena’s breaths shuddered. The last vestiges of her control over the rage of emotions were becoming ever more tenuous. She’d sworn she was done letting those mindless bitches hurt her, but they knew exactly what cut deepest.
“We should wait for Linda,” Jamie murmured as Elena came to a stop in the lobby. His hand added the slightest pressure to her elbow, steadying her when she began to sway.
“Just…” Elena shook her head and very near latched onto the arm of a passing waiter. “Ivanov? Party of three.”
The waiter nodded, brows rising at Jamie’s perturbed grunt though the young man turned and guided Elena through the sea of linen draped tables towards a booth situated at the back.
“Miss Costanzo, you look stunning.” Pyotr Ivanov rose and came to Elena, taking her hand to make a stiff bow over it. He didn’t even try to place a kiss on her fingers. Standing tall, he looked at the empty space at Elena’s side as if only just now noticing an absence. “Where is your chaperone?”
“She… She’ll be along shortly. I’m sure nothing will be amiss. We’re in a restaurant, after all, and there are so many people…” Elena’s smile shook as she tipped her head back to bring her gaze somewhere around his chin. “Please?”
Pyotr considered her for a long moment before he made a gruff sound low in his throat, his hand inviting her to sit opposite.
Smoothing her skirt, Elena situated herself on the long bench, feeling Linda’s absence with every moment ticking by.
She hadn’t been alone with an Alpha in years, blood related or not.
“You seem upset. Has something happened?”
“Nothing of importance.”
“It does not seem so insignificant.” Pyotr leaned back in his chair, fingers drumming a tuneless beat against the pristine white. “Is it your father’s doing?”
“What? No.” Elena tried to laugh, the sound a bleak, desolate thing she was quick to wave away.
“Then who? I will see to it myself.”
“It’s nothing, really.” Elena forced her smile to brighten, pretending that the sting of tears wasn’t burning her eyes. “Honestly, it’s silly. Girls I went to school with.”
Pyotr tsked, caging the nervous fluttering of Elena’s hands with his own. “I forget how young you are still. Such things are closer to the heart than when you’re my age.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. You’re not that old.
” She meant that. Though he was old enough to be her father, he was hardly ancient, despite what Stacy had said.
A powerful Alpha, ruler of a large territory, Pyotr Ivanov didn’t have one foot in the grave.
He was cut from a far rougher cloth than the likes of Leon Marchetti, but he was handsome in his own way, too.
Silver sprinkled at the temples of his deep brown hair, and she was almost certain the lines creasing the thin skin around his bright blue eyes were from laughing.
He was generous with his smiles, his humor self-deprecating as he performed the stiff formalities required of them.
Things could be much, much worse.
“Elena,” Linda gasped, clutching the pearls at her throat. Mouth open, her eyes swung between Pyotr’s hands and Elena’s face.
“Is it your intention to drag her family’s name through the mud,” Leon snarled, banging his fist on the table so hard it threatened to tip before toppling back to center. Elena took a moment to thank the Gods she hadn’t suggested they order their drinks before Linda’s arrival.
Leon had followed Linda inside for some unknown purpose and now he was causing a scene.
“There are plenty of people here,” Elena hissed in a whisper, fixing her smile in place though she extricated her hands from Pyotr’s as those same people turned to stare. “I’m hardly hanging off of his arm, unlike some people.”
“You keep a civil tongue, Elena. You ruined that poor girl’s celebration.” Linda glanced at Pyotr before giving a terse shake of her head. “After your outburst, and then finding the two of you together like this, I don’t think tonight is a good time for you to be out of the house.”
Elena couldn’t believe the horror this night had become.
She’d actually been looking forward to the awkward meal.
Taking a deep breath, Elena immediately let it out in a hard gust. Ash and smoke scalded the back of her throat, bringing her eyes up to where Pyotr and Leon were standing toe to toe, their near silent violence burgeoning with every tight gesture.
Unable to make out their words through the quiet rumbling of their growls, Elena pushed past Linda.
Against her better judgement and all caution, she brushed her fingers down Pyotr’s arm to gain his attention.
In the next second, she wished she hadn’t.
She couldn’t hold up against all of that aggression aimed straight at her.
Crumpling over her middle with a plaintive whine, she showed her blatant submission.
Humiliating herself as she bent low at the waist under the weight of his thunderous growl.
“Show your future mate some respect,” Leon shouted, shoving Pyotr away.
Elena couldn’t track what happened next as their roars of challenge reverberated through the crowded restaurant.
She only knew violence was erupting all around her.
Instinct had her falling to floor, squeezing her far too fragile body into the cramped space between two bench seats.
She prayed Linda had gotten out of the way soon enough.
It seemed to go on forever. The wet smack of flesh punched through the air, their growls and snapping teeth too loud even as they crashed through tables and shattered good china. Elena screamed as one of the seats hiding her jostled, crushing her as a great weight was thrown against it.
Large hands reached into the shadowed space, grabbing her flailing legs.
Dragging her out into the light with a commanding growl that turned her spine to water.
Elena stopped fighting. She clung to narrow hips as a firm grip guided her up, climbing the mountainous frame as his hand came to her back to support her.
Sucking in a shaky breath, she realized her mistake far too late.
Woodsmoke and evergreens invaded her senses. Not the rich smells of winter as she’d expected. Her eyes swung up, meeting the blazing blue of Pyotr’s rage. Back stiff as blood dripped from his cut lip, he bared his teeth at her. A clear warning for her to drop her gaze that she obeyed.
Elena had lost that right. She felt the cold, sterile wall building between them the longer Leon’s hand branded her back.
Nothing more than another female unworthy of Pyotr’s attention.
Tears burned the back of her eyes, trembling on her lashes before spilling down wan cheeks.
Elena pushed at Leon’s chest, hating the rush of warmth twisting through her stomach as he tightened his hold.
Pyotr didn’t say a word as he collected his torn jacket from the floor.
His footsteps crunched over broken glass and shards of porcelain as he stormed past them, shoving tables and chairs out of his way.
One of the glass doors shattered under the power of his hand flinging it open, the tinkling laughter of it obscene in the midst of this horror show.
“Put me down,” Elena sobbed, shoving at Leon. Trying to twist away from him despite the fact her feet dangled a good foot above the ground.
“There’s glass,” he snapped, hiking her higher until his arm clamped over her thighs beneath the soft bell of her skirt.
“I don’t care, put me down!”
“Be still.”
Did he even have to try with that growling command?
It seemed so effortless for him to control her, making her go limp in his too tight embrace as he followed the trail of destruction Pyotr had left.
Leon carried her out into the misty night, refusing to put her down until the blocky SUV appeared at the sidewalk.
Making a spectacle of it all, humiliating her even further.
Letting anyone with eyes to see that she was ruined.
“Stop touching me,” Elena snarled, her hand arcing through the air. She never expected her palm to connect, the sharp sting blooming across her skin. Watching on in horror, a perfect pink imprint of her hand appeared on his cheek.
“You should show me a little gratitude.”
“For what, exactly, Marchetti,” Elena hissed, the last wisp of her fear dissolving beneath the fiery burst of her anger. “For ruining everything? Again? For humiliating me in front of everyone? Just what exactly do you think I should be grateful for?”
Leon growled, fingers curling around her hips as he lifted Elena straight up into the backseat where Linda whimpered and cowered.
“For saving you from that.”
“That was my last option,” Elena whispered, tears flooding down her cheeks now. “No one will have me now. I will never get out.”
A midnight black shadow slithered its way through his dark eyes as he leaned in through the open door, caging Elena against the seat despite Linda’s stammering tirade about the impropriety of it all.
“Excuse me, sir.” Jamie inserted himself between them, pushing Leon back onto the sidewalk with a firm hand. Pitching his voice low enough only the three of them could hear, he said, “She’ll have it hard enough as it is. Don’t make it worse, sir.”
The door shut hard on the same cold, calm mask Elena had come to hate. He was incapable of feeling anything. He and Marjory deserved one another.
“You’re ruined,” Linda wailed before muffling her sobs into a pretty handkerchief.
“Marco will be beside himself,” Elena murmured to her reflection in the darkly tinted window as the car sped off.