Page 40 of Shaken Knot Stirred

Cool, dry fingers clamped around my arm. Beg pulled me close and wrapped his other hand around my throat. His face was a mask of sadistic amusement, but his emotions whipped around him like a tornado about to wreck a home.

“Get off,” I said through gritted teeth to keep from choking on his scent.

“I will let you go, forgive you. Forgive all the debt that you owe me if you do one thing.”

“I am not sucking your dick.” His fingers tightened, and through willpower alone, I kept the tears back.

“Stop my brother from forming a pack. Do that and you get your life back.”

“How do you think that’s going to happen?”

“You’re smart, Moxie. You’ll figure it out. Use those magical powers.”

I shook myself from his grasp, and we both knew that was only possible because he allowed it. I tried to pry his fingers off me, but he wouldn’t budge.

“Where are your parents, Moxie?” he asked.

I froze, rooted to the spot.

“My parents are none of your business,” I snapped.

“You mixed them up a little drink and they just floated away. Didn’t they?”

Terror flashed through me, taking me back to that night. There had been something in their drinks. Mine too. It wasn’t supposed to happen that way.

“Star looks awfully thirsty, don’t you think?”

I could feel my blood run cold. I had done some horrible things in my life. My brain stuttered. No sassy come back found its way to my tongue.

“I may be a lot of things, Beg, but I am not a killer.”

“You sure about that? Would Nico agree? I don’t care how it happens, Moxie. But I want Star alone. And when you fail at that, I am going to completely enjoy all the ways that I can work you to the bone.”

I snatched my arm away from him and put my nose in the air.

“I’d need an introduction. You just can’t walk up to a Knightbridge and ask them out for a date.”

His aura told me exactly what I needed to know. He’d rather eat glass than deal with his brother. But his vindictiveness won. With a little wrist flourish and a mocking bow, he gestured toward the back of the hall.

I stomped away and collected Lana in my wake. As I brushed past her, she interlaced her fingers with mine and held on tight. Her aura seeped right into me, and, just for a second, I let myself believe that we could both escape our mate.

Chapter 21

Star Knightbridge

The ice rattled inthe plastic cup in that satisfying ASMR way. It was barely summer, not that hot, but I still felt claustrophobic in a suit. I adjusted my tie in a weak attempt to feel space around me.

As I emerged from the VIP entrance, the convention center became more and more crowded. The murmurs of thousands of people just on the other side of the door created white noise that drowned out the pop instrumental music playing in the background.

The sight of my brothers on a raised dais stopped me in my tracks. The pack had always joked they were a matched set, one light and one dark, like chess pieces. They had graduated from pawns to kings.

Pay was golden and sun-bleached blond, or he would be after a season on Ceto Bay. Win’s coloring was darker except for his eyes, which were a haunting shade of amber. “Freaky” is what Pay always called them.

They both turned toward me in unison, like they could sense me. We shared a birth pack, but that wasn’t the same as pack bonds. I took a prolonged last sip of my iced coffee through the pink straw as I got to the foot of the dais. Win raised an eyebrow. His mother had banned straws from the pack compound for this very reason.

“Alistair,” Pay scolded.

“What the fuck is up with that?” I tipped my plastic cup towards him, drops of condensation rolling onto the gorgeous carpet.

---