Chapter 1 #3
Fiorella pats Mars’ cheek. “Clean that shit off your fingers before you arrive. You look weak. Ink fades but fear doesn’t.
” Her gaze slides to me, and this time, my heart jumps.
She’s talking about me — the Rogue. “Look at your sisters. They’re fucking nightmares.
But you’re still lost in your daydreams.”
I wince at the same time as Mars does.
Gianna, however, gives a smug smile.
Gianna runs the Omega Auctions.
She is a nightmare to the kidnapped and sold Omegas. I can’t wait to kick her ass. I have trained my entire life for that. I’m the top fighter in the pack.
Just wait.
One day soon…
Rage surges through me.
When our gazes meet, Fiorella appears to read the threat in mine. Her eyes widen. She takes a hurried step backward.
Satisfying.
Mars looks anguished. “I won’t let you down, Mom.”
“You already have.” Fiorella’s hand falls to the back of his neck and tightens, until Mars gasps with pain. “Don’t fuck up this alliance between us and the Billionaires. I have been working on it for months.” When she violently shakes Mars, I can’t hold back the growl. “Don’t bring shame on us.”
“I won’t, Chief Alpha.”
Fiorella throws Mars against the wall. He catches himself painfully with his hands, panting.
I ball my hands at my sides.
Fiorella challengingly meets my gaze. “Anything to say?”
I take a steadying breath.
I can’t be taken off my job as Mars’ bodyguard. It’s too important that I am present at his first meeting with Rosa.
Something is off about this alliance.
It’s meant to be the first step in the courting between Alpha and Omega, despite being a business deal.
But why do I feel that something is wrong?
The Billionaires are deadlier than my own pack. They are the most dangerous mob family in America.
It’s the reason that Fiorella is taking the risk of sending me with Mars.
“No, boss,” I answer, coolly.
I hold my breath, as Fiorella scrutinizes me for a long moment.
Then she coldly pulls a phone out of her pocket. “Keep my heir out of trouble. I am holding you responsible. You know what will happen if you fail.”
“No,” Mars gasps in shock.
I stare at Fiorella.
I shouldn’t be surprised.
After all, this is what she’s blackmailed me with my entire life.
Disobey…backtalk…fail…and we will hand you in to the authorities because you’re a Rogue. They will lock you up for life or possibly, execute you.
I stand still, outwardly calm as I’ve been taught, despite my racing pulse.
I stare back at Fiorella without saying a word. It psyches her out.
Mars, however, falls apart.
“Don’t,” he begs. Tears tremble on his thick lashes. “I’ll bond with Rosa. Whatever you want. If anything goes wrong, punish me. This will be my failure, and not my sis…I mean, Rogue’s. Please.”
I fix him with a stern stare, silencing him.
He almost called me sister.
If he’d done that when it wasn’t just the two of us around, then he would have earned himself punishment.
I simply hold out my hand for the phone. “What’s the mission?”
I knew that this wouldn’t be as simple as allowing me to travel with my brother. There has always been a price for time spent with him.
It’s worth paying it.
“That’s what I like about you — no fuss or messy emotions. You’re all business.” Fiorella flashes a sharp smile. “One final mission. If you take care of the Hunters pack for me before your brother’s wedding, then you can remain permanently as his bodyguard.”
Take care of means assassinate.
I am a Rogue. In this pack, it means that I am the hunter.
“Wait, what?” Mars stares at me, confused. “What is she…? Even I know who the Hunters are. They’re killers. Outlaws. Why would…?”
I open the phone, flicking through the file on it eagerly. Joy soars through me.
This is the riskiest mission I have been sent on. If I complete it, however, then I will assigned as my brother’s personal bodyguard.
It’s what I’ve wanted my entire life.
Bad luck for Fiorella that it will also mean I will be in the perfect role to position Mars for a secret coup.
Yet my brow furrows, as I read the file. “The Hunters are contract killers and high-level bounty hunters. They’re amongst the best in the business.”
The color drains from my brother’s face. “You can’t be serious.”
I glance at him. “I’m better.”
My sister snorts. “Let’s hope that your arrogance doesn’t bite you in the ass.
This Hunter pack has been a thorn in our sides for months.
They have been rescuing Omegas from the auctions.
The other mob families are also having problems with the Hunters.
Everybody either wants to hire them or take them out. ”
I glance at the files. “There’s not much here. A masked Alpha and a beautiful, sweet-scented Beta who seduces his marks…”
“What do you expect?” Fiorella’s lips curl back, revealing her sharp canines.
“Isn’t it your job to research and then hunt this mysterious pack?
Don’t you want to be free of missions? To be part of your brother’s pack?
Then pull off this alliance with the Billionaires in Las Vegas and then kill the Hunters. ”