Page 86 of Bonds of Hate

“I could break the door down.” I lean against the frame, making the wood groan from my weight. “But you might get hurt, so I really don’t want to do that.”

I hear a sharply in-drawn breath. She obviously didn’t care for the implied threat, but still says nothing.

Even through the closed door, I smell the reek of Logan’s spend. I’m already imagining what must have gone down between them. Letting my imagination run away from me is a very bad idea right now. I need to see the true aftermath for myself.

So I try a different tactic.

“This is actually my room, so I am going to need it back at some point,” I drawl. The floor creaks as she shifts her weight, closer to the door than I thought. I really want to know how she is taking the realization that she chose my den to hide in. “It’s a little rude to make me sleep on the couch when I’m not even the one who messed up.”

A choking laugh finally breaks through the quiet. “It smelled the best in here.”

The lock clicks and the door creaks open. Maya is sitting on the floor in the dark, but there is enough light I can see that her makeup is streaked with tears. Queen Midale’s dress is wrinkled possibly beyond repair, the crystals in her hair askew.

“Sorry.” She makes a point of looking behind her while surreptitiously wiping at her eyes. “The whole place justsmells like... Alphas. But yours was the most...comforting? I don’t know.”

I raise an eyebrow. “I’ve been called many things, but comforting isn’t usually one of them.”

“I’m sorry, I’ll just go back to the harem. That’s probably where I should have gone.” Maya pushes herself up from the floor, unsteady on her feet. She offers me a watery smile that makes me angry at all over again, though not at her. “But Logan told me, specifically, to come back here…not that he used his Alpha voice or anything. You know what? It doesn’t matter. I’m going now.”

Maya is rambling. Maya never rambles. She might be the most self-possessed person I’ve ever met. She didn’t so much as trip over a single word while presenting herself to the king in the dead queen’s dress.

“Hold on a second there.” I snag her around the waist before she can race past me, releasing her immediately when she flinches away. “You don’t have to rush off. I’m sure whatever new stunt Logan pulled requires some decompression time. Stay.”

I maneuver past her into the room, careful to keep my hands to myself. The leather armchair in the corner creaks as I settle into it, pose deliberately casual. My den is sparse — just the chair, a massive bed, and weights stacked to one side. Nothing hangs on the wall aside from a paper calendar I use to schedule my workouts because the damn tablets always lose my data. I prefer an environment without unnecessary distractions.

Maya hovers in the doorway, fingers twisting in the ruined silk of her gown. Logan’s scent clings to the fabric and her skin, wouldn’t surprise me if that asshole cleanedoff his dick with her hair. His scent mixes with the sour cherry notes of distress rolling off her in waves. The combination makes my jaw clench.

She is supposed to belong to all of us. At least, for as long as we have her. That was the deal.

Logan is the one who made the unilateral decision that fucking her isn’t allowed. And now he’s doing the Alpha equivalent of pissing on a favorite tree to mark his territory. Logan may be prince, he may be pack Alpha, but we share everything. Always have.

I force my shoulders to relax, keeping my voice light. “You can come in or not. Your choice.”

Her eyes dart to the bed, then back to me. Smart girl, realizing I deliberately chose the armchair to give her more space.

“I...” She takes a hesitant step forward, then another. “I don’t know what I’m doing here.”

I shrug, tamping down the urge to launch myself at her and replace Logan’s scent with my own. “Maybe you just needed somewhere safe to fall apart for a minute.”

The truth of that statement seems to hit her hard than she expects. Her shoulders slump as she sinks down to sit on the edge of my bed, careful to keep some distance between us. “Yeah.”

I breathe through my mouth, trying to ignore how wrong it feels to have her here marked by another Alpha’s touch when I’ve barely been allowed the smallest taste of her. But this isn’t about me or my instincts. This is about Maya needing someone to just be present while she processes whatever the hell Logan did to shake her up this badly.

So I stay in my chair, and I wait.

“Tell me what happened.”

When she does, I have to resist the urge to pick up my chair and throw it across the room. Fucking Logan. It would be great if he could figure out whether he even wants an Omega instead of torturing all of us with this indecisiveness.

“I don’t know why he acts like this,” she laments with a sigh. “Maybe it’s me.”

“It’s not,” I say, loudly enough to make her jump. “Logan has been like this for a while. In fact, you’ve already lasted longer than any of us expected. “

“Why am I even here, then?”

I raise my eyebrows, expression chiding. “You tell me.”

She looks away, seeming pensive, but doesn’t reply.

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