If anything, he’s been the only one to show me any sort of trust.
So, I let myself believe him. I let myself hope I’ll see him again.
When the door shuts, I see Emmett, sitting with his arms crossed in front of his chest, scowling in front of my cell.
“Don’t look so happy,Emmett,” I bite out. He flips me off, and I scoff. “A bit sensitive for an alpha, aren’t you?” I can’t seem to help myself around this alpha. The need to irk him, to piss him off is strong.
I want to rattle his fucking cage.
“Aren’t you a little bitchy for an omega?” he snaps.
I’ve hit a nerve.
“Maybe you just bring out the bitch in me,Em.”
“I’ll bring something else out in you, princess, if you don’t shut up right now.”
I lean against the bars of my cell, flashing my gaze at him.
“Go ahead. You wouldn’t be the first,” I say. I mean the words as a threat, but that’s not how they come out, no.
They come out less strong and bold than I intend, and he sits up straighter, his entire expression shifting. He opens his mouth to speak, but before he can respond the door opens, and in walks Mr. Blue Eyes.
Everything around me stops. The air thins, and all there is ishim.
“Gage, what the—”
“You are relieved of your duties, Emmett,” he says carefully.
“The fuck?” Emmett growls as Gage approaches him. I watch, gripping the bars with my hands as Gage places a hand on Emmett’s shoulder.
“See if Olly needs any help in the lab.”
“Fucking hell,” Emmett growls, glancing back at me, but then he relents. “Whatever,” he says as he shoves Gage off of him.
A strange sort of hurricane starts in my core, spreading through me like a wildfire as I catch Gage’s steely gaze.
“Auryn.” He says my name, and it is…
Everything.The way he rolls his r’s. The inflection on the n. He breathes my name like a prayer.
“Gage, is it?” I ask, chewing on my lip.
“It is,” he says, carefully approaching my cell.
“You are the leader.” It isn’t a question as much as it is a statement.
He smirks. “I am their commander, yes, but—”
He punches in the code into my cell, and the door opens. He stands there stoically, waiting for me to make my move. To run, I realize.
He’s calling my bluff.
I won’t give him the satisfaction. Instead I saunter over to my bed and sit in the middle, cross-legged, and I stare back at him.
“I am notyourcommander, now am I, Auryn?”
His question makes something inside of me twitch. The need to assert myself, to challenge him is…intense.
