Page 10 of Hunt

Grumbling, I turn my face towards the infuriating man and glare daggers through his thick skull. “Vacation? You mean getting kidnapped and almost sold to a rival alpha pack?Thatvacation?” I huff, wriggling beneath the man. “Excuse me if i’m a bit rusty.”

Nic just stares, glaring right into my eyes and it’s impossible to tell what he’s is thinking. His jaw is clenched. “You need to be better,” he rumbles quietly—so quiet I almost think I didn’t hear him right.

“Wha—” I start to say, but suddenly his weight leaves me and I find myself rolling to the side and gasping for precious air.

“We’re done for today.” Nic walks to the door and knocks twice, only for two guards to open up. He nods to the guard and says something I don’t quite catch before glancing back at me. “Get changed.The alphas are expecting company.”

My body locks up. Company never means something good. Company means business, and business means someone gets hurt. I don’t respond to the asshole. I just take my leave, breezing past them, knowing their eyes are still on me—tracking me down the hallway. There’s been a shift since I’ve been home. Something’s different. I could feel it the moment I was escorted onto that airplane. The eyes I feel on me at all times seem a little more assessing than they used to.

I’m a threat now. A real threat.

Back in my bedroom,the first thing I notice after tearing my eyes from my ceiling once again, is a small black package sitting atop my plush red duvet. There’s no bow or card anywhere that I can see, but the box sits ominously in the center of the bed—as if daring me to take a peek.

Sniffing, I stalk to my private bathroom for yet another shower. I smell like sweat and defeat. Nic really busted my ass out there and it’s my own damn fault for letting myself become distracted. Stripping off my workout clothes, I turn my shower on as hot as it can possibly go before stepping in. Heat rushes over my skin, washing away the sweat and grime of the day, masking the tears that run down my cheeks.

This is the only time I let myself cry—when there’s no one watching.

As I scrub my hair with my favorite jasmine scented shampoo, I suck in a short hiccuping sob, because it’s as if I can feel fantom fingertips skimming the skin of my back. Ghostly lips caress my neck and my jaw—the cold tingle of metal makes me shiver.

Was it only a month ago that Hector took me in the shower?

The sobs come harder now, needing to cleanse my body of this grief. A month in my old bed alone without any of my men to hold me has been hell on Earth. I often wake in the night shivering, reaching across the mattress for warm skin but finding only an icy pillow. That’s when the real, bone-deep, teeth-rattling grief sets in.

After the shower, I trudge into my room, reluctant, yet resolved to just get the night over with. Inside the ominous black box is a white dress that makes me cringe all over. It’s not thatthe dress isn't absolutely beautiful—it definitely is. It’s what the dressmeansthat has me breathing a little shallower.

White—the color of virginity, the color of weakness and purity.

Alessio did this to spite me, I just know it. He did this to embarrass and shame me for all his men watch and mock. My cheeks are already pink as I pluck the offensive garment from the box and hold it to my naked body. It’s a shame I hate it so much, it really is a pretty dress, and soft too—like silk. It probably is.

After slathering my body with expensive lotion, I slip the thing on and smooth out the nonexistent wrinkles. As expected, the dress fits me perfectly, hitting right at my thigh and dipping dangerously low in a V at my chest. Thank the gods I’m not at all top heavy, otherwise it would just look ridiculous.

I blow dry my long blue hair, smiling to myself in the mirror. I only smile because I know how much the blue hue irks the alphas. But they have yet to order me to change it. It’s starting to become a little game I enjoy playing with the evil assholes—even if they’re unaware of it.

There’s a small part of me—however daring, that needs to fuck with the rules a little. They’ve done nothing but ruin the lives of everyone they come in contact with without a single ounce of remorse. They deserve a little rebellion in their lives.

Slipping on some nude heels, I make my way to the door, only to find—surprise, surprise, Nic, on the other side. He turns when I step through the doorway, but I don’t miss the way his greenish eyes widen as they scan my body before shuttering once more and looking away.

He clenches his jaw, but his nostrils flare. I have no idea why I’m getting satisfaction from his overly alpha response. I have absolutely zero interest in the behemoth anymore, but messingwith his mind is an endless source of entertainment in my otherwise bleak world these days.

Instead of letting him lead me though a house I am as familiar with as the back of my own hand, I let him brood behind me as I take the long way down—making sure to take my sweet ass time the entire way. I have no idea who we’re going to be dining with tonight, but I also don’t really give a shit either.

CHAPTER 6

HECTOR

I stareout the bedroom window, taking in the vast De Luca pack estate sprawling before me. The grounds are immaculately kept, with separate buildings dotting the landscape. Lush gardens wind between them, explosions of vibrant flowers and manicured topiaries hinting at the wealth and power that runs through this place like an electric current.

In the distance, a dock juts out over a serene pond, the water's glassy surface broken only by the occasional ripple of a jumping fish. There’s massive parking lot bordering the estate, a sea of asphalt dominated by rows of sleek, expensive cars. Gleaming sports cars and luxury sedans wink in the dying light, their pristine paint jobs and polished chrome an ostentatious display of affluence.

Somewhere in this labyrinth of opulence, Dante, Silas and Sam are sequestered in their own rooms, no doubt primping and preening as they ready themselves for dinner. Readying to see the woman that betrayed us all.

Why?

It’s the question that’s been rolling around in my fucking head since the day she disappeared. Why play the long game? Why pretend?

The thought of seeing her again has my stomach in knots. I sit on the bed and throw my head in my hands in aggravation, trying to shake the memories out of my brain. I put a bullet through my own father’s head for that woman.

She had me imaging what it would be like to claim her as my omega. To make it official. I was ready to make her the center of my fucking world… or my pack. She would have been everything.

---