Half listening to my gamma, I reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone to text Joanna for the hundredth time.
Where the hell are you?
Maya shifted, causing my gaze to leave the phone screen.
“Marcus…” She paused, and that meant I should take another swig of my drink.
The damn thing was empty.
“Did the sister say anything this time?” she asked carefully.
Damn it.
I didn’t want to talk about Latoya. I didn’t want tothinkabout her. If the Goddess saw fit to bond me to the hunter, why the hell would She make her sister smell sofuckinggood? Sweet, like a budding hyacinth. Earthy, like the ground after rain.
There was no mistaking that the two were closely related. And while she wasn’tassexy as Joanna, the traitor’s defiantdemeanor reminded me of my hunter every time she opened her mouth.
Then there was the way she liked to flip her locs over her shoulder—such a simple gesture, but it made me think about the night I fucked Joanna for the first time. The way Joanna had gathered her braids to the side so I could unclasp the necklace she’d worn to dampen her aura.
The way her power stole my breath and caused the blood to drain from my face and run straight down to my cock.
“Alpha.” The furrow on Maya’s brow deepened. “What did Latoya say?”
I forced myself not to pelt my empty glass across the room. “She won’t talk to me about the uprising.” But she sure loved offering a hole for me to fuck. “She refuses to say anything of value until Joanna agrees to speak to her.”
I snatched Maya’s glass from her hands and emptied it before she could protest. After a guttural belch escaped my lips, I leaned against the couch, letting my head drop back as I closed my eyes.
I didn’t want to think about Latoya’s tongue. I wanted her dead.
But the hunter would never forgive me.
“The rest of the rogues die tonight.” My voice was low, but my decision unyielding. Someone had to die. “Save the strongest one for me.”
I felt as Maya whirled to face me. “That doesn’t make sense,” she protested.
“Marcus.”
I peeped my eyes open and turned my head toward the male voice.
Jerome stood in the doorway with a curious expression on his face. “Why are you two in the dark?” he asked, flipping on the lights.
I squinted against the sudden brightness. “Damn it, J,” I snapped, instinctively shielding my eyes.
I didn’t need my vision to know how Maya reacted to the flood of lights. Relief emanated from her like a tidal wave. But out of curiosity, I eased open my eyes to steal a glance at the woman sitting beside me.
Her tight lips rose into a lazy smile as she watched Jerome approach us—a soft, quiet kind of yearning for the man whose head fell into a slight bow of respect.
Thanks to Joanna, I’d learned my gamma was in love with her strongest warrior. Now, I wondered how I’d ever missed it.
“Maya. Alpha,” Jerome greeted. “The scout returned with his tail between his legs. He left his post this morning and didn’t see where the hunter disappeared to, but she didn’t return from her jog.”
Maya’s gaze darted from Jerome’s face to mine.
I ignored her silent question, rubbing my temples to subdue my growing irritation. “Where’s the scout now?” My wolf growled as we waited for a reply.
Jerome cracked his knuckles and cleared his throat. “He’s doing fifty human laps around the forest’s edge.”
“Who’s watching him?” I demanded. The nagging feeling that something was wrong still lingered. And if I learned Joanna merely had to move a fallen branch herself because an incompetent piece of shit couldn’t do his job, I’d have to snap his neck. “Or are we going to let him disobey an order again?”
