Page 12 of Brutal Alpha Bully

Like they always do, images of him rise to my mind, and I have to swallow them down, force them away before they threaten to take over completely. I can’t be staring at his hands, thinking about what they might feel like on the inside of my thighs, or remembering the devouring way he kisses—

“You’ll stay with me,” Xeran says simply, like it makes all the sense in the world.

My first instinct is to ask why, if he doesn’t give a shit about me, he would say such a thing.

And my second instinct, which wrestles its way into existence, is to fight back.

“Absolutely not. I amnotstaying with you. Let me out of the car.”

We’re climbing higher into the mountains now, further from the town, and I feel my hand rise to the handle, a question in my mind about whether or not I can use magic to unlock it, magic to cushion my fall, magic to move fast enough that Xeran—shifted—would not be able to catch up to me.

But if I use all that magic, I might not be able to locate and recover my daughter, who is in our car somewhere in the mountains, waiting for me.

“No.”

“I can take care ofmyself.”

“If that was true, he wouldn’t have had you in the first place.”

It’s the longest sentence Xeran has spoken to me since I climbed into this truck, and I get the sense when he shuts his mouth that there isn’t more where that came from. He’s done explaining himself.

I open my mouth to tell him that it wasn’t Declan who got me—it was my brother who dragged me out of there, gagged me, and threw me in the back of his car while my mother weakly tried to protest. But the last thing I want to do right now is offer Xeran information unprompted, so I snap my mouth shut and watch as the landscape passes us by.

We’re climbing into the thick of the forest now, the road rocky and unkempt from nearly a decade of abandonment. When we finally reach its end, a large, log-cabin-style house towers into view.

Xeran climbs out of the truck and circles around to my side while I’m still staring up at the place in awe. His father’s house—his family’s house. One I never visited. Not once during high school.

Of all the times Xeran and I met up, it was never, ever here.

“Come on,” he says, opening my door and blocking me in, his eyes serious on me. “Don’t make me carry you.”

The traitorous voice in the back of my head—the voice more omega than logic—wants to give into that idea, knowing it would be one of the few situations in which we might feel his hands on us again. But luckily, I maintain control over myself, and I steel my expression, nodding once to show him that I’m not going to run.

Though I want to, I don’t. I walk up the path with him to his house, my mind already reassessing the situation.

I have to get Nora. It’s been hours since I cast her away from my family’s home, and while I can sense that she’s safe, I’m sure she doesn’t want to be left stranded like that.

When we reach the porch, I stop. Xeran turns, fixing me with a pinning gaze that makes me feel like Declan must have earlier—the bunny in the bush, caught in the gaze of the predator.

“If you’re going to insist that I stay here,” I say, swallowing thickly, my throat somehow dry and like tar at the same time, “then I’ll need to bring my daughter, too.”

For the first time since I’ve seen him again, Xeran blinks, and some of that rock-solid composure shifts, exposing him for a moment. Surprise at the fact that I have a kid. Trepidation at the idea of bringing her here.

And maybe… jealousy?

No, there’s no way. I push the thought from my mind as he opens his mouth, eyes darting out to the forest where daylight is fading.

“Fine,” he says, shaking his head. “Where is she?”

Chapter 7 - Xeran

Ever since seeing Seraphina come out of that SUV, my hands have been in tight fists. First, at the sight of Dallas’s hands on her, and once I had her, with the effort of keeping my fucking hands to myself.

It took everything in my power not to touch her once we were alone in the truck. While she was accusing me of kidnapping her.

It’s not kidnapping. It’s witness protection.

If I drop her off now, leave her on the side of the road, it’s only a matter of time before Declan catches her scent and scoops her up again. Something about the look on his face told me that he wanted to hurt her. He thought, for some reason, I might help in doing that.

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