Page 24 of The Blood Witch

The word rolled through his head and toward his lips with so much certainty it shocked him back to his senses.

Where had that thought come from?

What the hell was he doing? Jasper loosened his hand from around Sid’s throat. The other Wolf immediately twisted to show more neck, submitting fully and whining in apology.

“I…” Jasper started.

“Drop him,” a furious voiced commanded.

Alastair. Jasper let go of Sid immediately and took a step back, eyes on the ground and his heart pounding. He couldn’t seem to catch his breath. He could feel Alastair there, standing next to him, but he couldn’t look at him, couldn’t meet his eyes.

Mine. The word still echoed in his mind.

But Fey wasn’t his. Wouldn’t ever be his. Why had he felt that so strongly in that moment? Sure, they flirted; who wouldn’t flirt with her? Like Sid said, she was gorgeous. It was just dumb fun, and that’s where it ended.

Wasn’t it?

“Sorry Jas,” Sid murmured to Jasper. “It won’t happen again.”

“A free round for everyone,” Alastair shouted, voice rising above the din of the crowd. The announcement was met with cheers. In a lower voice, he added, “Sid—get Ferus to pull someone from the lower bar and get enough liquor into this crowd to make them forget what they just saw. And Jasper?”

Licking his lips, Jasper fought through the haze in his head and managed to meet his stare. Alastair’s face was tight with rage.

“My office,” Alastair said, anger filling his voice. “Now.”

Fuck.

Alastair didn’t wait for a response. He just turned around and walked away, fury coming off him in waves.

Jasper took a deep breath. Then another. He managed to huff an apology to Sid, who graciously accepted it, before he dragged himself out from behind the bar and toward the back hallway. Toward the smell of them.

A large part of him wanted to run into that office, toward those intoxicating scents. Wanted it more than he’d wanted anything in his life.

Jasper forced himself to walk instead. It took him a long, long time to reach the office. And when he finally did, he couldn’t bring himself to enter it. He just stood in the doorway, head down, trying to breathe through his mouth.

Alastair sat at his desk, his palms flat on the wooden surface before him. It was a stance Jasper had seen him take many times before. A stance right before he snapped and broke someone’s neck.

When he spoke, Alastair’s voice was dangerously low. “Close the door.”

Jasper swallowed.

“With all due respect, boss,” he managed to say, reaching up to rub the back of his neck, “I, uh… I’d rather not do that.”

The idea of being trapped in this room, with these smells?

He wasn’t sure he’d survive it.

The cold fury in Alastair’s eyes only grew.

“I wasn’t fucking asking,” he said, coming to his feet. “I let you get away with a lot of shit around here, Jasper, and you know it. But assaulting one of my employees isn’t one of them. You get one chance to explain to me what the fuck happened out there.”

Jasper forced himself to look at him. Fuck, he was really pissed, wasn’t he?

Screw it.

Jasper took a deep, shuddering breath through his nose and closed his eyes to savor it. Head back, eyes shut tight, he forced himself to say, “I made a mistake, boss. It won’t happen again.”

“Not good enough.” Alastair’s voice was tight with rage. “Try again.”

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