I lean into it.
Into him. My mate.
Marcus’s eyes widen slightly, and he pushes harder. “Jude,” he hisses my name, and the pressure increases. My vision blurs. My nails dig into Pace’s shirt.
And then, without warning, it breaks.
My father’s command slides off me like the rain, and I can actually breathe.
Marcus’s face shifts, deep lines pulling between his brows, then his eyes go wide.
He knows.
He knows he can’t reach me anymore.
And something ugly snaps in him. “You ungrateful little whore!” The word lands like a slap. “After everything I’ve done for you. After all the pain and suffering you’ve caused, this is how to repay me?”
I feel Pace go rigid. “Get out,” he says quietly.
Marcus laughs. “Or what?”
Pace steps forward. “Or I’ll remove you.”
Then everything explodes into a flurry of movement.
One second, the two alphas are glaring down at each other, and the next, they’re standing chest to chest. Marcus swings first, but Pace blocks it. His forearm slams into my father’s wrist, knocking the punch wide. The sound of impact echoes through the room.
I stumble backward as Marcus lunges again, grabbing at Pace’s collar.
My alpha grabs him by the lapels of his stiff suit jacket and drives him backward. They crash into the coffee table. The burned circle from the cigar flashes in my mind as the table tips and skids.
Marcus snarls and swings wildly.
Pace ducks and drives his shoulder into Marcus’s chest, shoving him hard into the armchair. The chair flips sideways.
“Stop!” I shout, but they don’t hear me.
Marcus claws for Pace’s throat.
Pace catches his wrist and twists.
There’s a sharp snap, and Marcus grunts hard. But my mate doesn’t stop, he uses the momentum to slam the older alpha flat onto the hardwood, and the air whooshes out of my father’s lungs.
Pace is on him in an instant, knee pressing against father’s chest, fisting in his collar, and holding him down.
“Listen carefully, motherfucker,” Pace says, breathing hard but controlled. “You don’t get to talk to my omega like that ever again. You don’t get to command him, and you sure as hell don’t get to take him anywhere.”
Marcus struggles, but he’s losing.
“He’s mine,” Pace continues, voice steady and lethal. “Legally. Physically. In every way that matters.”
Marcus grunts, then snarls, “You think this is over?”
“Yes,” Pace answers. He shoves the older alpha once more for emphasis, then stands and steps back, putting himself between me and my father. “Get out of my fucking house,” Pace says.
I watch with wide eyes as Marcus pushes himself up slowly, straightening his ruined jacket. His eyes are wild now. Furious. Humiliated.
He looks at me one last time. “This isn’t finished.”
