Masking my pain as an annoyed retort, I mockingly declare, “Been spoiled being waited on hand and foot, so now standing this long feels like a chore, is all. Foot's asleep, so no need to get your panties in a bunch.”
The scar across Adrian’s eye runs all the way down to the corner of his lips, setting his face in a permanent scowl that perfectly matches his demeanor. “Sheisthe spitting image of her mother. Sounds like her, too.”
Attempting to laser his face off with my glare, a hell of a lot suddenly starts to add up. If he knows my mother, of course he was staring at me all throughout Emmy’s final engagement dinner. I bet the minute we left he went tattling to whoever she was running from; her pre-assigned mates, apparently. No wonder nobody likes Adrian; he’s a fucking nark.
“We clearly have a lot to discuss,” Reid smoothly declares. “Perhaps we could at leastattemptcivility for Sabrina’s sake, if you’re actually here with her best interest in mind.”
Begrudgingly, Slade agrees. “Let’s head into the living room and get this mess figured out. It might help keep tempers in check, and she can get off of her feet.”
The blonde appears the calmest of any of them, but even his patience begins to wear thin, not buying my excuse. “She’s hurt?”
The resounding oppressive silence is broken when Slade finally speaks, always shouldering the responsibility of everything despite it never being his fault. “We were attacked a few days ago. We suspect the bodies behind you were involved in it, and possibly a few of the men that just left as well. While we walked away without any casualties on our side, it wasn’t completely unscathed.”
While the other two look thoroughly pissed off and open their mouths to start shouting, the blonde waves a hand to shut them up. “Days ago? Why hasn’t she healed yet? Were her injuries that severe?” His gaze rakes over me slowly, searching for anything that he might have missed on his first assessment, like he expects me to collapse at any moment.
A weird twisting in my chest has me inadvertently looking to the left, finding Adrian laser focused on my face. He’s awaiting my answer with rapt attention, and my stomach quickly matches the uneasy feeling in my chest.
He suspects. If he’s friends with the men Mom ran out on and they want me back, they must think she was pregnant when she left. If Adrian thinks that I’m half human, is that a good or a bad thing? It would negate their claim, but then I wouldn’t be useful to them. If anything, the men that think they’re my fathers might want to kill me to cover up the fact that their mate stepped out on them.
Thanks for the forewarning, Mom. Your silence has been super fucking useful thus far, really. Awesome prep work and parenting on your part.
In my peripherals, I notice the demonic looking one pause, cutting off his tirade to Slade and following my gaze. Whether it’s whatever he sees on my face, or him not liking what he sees on Adrian’s, he shifts position to put himself between the two of us, not subtle about it in the slightest. “There’s really no need for you to waste any more time here, Adrian. I’m sure you’ve got things to do.”
His brows furrows. “What are you ta-”
“Leave.” The command is cold, devoid of even the illusion of civility. “We’ll take it from here.”
The number of times weighted silence has assaulted me today should make some sort of record book. I’m not even sure what to feel right now; validated that even the creepy guy was unsettled by Adrian’s behavior? Thrilled that someone kicked his ass to the curb? Or nervous that it might have beenmynerves making this random guy react, and how far these men are willing to go in a twisted sense of moral obligation to some chick they don’t even know?
“Merrick will be calling to-” he begins to protest, yet is quickly shut down.
“Then forward him to me to speak with.” A sense of finality rings out with his declaration.
Adrian looks from him to me, and ever so slightly, his gaze darkens with something similar to loathing, which is insane, since I haven’t spoken two words to the guy. A split second later there’s a hand around his throat, the dark haired demon turning to me. “Would you be more comfortable if he left?” Automatically, I turn to Slade for a clue as to how to handle this rapidly escalating situation, but the foreign alpha clucks his tongue and draws my attention back to him. “I askedyou. Not him.”
Slowly, I dip my head in a shallow nod like it's some sort of test that I’m bound to fail, forced to take my best guess. But if Adrian were to stay, I’d be weighing every answer carefully to the point that we’d never get anywhere. It's hard to be forthcoming when you feel like every word out of your mouth is going to be held against you.
“Then he’s gone.” With morbid fascination, I watch as Adrian's entire presence seems to shrink while the foreign alpha’s grows. The uncomfortable twisting in my chest subsides, and I close my eyes for a brief moment as the mental visuals make me nauseous.
It’s not like a tapeworm, or something conscious living inside of me. It’s a manifestation of instinct, that’s it. Everyone has a sixth sense of when they’re being watched, this is just a supercharged version of that.
I’m still me, but with a little extra flare.
The man releases his grip, and Adrian slumps before stumbling back, bleary-eyed. All of that disdain and fight is gone as he simply leaves without another word of protest, and I rapidly attempt to process what in the actual hell happened. Cin’s comment about Slade needing to touch me to calm me down, the blonde able to do so from a distance. Adrian looking like someone sucked all of the energy from his bones.
Alpha’s can manipulate the volatile energy in people’s chests.
Whether that’s to coax them into compliance or absorb their power as their own, it makes sense why they’re the top of the food chain. No, nottheirpower, their wolves’. They toy with the beasts in people’s chests to their own advantage and assert dominance. Any time they make me feel relaxed, it’s simply because they’re rooting around inside and manipulating me, whispering sweet nothings into the ear of the beast possessing me for the sake of compliance.
So why does it feel more comforting than invasive?
Adrian doesn’t run, but he strides away with his head still held high, and I’m honestly tempted to ask someone to lump him in with the other bodies that we’re already going to have to take care of, just to be safe. Whether it’s justified or not, letting potential threats go is a risk that I’m not sure we should take. Adrian clearly doesn’t like me, anyway, so maybe Maddox is onto something and I should send him some sort of signal.
“Come on, sweet girl,” Cinjin mutters in my ear, scooping me off of my feet. “Let the animals tear each other apart and we can deal with whatever’s left.”
Navigating the halls, we finally wind up in the living room, the center recessed several steps down with two couches facing each other, and a coffee table dividing them. Cinjin takes a seat at one side with me on his lap, and Reid slides beneath my legs beside him. Slade takes the spot at my feet while Boden remains standing, on the defensive and looking two seconds away from trying his hand at attacking the three strangers. Lizzie and her mates have already disappeared, presumably back to their cabin, but Emmy and her men followed us in, and the awkwardness in the air is thick enough to cut with a knife.
Clearing his throat, Slade shoots her a pointed look. “Emmeline.”
