Knox was not my alpha.
For a second, I couldn’t breathe. But I was supposed to be talking to Paolo for a reason. I squeezed my eyes shut, willing the red haze to recede. Knox needed Paolo to testify against the Vozzinas. Paolo wasn’t going to steal my mates, even if Knox had been one of them. Which he very muchwasn’t.
The alphas all hated him as much as I did.
I drew in a shuddering breath and let it out slowly.
“So, get your gland removed,” I told him in a completely flat voice. “Knox is loaded. He’d probably pay for it. He offered to pay for mine.”
“I can’t get my gland removed!” Paolo’s pitch went up half an octave. “I’d be—”
The word ‘worthless’ hug in the air, unspoken.
“Yeah?” I prodded, the tough-girl persona that had kept me alive on the streets pushing to the fore. “Aw...boo-hoo. Life sucks, and then you die.” Then, inspiration struck. “Though, I guess there’s also a third option—if you’ve got the spine for it.”
“What do you mean, a third option? You’re either mated or you’re not!”
And didn’t I know all about that, after the past few weeks.
“You’re either mated, you get a glandectomy ... or he dies,” I said. “It’s only Lorenzo that bit you, right? No one else in his pack?”
“Y-yes?” Paolo replied in a tiny voice. “But what do you—”
I interrupted again, needing to keep him off balance. “I’m not offering to kill him for you, idiot. Tell me, how many capital crimes has he committed? And—more importantly—how many could you prove to a jury?”
The resulting silence went on for so long that I pulled the phone away from my ear to make sure the call was still connected.
It was.
“Matthew said he wants me to talk to the cops.”
The red haze descended again. My pulse throbbed in my temple. I gritted my teeth.
“Mr. Knockleyis probably your best bet to stay alive at this point,” I managed.
That hadn’t come across as too murderous, had it?
“How do I know I can trust him?” Paolo asked. He sounded near tears.
That part, at least, I could answer.
“I nearly killed him, and he still forgave me,” I said. “Admittedly, youalsotried to kill him... but like he told you just now, he needs you. From the sound of it, you need him more.”
The silences were doing a lot of heavy lifting in this conversation. I let this one stretch.
“Let me talk to him again.”
The entitled tone made me want to gouge his eyes out. Enough of my feelings had started leaking through the bond that Heath was sending me questioning nudges. Good thing Gage was still sleeping, or he probably would have been hobbling full speed through the corridors on crutches to find out what was happening.
“Sure,” I said sweetly; the politeness a thin veneer over a cauldron of bubbling poison.
I left the bathroom and held the phone out to Knox. “He wants to talk to you again.”
I only realized that my fingers were curled around the cell like claws when his first gentle tug didn’t pull it from my grip. I made myself relax my hand.
“This is Knockley,” Knox said. “Have you thought about my offer?”
He hadn’t put the call back on speaker, so I couldn’t make out Paolo’s answer.
