Slade didn’t adjust his gaze. “I know almost everything about you, Emmeline Anders. The secrets I haven’t uncovered yet remain only because I’ve been too busy keeping you safe to dig through my sources. But rest assured, I will figure it all out.”
This fucking dragon.
“Did it ever occur to you…” I started way too loudly, cutting my annoyance back only when Hunter stirred behind me. Weirdly, Finley didn’t move at all. I lowered my voice to a hiss: “…that if you wanted to know about me, you should have just asked. I don’t like you prying into my past.”
The dragon leaned even farther forward in his chair, and whatever relaxed casualness he’d displayed was gone. “You’re my fated mate,” he said, and his tone instantly sent goosebumps over my skin. Hunter’s hold tightened over me as he pulled me onto his side of the bed and away from Slade.
I had a very brief freak-out that I’d pushed the dragon too far, before remembering that he’d never hurt his brothers. Or me.
I was almost positive.
“And you’re keeping secrets from us.” His tone remained flat, but with an undercurrent that had my quite full bladder ready to evacuate its contents.
Kellan and Hunter were in real danger of being peed on if Slade continued in the same reverberating tone. Which he absolutely did. Of course.
“It’s my role as your mate to ensure that you are safe, and to do that, I need all the information about you. I need to know the threat before it shows up.Fuck!” Fire flashed in his eyes. “I need to eliminate the threat before it shows up. I almost failed at that once already, and not even you can stop me from protecting you.” He paused briefly, and a fraction of his dominance crushing the room eased. “As I said, I know almost everything about you, Snow. You better get used to it, because if I could crawl into your fucking head and live there… I would. Hacking into your past is a poor, second-best option.”
My heart slammed in my chest, but when Hunter’s hold relaxed, I figured Slade was no longer in danger mode. I took the opportunity to roll over Hunter and slide to the floor. Not only did I desperately need to pee, but I also desperately needed to escape this room. And my feelings.
“I’m going to shower,” I mumbled, feeling pathetic as I fled Kellan’s room clad only in my underwear.
As I exited into the hallway, I heard Hunter say, “When is her birthday? You haven’t told us that or updated her file.”
My file.Yeah, these fuckers were all going down. I needed to figure out a way to get back at all of them—not Kellan—for their various and varied assholeish behaviors. It would take some planning, and maybe a little help from Cora, but there would be a way.
I’d figure it out. Starting with Slade Riverson.
In my room, I decided I needed more than a moment to get my head right, which led me to the bath—my place of relaxationand rejuvenation. With how off balanced I currently felt, I’d never needed this reprieve more. It was hard to believe it had been less than a month since my entire life was upended.
I’d thought my life was over the day I got captured and charged as a rogue, and then again when Hunter had scented me as his mate, along with the unsuccessfulandsuccessful kidnappings.
I’d fit a lot of drama, stress, and fear into my time in Golden Claw, but I’d also found real joy. Real friendships. And a pack who treated me like I was important and worth their time and care.
Pack, my wolf whispered, her tone content after our run and pack bonding session in Kellan’s bed.Our pack.
I know,I told her, and for the first time in a long time it felt like we were on the same page when it came to being part of this quintet.
After I got the water running to fill the massive tub, I searched through the jars of oils and salts sitting on the ledge, noticing a few new selections. One was a light brown salt mix, and when I removed the lid I was hit with the scent of chocolate and coffee. The oil next to it smelled like toasted marshmallows, and I wasn’t surprised to find the other new addition was caramel and cinnamon. The alphas had snuck in their scents, with Finley’s the only one missing.
As the scents of pack filled the room, I debated what one to use. My favorite was Kellan, of course, because I missed him so damn much. I could really use a hit of him on my skin.
Not that I wasn’t tempted to add all three, because the other two weren’t far behind in the favorites scale these days. Hunter and Slade had wrapped me up in their particular brand ofcarelately, and it was destruction and perfection in one.
When the water was full and steamy, I added the caramel salt, stripped off my underwear, and sank into the heateddepths. The stress and unease that had been plaguing me vanished as fast as the salts into the steaming depths. There was very little in the world that could compare to this feeling.
A groan slipped out as all my tense muscles relaxed, and when there was a responding rumble, my eyes shot open to meet a stormy gray gaze. I jerked up splashing water over the side of the bath and onto Hunter’s pants.
“Shit. Fuck. What the fuck are—?” My breaths heaved in and out, and I had no idea why I was so shocked—these alphas had no boundaries. “What are you doing in here, Hurricane?”
Gold flickered in his eyes as his wolf came out to play, and I remained motionless under his predatory stare. The CEO, suit-clad, highly controlled man was no longer here… I had the beast.
Hunter’s long legs propelled him the extra step to the side as he snatched me up. My wet, naked body was plastered against his bare chest, and when he kissed me I forgot everything.
My name. My past. My worries.
Hunter’s kiss was my entire personality until he stopped devouring my mouth like it was the literal air he needed for existence. “Little omega,” he murmured, his chest shaking. “I fucking knew it would be like this.I knew you would wreck me from the depths of my soul.”
I’d never seen his control snap so thoroughly, and it both terrified and thrilled me. Along with a healthy dose of lust and need. The ache in my core was so intense that as Hunter tightened his hold on my ass, until his strong hands bit into muscle, I rocked against the hard length pressing into my center. Yep, I was about to come with very little other stimulation.
