Chapter Nine #2
My stomach drops, but Pace stays steady by my side, his hand still steady on my back.
“You can still fix this, Jude.” Father shifts his glare back to me. “While I’m disappointed that you spread your legs for the first alpha who looked at you, it’s not too late. This mating,” he says the word like it’s poison, “can be scrubbed.
Rage twists with the fear in my belly, and I shake my head. “No,” I whisper.
“You’re done talking to him,” Pace says firmly.
Marcus scoffs. “‘You think you can just claim him and disappear? You think I wouldn’t come for my property?"
That’s when Pace’s body tenses, his voice dropping to a dangerous growl. “How the fuck did you even know where to find us?”
My father smiles, thin and humorless. “I have had the entire fucking city looking for my son. Every security guard, policeman, and private investigator in a hundred-mile radius has been looking for Jude.” He puffs out his chest like he’s proud of how smart he is.
“And I’ve included a handsome reward for anyone who found him. ”
“The guard at the agency,” Pace says, and my father’s smile grows.
My stomach drops.
Pace nods once, like he expected that. “You need to get the fuck out of my house.”
But Father doesn’t move. Instead, he shifts his full attention to me again.
“You’re a bad omega, Jude,” he says evenly. “Running away. Trying to hide from your obligations. Bruce was a good match, and you embarrassed me.”
Hearing that man’s name makes bile rise in my throat.
“It’s not too late,” my father continues. “You can still make this right. End this farce and come home. I can still find you a respectable mate. Someone worthy of our name.”
My heart pounds so hard it hurts. “I’m not going anywhere,” I manage. My voice shakes, but it’s there.
Father’s eyes flash. “Come. Here. Now!”
The command slams into me like a physical force.
My knees buckle. My head swims. My body tries to obey. It is instinct carved deep from years of conditioning. But this time there’s something else.
The bond.
I grab onto it like a lifeline. I pour everything into it. My fear. My defiance. My need to stay. The warmth of Pace’s presence floods back through me, steady and strong. It wraps around my spine, anchors my feet to the floor.
I lean into it.
Into him. My mate.
Marcus’s eyes widen slightly, and he pushes harder. “Jude,” he hisses my name, and the pressure increases. My vision blurs. My nails dig into Pace’s shirt.
And then, without warning, it breaks.
My father’s command slides off me like the rain, and I can actually breathe.
Marcus’s face shifts, deep lines pulling between his brows, then his eyes go wide.
He knows.
He knows he can’t reach me anymore.
And something ugly snaps in him. “You ungrateful little whore!” The word lands like a slap. “After everything I’ve done for you. After all the pain and suffering you’ve caused, this is how to repay me?”
I feel Pace go rigid. “Get out,” he says quietly.
Marcus laughs. “Or what?”
Pace steps forward. “Or I’ll remove you.”
Then everything explodes into a flurry of movement.
One second, the two alphas are glaring down at each other, and the next, they’re standing chest to chest. Marcus swings first, but Pace blocks it. His forearm slams into my father’s wrist, knocking the punch wide. The sound of impact echoes through the room.
I stumble backward as Marcus lunges again, grabbing at Pace’s collar.
My alpha grabs him by the lapels of his stiff suit jacket and drives him backward. They crash into the coffee table. The burned circle from the cigar flashes in my mind as the table tips and skids.
Marcus snarls and swings wildly.
Pace ducks and drives his shoulder into Marcus’s chest, shoving him hard into the armchair. The chair flips sideways.
“Stop!” I shout, but they don’t hear me.
Marcus claws for Pace’s throat.
Pace catches his wrist and twists.
There’s a sharp snap, and Marcus grunts hard. But my mate doesn’t stop, he uses the momentum to slam the older alpha flat onto the hardwood, and the air whooshes out of my father’s lungs.
Pace is on him in an instant, knee pressing against father’s chest, fisting in his collar, and holding him down.
“Listen carefully, motherfucker,” Pace says, breathing hard but controlled. “You don’t get to talk to my omega like that ever again. You don’t get to command him, and you sure as hell don’t get to take him anywhere.”
Marcus struggles, but he’s losing.
“He’s mine,” Pace continues, voice steady and lethal. “Legally. Physically. In every way that matters.”
Marcus grunts, then snarls, “You think this is over?”
“Yes,” Pace answers. He shoves the older alpha once more for emphasis, then stands and steps back, putting himself between me and my father. “Get out of my fucking house,” Pace says.
I watch with wide eyes as Marcus pushes himself up slowly, straightening his ruined jacket. His eyes are wild now. Furious. Humiliated.
He looks at me one last time. “This isn’t finished.”
“It is for tonight,” Pace replies.
After a long, seething second, Marcus turns and storms toward the door.
Pace doesn’t relax until it slams shut behind him.
Only then do his shoulders drop. He turns immediately, hands finding my face.
“Are you okay?” he asks.
My legs give out. He catches me before I hit the floor.