Page 4 of Ryder

“Don’t talk about them like that, asshole,” Jace muttered, making a mockery of his own words as his head panned to follow the passage of a beta who stood out in the sea of exposed flesh, given she had dressed like she was about to go for an interview at a bank.

Arm looped through miss corporate banker was a pixie, showing a whole lot more flesh.What wasn’t exposed was covered by a little sequined dress that sparkled and had every alpha in the vicinity panting.

I smoothed my face out into my best approximation of innocence.“Willing participants?”

“Better,” Jace agreed.

I loved the big bastard, even if he was a miserable dick who kept his sense of humor under lock and key.I supposed no one had an easy ride toward life in the zone separated from the civilized part of the world by a fucking massive fence and a gate, but Jace’s entry had been tougher because it hadn’t only been about him.“You’re growling.”

“I’m good,” he said.

He didn’t need to tell me—I knew he was thinking about his sister, Ella.She was older than Jace and had been living in a rough neighborhood when she revealed her omega status.Things had gotten fucked-up for a while, but Ella seemed to have put it behind her.Jace, not so much.

I didn’t have that issue.My sister was a conceited beta bitch who still lived a life of luxury.The worst thing that had happened to her perfect world was the scandal to our family when I revealed as an alpha.I nearly broke my parents apart.My father became convinced my mother had been indiscreet, as there hadn’t been any alphas on his side of the family for generations.A whole heap of digging had ensued, and it turned out my grandmother on my mother’s side had covered up the fact she’d had an alpha son.My uncle had been relocated to an alpha zone on the down low.They’d even had a funeral with a closed casket, claiming he’d been killed in a freak accident while rock climbing.That had been convenient for them—him being an outdoorsy type.

My contribution to the dynasty was getting our family all over the tabloid sites.No neat and tidy fake death had been available to them, though I was pretty sure my parents would have offed me for real, given a choice.

They didn’t get one.The Agency for Alpha Control had swooped in and snatched me.It was still out there now—a photo of me with my face smeared in blood, fighting with the burly alpha henchmen they’d employed when I went on a rampage in a club…allegedly.

The tabloids liked to drag that snapshot out every time my father cut a deal that pissed off the masses.

The truth was, I didn’t go on a fucking rampage.My scent suddenly exploded.Some guy’s girlfriend threw herself at me and started humping my leg.Trust me, no one had been more surprised about this than me, which would have been fine if the guy hadn’t tried to take her from me.I hadn’t known the woman, had never met her in my life, but a newly awakened alpha was possessive and in my confused state, she had been mine.

Farther down the strip, the pixie, corporate banker, and sidekicks appeared to be heading for our club.“You’re still growling,” I said to Jace while nodding at the alphas who’d arrived to take over gate duty.

Jace huffed out a breath as we started walking back toward the club.“I know.I’ll deal with it.”

“You need to get laid,” I said, smirking.

He chuckled.

I tried not to wallow in my head.The past was the past and all that.Jace and his antics were always good for a distraction, and tonight, he was very distracted by banker chick, no less.“So, Miss Prim…” I trailed off, laughing when he took the bait and punched me on the arm.

“Off-limits,” he said, not even bothering to pretend he wasn’t interested.

“Yeah,” I replied, giving him my best shit-eating grin.“That one’s a screamer of the unenthusiastic variety.”

His heavy sigh said he knew I was right.Some people didn’t belong here.A few years ago, before I revealed as an alpha, I’d have sneered and flicked imaginary lint from my clothing at the thought of entering Desparion.I’d always been an asshole, I was just a different variety back then.

“She’s still off-limits,” Jace said.

I didn’t taunt him for effectively warding me off.Every alpha had an inner beast, and Jace’s was protective.He’d take on the fucking world if anyone messed with those he considered under his care.We had a strict policy in our club regarding enthusiastic alphas—if the betas were willing, fair game, but anyone caught forcing the matter would wake up in the back alley with one hell of a headache.

It was a practice I wholeheartedly endorsed.

Jace rarely indulged in the newbies and certainly not one who looked like that.Nor did I.

Banker chick didn’t belong here, but neither did the sequined pixie at her side.

Looked like they were off-limits for both of us.

ChapterTwo

Emma

Desparion—the place where they locked the monsters and misfits who revealed as an alpha behind a great expanse of chain-link fencing, separated by a half mile of no-man’s-land.

You’d think no one would want to go there.On the surface at least, it didn’t sound like the kind of place a sensible person would visit.Yet thousands of unassuming, sensible people queued up for the privilege every week.

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