Page 71 of Mercy & Her Devils

Lark’s eyes flash, and as soon as Antonio’s within grabbing distance, he surges up and snags him by his scarf.

Antonio allows himself to be pulled sprawling onto the bed between Lark and me.

Antonio’s blazer falls open, and his shirt pulls tight over his taut muscles.

I itch to explore his gorgeous body.

He looks like a Beta sacrifice between Lark and me.

Thomas and I once sneakily watched a late night movie like that, while we both blushed madly.

It fueled some of my best fantasies.

Except, Lark doesn’t strip Antonio out of his clothes, (disappointing), as would have happened next in the movie. Instead, he clinically begins to pat him down, assessing him for injuries.

My heart aches.

I kneel up, stroking my hand through Antonio’s hair.

Antonio looks between us, bewildered. “What are you doing? You know, I’m always up for being groped by beautiful people, but this feels more like playing doctors. Actually, I’m always up for playing that too. Hey, will you wear the uniform? You’d look incredible in a white coat with a stethoscope around your neck and that stern expression, Doctor Lark.”

Shit, now I’m imagining it.

He’d have made an incredible Doctor Lark. I reckon a heart surgeon.

“You disobeyed your Chief Alpha.” Lark’s voice is tight. He doesn’t sound moved by Antonio’s flirting. “Kai is one of the tallest Alphas who I’ve ever seen, and you’re smaller than me. I’m making sure that you’re not hurt.”

Antonio looks taken aback and then touched by the concern, before he pushes himself up, moving into the middle of the bed to gain some distance.

I exchange a glance with Lark.

What’s the problem?

“Kai would never lay a hand on me,” Antonio says. “You don’t know him, but that Alpha had me at his mercy. Then he did nothing but respect my boundaries. My family sold me to him in a business deal. He went to them for help, and they gave me to him, as if I was a useful tool that could be passed along in an arranged marriage. It was only business to them. In the end, it didn’t matter that I was better at MMA than their Alpha sons. I was still a Beta.”

“Why does that make Kai a good man?” I snarl, as fury bubbles through me at the thought of Antonio being treated like that, when he was college aged. It hits close to home because he’s been made to match with someone in the same way that I was. “Fletcher chose me. I didn’t have a say in it. You’re caged in this pack like I was with the Ace pack.”

“I can fly free now, when I never could with my family. It wasn’t Kai forcing me into a bond.” Antonio wraps his arms around his legs. “But a lot was resting on the deal. Plus, if Kai had rejected me, then my Alpha Mom would have blamed me. She’s a hardass. Kai spoke to me privately and let me make the choice. Look, every day since, when Kai had all the power over me, he’s never once used it. And that’s why I fell in love with him.”

They are in love.

I saw the same looks that past between the two men, as Lark did.

Lark hums in thought. “So, you weren’t in trouble last night…?”

Antonio’s expression clouds, and he hangs his head.

He looks unexpectedly guilty, when normally he revels in his devilry.

Startled, I inch closer to him, resting my hand on his knee in concern.

“Well, Kai did scold me for not making something clearer to you both. He’s very big on fairness and the proper treasuring of Omegas. I mean, full on worship.” Antonio flicks his gaze up to me and then Lark. “I saved you but I haven’t got the right to claim you. I’m desperate to. I’ve always wanted an Omega in my pack, and Kai does too. I’ve pined for that awesome connection, you know? But…”

Antonio breaks off, and now even Lark is looking alarmed.

Lark crawls with a slink of his hips that makes him look like a deadly panther toward Antonio and grabs him by the scruff of his neck.

Antonio appears startled for a moment, as if he’d forgotten that we weren’t still tame Omegas shut behind bars but instead, are now in the wild.

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