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“I...” Emely began, turning her head toward me, then in the other direction, before realization dawned in her eyes and her cheeks flushed even more. “That's...” She stared at the guy as if she had known him for a long time. “Mikhail Rolanow.”

My jaw tensed and I looked back at the Rolanow guy.

“What the fuck was the son of the Russian Alpha doing here?”

I narrowed my eyes and looked back at Emely when she didn't answer and the guy didn't seem to have any intention of pissing off.

I thought I spotted uncertainty in Emely's eyes, and it took her a while to dare to continue speaking. Too long.

“If he wins the games, I'll leave with him for Russia,” she confessed, and something inside me turned to stone.

“You're joking,” I laughed tonelessly.

“Kieran,” she snapped back. “You know I don't joke about the Code!”

Normally, I would have grinned and teased her about it, but this time I couldn't bring myself to do it.

Nothing about this situation was funny.

What the fuck had I missed while I had been undercover?

“Is the Russian Alpha forcing your father?” I asked with seriousness, resisting the urge to turn back to the guy.

He was a damn Alpha son.

“I’m doing this. For my family,” Emely replied, stepping closer, even though we had already moved a few feet away from Nash and the others so we could talk undisturbed. “And for the pack.” She sighed. “You know to present functioning alliances to outside parties strengthens us against our family enemies.” Her gaze was intense, as if I had to understand her. And, of course, I understood who she was talking about. “It scares them off.”

The Ruisangors were an uncontrollable plague. But the fact that Emely was literally sacrificing herself for a solution against these bastards didn't sit well with me at all.

I didn't understand why her father went so far. I respected the Alpha. As a Delta, that was my damn duty. But the decisions this man made regarding his family...

Russian Alpha son, my ass.

A pain crept through my head and I immediately pushed the judging thought aside.

That goddamn Alpha bond, which didn't allow those who were subject to it and didn't happen to carry the Alpha gene to question the Alpha's decisions.

“Everything about this plan sounds fucked up,” I gritted out with a serious look, letting the second wave of pain wash over me, glad that an Alpha couldn't sense when a single person spoke out against the them and their decision. But I shouldn't push my luck because the Alpha bond was excellent at leaving godless headaches and even fainting spells.

“Just the way that guy stares at me.” I clenched my hands into fists. “It makes me aggressive.”

Emely stepped closer, and I noticed her hands rise slightly, as if she wanted to touch my arms, but then she let them sink back to her sides before swallowing.

Something was wrong with her. And I couldn't shake the feeling that her life was going down the drain.

“Relax,” she said quietly.

“Because it’s you.”

I managed to do what she asked of me and tried not give the guy one hundred and thirty feet away the middle finger.

“But if he doesn’t stop, I’ll talk to him. My way.”

Emely’s eyes widened.

I smirked.

“You have a death wish!” she blurted out. “And we both know you won't do it.” She crossed her arms in front of her chest, covering the traditional Vanderwood crest on her pine-green sweater vest, which painfully reminded me of the ridiculous uniform everyone had to wear here now, even the guys from the pack. “You'd upset your Alpha.”