“I’m quite surprised that you’re participating in a group fight with all three of your dogs,” the man standing in front of Rowan says, sipping at the whiskey in the tumbler he’s drinking from. “That one dog of yours seems rather hard to control. I find it hard to believe he won’t just tear apart his supposed team mates when they’re all let loose.”
“Well, you’ll just have to see,” Rowan shrugs. “If you’re betting tonight, though, bet on the Mercer Family. Don’t wanna toot my own horn, but their training program since I’ve worked with ‘em has been... special.”
The whiskey-drinking alpha’s gaze cuts to me and I fight to keep my breaths shallow and even as I stare down at the floor, my hands clasped in front of me.
He smells like freshly cut grass, not necessarily the most disgusting scent I’ve had to endure tonight, considering how many people there are, but I’m already starting to get a headache from the alpha pheromones and dominance being thrown around by the posturing businessmen around me.
“Does this pretty little thing have anything to do with it?” He asks, reaching out, like he’s going to brush the back of his hand against my breast.
Rowan’s hand flies out and grips the alpha’s wrist. He doesn’t step in front of me, but the message is clear.
“Wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Rowan says, his voice low.
The intensity of Rowan’s gaze seems to catch the alpha off guard because he jerks his hand back, his eyes narrowing.
“Hope you understand,” Rowan continues, his tone going back to something deceptively casual. “Got a look don’t touch policy with her.”
“I see,” the alpha answers slowly, his eyes dragging along my body far more intensely, now that it seems he’s not allowed to touch me.
“But she’s played a big part in training the dogs up for this fight,” Rowan says, drawing the alpha’s attention back to him. “Their ferality was growing too hard to control, but now that’s not an issue anymore.”
“Really! Hmmm, I’ll have to look into this for my stable,” the alpha hums. “Such a shame that the supply of omegas has dwindled ever since that stupid Graylock pack came up with that case. Things were going so well before they stuck their noses where they didn’t belong.”
“Yeah,” Rowan answers halfheartedly, his knuckles going white around the leash.
“I guess they had it coming,” The alpha sighs. “I heard that Sebastian, the son of the Montgomery family in charge of Novacure Pharmaceuticals was shot dead in the extraction mission. Apparently, they kidnapped the bonded mate of that Graylock pack. How stupid could they be?”
I stiffen and it takes everything I have not to react.
Sebastian Montgomery? As inMr. Sebastian?
Shotdead?
In theextraction mission?
All these words bounce around my head like a boulder crashing down a hill.
Did Reyna escape? Did her mates come and save her? Is thatwhat Rowan was talking about when he was freaking out and first sharing his addiction with me?
I need to ask more questions, this is huge.
Does that mean the other girls have been saved too?
My hands clutch desperately in the silk fabric of the robe hanging open by my sides.
If I hadn’t broken the rules and gotten sold here, would I have been saved too?
“Now that the main head of Novacure Pharmaceuticals has been arrested and the entire company is under investigation, there’s a question of how exactly we’re supposed to sell our product and get more of the booster. It’s quite the dilemma,” the alpha continues. “So your family is quite lucky you managed to get your hands on an omega of your own.”
“Yeah, we did get quite lucky with the timing,” Rowan nods politely, though based on the way he’s angling his body ever so slightly towards me, he seems more concerned with how I’m doing than with the conversation going on.
A buzzer sounds and the lights bordering the top of the fighting cage glow red.
One of the fighters has the other pinned underneath him, raining down blow after brutal blow.
The buzzer sounds again, loud and angry. It mixes with the excitement of the crowd as the fighter continues.
One of the trainers, mingling a couple of groups away from Rowan and I curses and pulls out a remote. A shock collar remote.
