Page 6 of Cruel Mate

Since he and the others had arrived in Nightstar and dispensed of their former alpha, they’d all had more than their fair share of women. And by the smell of him now, it hadn’t been long since attempting another conquest.

She wasn’t sure what annoyed her more, the fact she actually found him frustratingly attractive, or that he had just come from the arms of another woman to taunt her.

“If that was true,” Zander said, and his tone suggested he might close the distance between them again; he didn’t, and Layla was almost disappointed. “Then how did I get ahead of you?”

“I…umm…” Shit! He had her there. And she wasn’t sure how she could one-up him on that.

“She was busy worrying about me,” Darwin put in. Out of the corner of her eye, Layla saw him raise his head for just a moment. He gulped and lowered his gaze once more, clearly uncomfortable with having spoken out. Layla was grateful to him.

“What was I supposed to do? Lead an enemy right into the heart of the pack with all of the children around?” she demanded. “I’m not a fool.”

She blushed. She had, in fact, been considering leading him right there so that Jack and the others could take care of it quickly.

With a pack of army veterans around, it wasn’t worth risking Darwin’s life—or her own, for that matter.

Zander crossed his own arms then and cocked his head. He regarded her silently for some time. Her heart thundered at the way his deep blue eyes examined her. It was almost as if he were physically touching her, and it did all kinds of strange things to her body—things she would rather not admit.

“You could have fooled me. What were you doing so far out here, anyway? It’s not safe.”

Layla bit back the urge to snap his head off. Yes, he was an annoying pain in the ass, and yes, he deserved it, but he was the pack beta, and though she was a messenger, she was also too low in the pack to push her luck.

“We’re on pack territory. We’re safe,” she argued. “Darwin was meeting me at the border. I just got back from Blackwell Falls.”

Why she felt the need to tell him all of that, she wasn’t sure. Her frustration was only growing the longer she remained in his presence.

“Besides, how could it not be safe if you are so big and bad, prowling out around here?” she asked, meaning to sound sarcastic, but when she saw the way his lips twitched upwards in a smile, she realized she had actually sounded more like she was giving a compliment.

“Well, I suppose you got me there,” he conceded, shrugging and dropping his arms back to his sides. “But still, Karl’s old followers might still be about.”

“It’s been months,” Layla protested.

“Yeah, and they are still lurking out there.”

“Oh, Zander, I didn’t know you cared,” Layla snarled back at him. “I can handle a few disgraced assholes.”

Zander cocked a brow. He definitely didn’t look convinced. “Maybe you should fight me sometime and we’ll see just how you’d match up.”

He glanced her up and down again before he added, “Somehow, I don’t think you’d last all that long. You’re a little too scrawny. I could pick you up and snap you in half in a millisecond.”

He was talking about destroying her, kicking her ass, and yet it sounded entirely more erotic than threatening. The way it made her quiver was infuriating.

She tightened her hands into fists and dropped them to her sides, feeling as though she might actually be able to get one swing in before he was able to subdue her.

It was almost tempting. Her arms still tingled where he had gripped her to steady her after she ran into him.

“I’d like to see you try,” she growled at him instead. Darwin gulped audibly, and Layla knew she was pushing the line. Zander would be well within his rights to show her who was boss.

Again, he closed the distance between them.

“She didn’t mean that, Zander,” Darwin said, his voice shaking. He took a step toward them, but Layla knew he was too young and inexperienced to be stupid enough to try and get between them.

Besides, the violent, erotic tension between the two of them was so thick, she wasn’t sure he would be able to even if he tried.

“Be careful what you ask for, Lala,” Zander rumbled low in his throat.

Lala? That was the last fucking straw. Nobody had called her that since she was a child.

She bared her teeth, ready to throw herself at him, about to dare him to accept her challenge, when the sound of footsteps alerted her to the arrival of someone else.

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