Page 28 of Nest Of Lies

I lift my chin and glare at Ranger. Daring him to lie, daring him to cover it up.

Valen shrugs. “Oh, well, jig’s up. Let’s just make this clear, babydoll, if you want to date, you can.” I start to smile. “If they can make it past us.”

I gape at him. “You can’t do that.”

“Actually, we kinda can,” Ranger says with a grin. “Sorry not sorry.”

“This is my life! So, I’m not allowed to have friends? And now, I’m not allowed to date?”

“You can have friends, but you’re not having dates,” Ianto says coldly.

“Are you serious?” The words echo in my head, but they come from Zaden. “You can’t do that. It isn’t fair.”

“I’m not interested in being fair,” Ianto growls. “I’m interested in keeping idiots like this one alive. Because if anyone of them touch you,” Ianto strolls towards me, stopping right in front of me and brushing my hair back off my face. “If any man or woman, alpha, beta, or omega touches you, I will kill them.”

I open my mouth, but there are no words. I feel dizzy, and why is it so hard to draw a deep breath?

“You’d kill someone for touching me?” Why is this so sweet? Why is my heart floating and pounding?

“No, babydoll, I wouldn’t kill someone for touching you,” he pauses, watching my face intently. “I’d kill everyone who touched you.”

I exhale roughly, my whole body tingling.

“What he said,” Mills agrees and drags my date towards a waiting car.

“What are you doing with him?” I finally ask, recalling the situation. This is not romantic, not even a little bit.

“A little chat, and then we’ll let him go.”

“Promise?”

Ranger snarls and stalks towards me, elbowing Ianto out of the way.

“Are you worried about them? Do you like them this much?”

I shake my head. “Not at all.”

“Then what’s this worry about what we do with him?”

“Because I want to talk to you.” I trail off, my cheeks burning. “I’ve missed talking to you.” Damn, I sound sopathetic.

My date groans. It sounds like defeat.

Ranger’s smile is slow to bloom, and then it is my sun, my light, my gravity.

He reaches up, cupping my cheek. “You are the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen, you know that?”

Zaden growls.

I glance at him. and then look down at the ground. I’m not scared, but he’s about to blow. and I do not want him aiming anything in my direction.

“Take him home and get back to the house. We need to talk.”

Ranger sighs and lets me go, flipping his attention to Zaden.

“This is not our plan. This is not okay,” he growls.

“What plan?” I ask before I think better of it.

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