Chapter 2 #2
Does my brother believe that he is living in one of those romcoms, which he would force me to watch with him on his phone when he’d sneak into my basement, starring the Omega Jex.
Jex would be courted by the romantic Alpha with a range of grand gestures, until he fell into his arms, purring.
And then fell into his nest, of course.
Damio’s eyes sparkle with amusement. “Look at that, Rosa. He’s trying to court you.”
“I am,” Mars says, earnestly. “I know that we’re from rival families. But I don’t want you to fear bonding me. I promise that I will cherish you. We can be happy and—”
“Blah, blah. Do you ever shut up?” Rosa rolls her eyes.
She would shut up if I put a bullet between her eyes.
I itch to pull out my weapon.
Mars passes her the rose. “A rose for my Rosa.”
“Cringe.” Rosa hurls the rose to the floor. “You’re giving me the ick.”
Mars recoils. “I don’t…I’m not trying to make you uncomfortable. I only want to…”
Don’t do it.
I drop my hand to his shoulder in warning, but he still flourishes the rose embossed poem.
“I wrote this for you,” Mars says, quietly. I can feel the tremors running through him. This is a fucking disaster. “I am your Alpha. Have my bond, my heart, my loyalty, my—”
“Yawn.” Rosa snatches up her phone and begins to scroll again. “Fuck off, yeah? Can I reject the Alphahole, Dad? He’s weaker than the Omegas in our pack.”
She rejected him.
The bitch.
I have taken responsibility for this alliance working. I can’t return home without the courting going through.
How do I fix this?
Fear races through me.
Mars lurches to his feet. He has become ashen.
He looks devastated but now, he is staring at Rosa with a coldness that is rare for him.
“I am not weak,” Mars insists, low and hard, “simply because I want to treat my Omega well.”
“Bullshit again.” When Damio thumps the table, I shove my jacket open to give myself better access to my sidearm.
The enforcers subtly do the same thing. My pulse races.
“You want love. And that’s a lie. We don’t bond for love in our type of families.
This is a business transaction. I never expected your Chief Alpha would have raised you soft enough not to realize that, kid. ”
“She didn’t raise me soft.” Mars’ voice is frosty. In fact, she didn’t raise him at all. Nico did. “If you want to give up your daughter in a business transaction and not have her courted, then fucking fine. Let’s do it.”
“That’s more like it.” Damio shoves the stack of papers toward Mars. “Read it.”
Mars’ brow furrows. “What’s this?”
“Just a contract for you to sign.”
Mars glances at me.
This is unexpected.
Fiorella has already signed the paperwork. We’re not authorized to sign anything further.
Is this a trap?
Mars pushes the paperwork further down the table to me, and I bend over it. I scan the top papers.
“It is a contract,” I confirm, clinically. “About which of the packs control the territory and property.” Then I straighten, as my gaze slides to Damio. He meets it with a challenging smile. “He’s changing the deal that our Chief Alpha signed. Fiorella would never agree to this.”
Mars appears panicked. “What the fuck is this about?”
I push the papers away. “Don’t sign.”
Damio’s eyes flash with rage.
He leans forward on the table. “I told you, this is business. Are you a real Alpha with a knot of his own? Or some kid who turns up like it’s his college Prom night?”
I grip Mars by the shoulders. “Don’t listen to him.”
“If you don’t sign,” Damio warns, “then you can return to your Chief Alpha with no alliance. What will happen to you then?”
Mars turns to me, anguished. “Ro…?”
I know that he’s thinking about what will happen to me and not him, if we return without the promise of a bond.
Dread forms a cold ball in my stomach.
Yet it doesn’t matter what happens to me.
This is about the future of the Adonis pack and Mars’ future happiness and safety.
I may be killed if we return without signing. But Mars will be killed if we return having signed as bad of a deal as this.
Damio is breaking his word. Shaming our family.
I shove Mars away from the contract toward Rosa, and she lets out an outraged squeak, as he bumps the phone out of her hands. When I hear its screen crack, I internally smile.
Then I subtly glance at the exit.
How do I get my brother out of this room alive?
“We need to check this with the Chief Alpha first,” I say. “In private. I will take the contract back with us to our rooms for you to read thoroughly before you sign, boss.”
It’s a lie.
I will find a way to escape with Mars and fly back to Washington.
Unfortunately, Damio appears to realize that.
He slams his palm down onto the table, while Mars nods his hurried agreement.
“You’re going to sign now,” Damio growls. “Why are you taking orders from a fucking bodyguard?”
Damio’s pheromones wash over the room thickly enough to make his daughter choke and whimper in submission.
In response, my Rogue Powers rise inside me.
I sense them when I am challenged by enemies, an intense wave of roiling power that has been trapped inside me for too long.
With extreme willpower, I force my powers back down inside.
When Mars shakes his head, I notice the way that the enforcers shift as if readying for action.
Fuck, this is it.
Adrenaline spikes through me.
There are six enforcers between Mars and the door.
I grab my brother’s arm, shielding him from as many of the Alphas as possible.
Mars’ fingers curl into my wrist like he wishes that he could be holding my hand but knows that would mean death for both of us, whether at Damio’s hands…or Fiorella’s.
Except, I am shocked by the pained cry he lets out.
“Ro…” His grip slips from my wrist.
Panic claws at my guts, but I instantly drag out my pistol from my jacket holster.
This has been a trap.
It was from the start.
Mars staggers to his knees.
I aim the gun steadily at Damio’s forehead.
Kill shot.
The Chief Alpha doesn’t drop his gaze.
In fact, he looks amused.
Immediately, the enforcers pull out their guns and point them at me.
I don’t care.
“Mars…?” Sweat drips down the back of my neck. I can’t risk glancing down at him. And it’s agonizing. “Are you okay? What happened?”
“S-s-stabbed.” Mars is panting through the pain.
His breathing is labored.
But he’s talking.
Talking is good because it means alive.
“Press your hand against the wound,” I order. I’m going to kill everyone in this room. I never look away from Damio, who sprawls in his chair like he hasn’t just started a mafia war. “Keep the pressure on it.”
“Your mistake was letting your guard down around an Omega.” Damio holds his arms out to his daughter.
To my horror, Rosa scoots over from her seat to sit on her dad’s lap. She is twirling a small, blood-soaked dagger between her fingers with a smirk.
Her dainty fingers are stained with blood in the same way that my brothers usually are with ink.
I feel sick.
It was my mistake.
I underestimated Rosa, accepting at face value the intel on her that she was pampered and cruel but not assessing as I would another dynamic whether she was also as violent as her dad.
I should know better than anyone not to judge someone based on their dynamic.
I’ll never make that mistake again.
“Mars would have loved you.” My throat is tight. “Why do you want him dead?”
Rosa rolls her eyes. “I don’t. I want the pathetic Alpha to sign that contract.”
“How about I just shoot you instead?” I tilt my head.
“That’s an option,” Damio agrees. “But then my men would shoot both of you. Now, put down your gun, read through the rest of that contract, and encourage your boss to sign before he bleeds out on my floor. I have another meeting after yours, and I don’t want to waste time burying another body today. ”
Another?
I don’t bother to ask, but instead, sit at the table. I lay my gun on the surface in front of me with one hand still resting on it.