Once I’d collected myself, I plucked the blanket off the hook and returned to find the Alphas staring each other down. Aggression coiled through the air and mingled with their Alpha pheromones.I won’t survive them.I sank down onto the couch, tucking the blanket around me and over the towel as if the multiple barriers could protect me from the urges of my instinctual side.
“You’re needed with security,” Elias said, voice tinged with frustration. Sinclair snapped out of whatever had taken hold of him, and he grabbed the soup again.
“Open up,” he murmured, waving the half-full spoon near my face. I didn’t argue with him about feeding me again, sensing that something else was going on, especially between them. Something left unsaid.
“Sin,” Elias snapped while I chewed.
“Elias,” he muttered, annoyed. “What?”
“A fight broke out downstairs. Same ex-boyfriend trying to take Leah.”
Sinclair stiffened, keeping the next spoonful mid-air. “The fucker who broke my favorite chair?”
At Elias’ grunt, his jaw flexed, and finally, he shrugged as if shaking off the anger and shoved the spoon in my mouth.
“Sin,” Elias bit out, tugging the sleeve of his dress shirt up.
“Fine,” he huffed, “Take over.”
“I can feed myself.” I grabbed the Styrofoam cup.
“Careful,” Elias and Sinclair shouted at the same time. I ignored them, trying to play off the pinch in my ribcage. Elias’ shrill ringtone broke through the room, cutting the tension like a knife.
Sinclair rolled his shoulders.
“Fine, fine.” He put his hands up. “I’ll go handle it.”
“I would hope,” Elias snapped, glaring. “Considering you handle security.”
Sinclair backed out of the room with his hands still up and a smirk on his lips. When I turned around, Elias was sitting in the chair before me.
“I won’t be feeding you if that’s what you’re waiting for.”
“Wasn’t expecting you to.” I scooped up some more lentils, finishing the soup quickly, the savory tang spreading on my tongue and warming my belly. All while he watched me like I was about to pull a gun out and start shooting everyone.
With our every interaction, he seemed more and more tightly-strung.
“What crawled up your ass?” I muttered, setting the empty cup on the floor.
“You.”
I pressed my lips together.
“No one as pretty as you should be this pissed off,” I grumbled, enjoying the anger rippling over his features.
The muscle in his jaw jumped crazily.
I bit back my snicker.
Getting under his skin was more entertaining than I thought possible. I rolled my neck side to side, stretching out the tension. The pinch in my bicep forced me to move it.
I stood to properly secure the towel under my arms. “When I started looking into all the bad shit you were involved with, I never expected you to be such a stickler.”
The next second, he was towering over me, my nose about grazing against his chest. I slowly inclined my head to meet his eyes.
An Alpha this close, so obviously threatening me, should have forced my instinct into cowering, but I wanted to poke the bear more.
I clenched my thighs tighter together, and it made the slick so obvious.
