Chapter 12
She was as dangerous as Knight had warned. I realised that far too late.
Not just because of what she’d just dragged me into, but because I had been wrong. I hadn’t been ready to see her.
I’d only ever been in love with one person in my entire life. When I’d loved, I’d opened up every door in my whole world, so when she’d set fire to it, there had been nowhere it hadn’t spread.
I hated her.
I hated her, and I loved her all at once and it was twisting me up.
Never in my life, had I ever experienced being so angry and so… fucking hurt at the same time. Not until today, when I’d seen her again, in those first few moments.
I sat down on the couch alone, staring at the gym bag Kyan had grabbed from her room.
She’d get what was inside.
As fucking pissed as I was at this mess, making the imprisoned Omega sick was not on the agenda. But she could curl up believing it for another few minutes.
We’d solved a few problems, even if entirely un-ideally. First off, I didn’t think Knight was near a rut anymore. If a regular fuck was enough, Kyan would never rut. But you needed an Omega for a rut, or a massive outlet. Of course, Glade had gone and perfumed—her scent was still filling the space—and none of us wanted to admit it, but it might have settled him.
And then there was Kyan. Another thing Knight had been right about.
He was obsessed with her—again.
Which wasn’t fucking good.
But he’d listen to Knight and stay away from her—well, as long as Kyan decided the dominance play lasted. We should have a few days at least.
The two of them were in Knight’s room right now and would be for a bit longer. Knight didn’t fuck Kyan like that and not deal with it after—even if he had to be as forceful in the aftercare. I had no idea what that looked like, but I was sure it was just as wild as the sex.
Somehow, it worked between them. Kyan snarled and fought, and then he was just… happy afterward. Yet their strange love was as absolute and consistent as anything I’d seen.
It was extra impressive because getting close to Kyan was like a minefield in a desert. The terrain was rough, and any step that looked right was a mirage that might blow up in your face. I got by, but Knight had managed to figure it out somehow—properly figure it out. I’d never been a part of their relationship outside of being pack lead. I called the shots, Knight enforced them.
Well, I watched sometimes. Kyan never cared—actually, I think he loved it—and I’d never complained, so it was up to Knight if he put on a show. It was kind of comforting. I didn’t have to want to fuck Kyan to be a part of the bond.
There was something intimate about watching, and I was sorely lacking on anything on the intimacy front.
I’d lied through my teeth about screwing other Omegas. It wasn’t just Omegas. I hadn’t banged anyone in my life except Glade. Which meant my only goddamned source material was shivering in the locked room behind me. I wrinkled my nose, grabbing the bag, a towel, and a proper blanket from the cupboard and tossed them into the room.
I tried not to look, but it was so fucking hard.
Furious chestnut eyes met mine from where she was curled on the mattress.
Her scent was intoxicating. Dark cream cardamom. Dangerous, cool, earthy, with an edge that suited Glade perfectly. A flawless scent for the most beautiful woman in the world. I’d had to learn the hard way that beauty couldn’t be trusted.
Neither could scent matches.
“Please check on Lucy?” Her voice was harrowingly fragile, and for a moment, through the drops of water still running from her hair, I wasn’t sure if she’d been crying.
I considered ignoring her.
I mean, Lucy was fine. I’d even looked it up on my phone in the car ride here if that gas was damaging. Not because of her, but since Kyan had done it and I was pack lead, it was sort of my responsibility.
And I might be a cat person.
The drug wouldn’t hurt her cat—who was actually stupid cute. Lucy was already poking around the kitchen rather drunkenly and had found her litter box.
“She’s okay,” I said.
Glade nodded, shivering, clutching her bag as she remained curled up.
I forced myself to shut the door, reminding myself that she deserved everything that she was getting. When she’d rejected us that day, she’d torn us from our family. Taken everything that had ever mattered.
She deserved this.
Less than this even, because by bringing her here I was offering my pack’s protection from the Brotherhood, and no matter how much I hated her, that was something I took seriously.
I returned to the couch, watching as Lucy sniffed at the TV stand, then stumbled a little on her way over to the couch.
Knight appeared from his room as I leaned down to scratch her, and found myself rather irritated that I didn’t get the purr Kyan had.
Was he actually onto something with the scent marking?
“This,” Knight said, sitting down on the couch beside me with a beer. “Is the stupidest thing we’ve ever done.”
I couldn’t argue like I had earlier—before we’d decided to visit the High Roller.
“What’s the worst that could happen?”I’d asked. I needed this. I would tell her to her face that we were over her. I was a prideful, arrogant idiot, and I’d eaten my fucking words.
Getting in Ace’s crossfire was not a direction I’d thought the night might take.
My silence was damning enough.
Knight snorted. “She’s going to leave us for dead first chance she gets—just like last time,” he went on. “Just asking to get kicked in the nuts again.”
I took a sip of my beer but it was tasteless.
Had she been crying? I wondered. Was she, right now? How could I hate her this much and still care? If she was crying, it was probably because of me for fuck’s sake.
“We meet her again and what’s the first thing she does?” Knight went on. “She fucking lies. And now we’re caught in a Brotherhood feud.”
She had lied. I knew that. But there was more to it.
She’d been angry when I mentioned Ace. She tried to control it but there was a cut on my face in testament to that fury. Fury and… something else I’d seen in her eyes when I’d brought my brother up.
“I think she’s scared,” I said. I realised how true it was the moment it came out of my mouth. Glade and fear weren’t words I’d easily throw together in a sentence. “Way more than she’s letting on. If she lied about the Brotherhood, it’s because she didn’t think we’d save her if we knew.”
“Zed.” Knight looked at me incredulously. “She didn’t seem dead set on our help in the first place.”
“I don’t get it.”
“You don’t get why she doesn’t want to be around us? After she left?—”
“If she’s running from the Brotherhood then no,” I snapped. “I don’t get why she doesn’t want our help.”
“You’re blind. She wanted to go, but what did you do? Tied her up and dragged her here against her will.”
“Something’s not right.” I couldn’t shake that. “And besides, if she’d told us, would it have changed anything?” I asked.
A strange silence followed that question and Knight’s lip curled. Fuck the answer we were both thinking.
The last intel we’d got said Ace had dropped her. She’d cheated on him and he’d curbed her. Exiled, just like we’d been—only it hadn’t blown up his relationship with the Romano Mafia she’d come from. I guess her dad thought her behaviour was shitty enough to keep the alliance.
Well, no. That wasn’t why.
It’s because the alliance had become useful to them both.
I was a prideful fucker, and being afraid of my baby brother wasn’t something I’d admit to lightly. But I wasn’t a fool. Ace had turned out smarter than I’d even known. Both on taking my place from me, and what he’d done with it since. I hated him, but I couldn’t deny he’d picked the Brotherhood up off the floor and made it into something unstoppable.
But the point was, she was exiled, which meant… “If she’s on Ace’s radar now, it’s not good,” I said.
Knight was silent. We both knew the only time they came knocking after they sent you packing was for one thing.
“She hasn’t told us why,” Knight muttered. “It’s dangerous. We’ve never bothered him, and he’s never bothered us. So what did she do to get back in his sights?”
I took another drink of my beer, feeling a chill creep up my spine.
“If she’s lying, even now,” Knight said. “Whatever she’s hiding, I just hope it doesn’t put one of us—or all of us—in a grave.”