Page 19 of Fall of the Alpha

13

THE ALPHA’S PET

Alek

Alone with two strange Alphas and a pouting Omega, Alek’s instincts were torn. He wanted to demand to know what was happening with Bella, yet all of his focus was arrested by the strange trio. He felt protective of the Omega, without even knowing her, yet she clearly didn’t feel she needed any protection. If anything, she’d been derisive of his concern for her.

He didn’t know why he kept being surprised when things in the Territories were not as the Zones had claimed. Perhaps because he only thought they would tell so many lies.

“Sit,” Cora said imperiously, gesturing at the couch. As much as he wanted to resist, when Trace added his own dark stare to Cora’s, Alek found himself moving almost against his will. While part of him wanted to challenge the Alphas, he only had so much willpower. “What is your name?”

“Alek.” He sat down on the couch as Cora sat across from him. Behind him, he could hear Trace moving, and all the hairs on the nape of his neck stood at attention. “Are you going to introduce everyone as well?” It didn’t matter that he alreadyknew their names; that hadn’t been a real introduction. While he might have sat down as she’d ordered, the fight wasn’t entirely gone out of him.

Cora’s lips quirked in amusement, her dark eyes studying him.

“Cora. Trace. And that’s Aria. Aria dear, sit next to Alek, please. It will help calm him.”

Still pouting, Aria flounced over to sit beside him.

Despite the waves of antagonism rolling off her, Cora was correct—as soon as Aria sat down next to Alek, her sweet scent filled his nose, and something inside him relaxed. He didn’t know why. Still watching him intently, Cora nodded in satisfaction. He didn’t like how she was able to manipulate his emotions, but he also couldn’t figure out how to stop it. And even if he could stop her, there was the big Alpha prowling behind him who he couldn’t forget about.

He was entirely at their mercy.

Which should have made him more anxious, but with Aria sitting next to him… none of his instincts were working correctly. It wasn’t just her presence, her scent, which was a distraction to him. There was something about her that made him feel like he couldn’t be aggressive. Even though he wanted to.

“You should know that you are in danger,” Cora said calmly after a long moment. “If you want, we can get you out of here. You can come to our territory.” Beside him, Aria shifted. Alek couldn’t see her expression because he was focused on Cora, but he got the sense she was unhappy about the invitation being issued. He didn’t know what her problem with him was, but compared to a strange Alpha telling him that he was in danger and offering him refuge, it was hardly important.

“I won’t be in danger in your territory?”

The smile Cora flashed him was hardly reassuring since it didn’t reach her eyes.

“You’ll be in less. I cannot promise complete safety.”

“Why can’t I go back to the Zones?”

Behind him, there was a soft snort of derision. Alek ignored the other Alpha. It was a valid question.

“If that’s what you want, we may be able to arrange it.” Cora tapped her finger against her full lower lip. For some reason, the movement stirred something within Alek. “But do you truly want to? Knowing what you now know? Feeling what you feel?”

Feeling fully himself was what she meant. Feeling fully alive. It was terrifying, yet freeing. He’d also already discovered how those instincts could be used against him. His ass clenched at the memory he’d been working so hard to suppress—what the Wolf had felt like behind him,insidehim. The way his own body had driven him into Bella over and over again.

The memory made his cock rise.

Alek shifted uncomfortably, trying to hide his slowly growing bulge. Aria shifted next to him, and her scent didn’t help him at all, though it did make his cock ache in an entirely different way. More toward the base than before.

“What about Bella?”

“Forget about her. She’s never going back.” Trace’s voice was deep, the statement definitive, and it made Alek’s hackles rise.

“Why?” He twisted in his seat to glare a challenge at the Alpha, despite the way his stomach turned over.

“I would be very surprised if Malachi lets her go,” Cora said, and Alek’s head flipped back around to face her.

“Malachi?”

“You know him as the Wolf.” She smiled at him again, and this time, it was a true smile. “Don’t worry. He will not harm her. But I do not think he’ll let her go, either.”

“Because she’s Paldon’s daughter?” He still wasn’t sure he believed it. The leader of Zone One had a secret daughter? Who he’d allowed to go into the Territories? Yet Cora and the others seemed so sure… Bella hadn’t protested when she’d been named, though she also hadn’t been herself.

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