Page 7 of The Alpha's Temptation

“Yes, I wanna watch.”

Caelan tilted his head just enough for me to see his pissed-off expression. “You’re not going to the games. You don’t want to watch. You want to compete, and you do not have my permission to do so.”

“I don’t need your permission.”

He cut his eyes to me. “You’re not competing.”

“Why not?”

“Because they’re dangerous.”

“Not all of them.”

“The games you want to do are.”

“How do you know that? Maybe I want to–”

“Drop it,” he snarled. “We’re a mile from the Capital. You’re to be on your best behavior here, Livia. Don’t embarrass me.”

Don’t embarrass him? Don’t fucking embarrass him? Whatever he told me, I only wanted to do the opposite. Didn’t he know that by now? If he didn’t want me to attend the games, then I would. I didn’t care which ones I would go see, I’d be there.

And maybe… I’d even think about competing too in my favorite game: Mortal Combat.

CHAPTER 5

CAELAN

“Livia’s a pretty name,”a fae said, one hand in his pocket as he leaned against the counter. He held out his opposite hand for Livia to take, and she threw me a smirk and shook it. “I’m Roger.”

It had taken us several hours of traveling through Dreadmire to arrive in Capital City, where the wedding ceremony and games were being hosted, and as soon as we fucking stepped foot into the lobby of where we’d stay… someone was already hitting on Livia.

“Well, Roger,” she giggled, really emphasizing it for me. “It’s nice to meet you.”

I balled my hands into tight fists, trying to keep my cool in front of Marcus so he wouldn’t know how much his fucking daughter affected me. We had been here for less than five minutes, and she already had someone all over her. She’d told me that she would, and I didn’t believe her.

Truly, I didn’t think she’d flirt in front of her father.

But here I fucking was: watching her and wanting to rip that motherfucker apart.

After she threw me another taunting glance with her eyes lit up like this was some sort of game, I averted my gaze to Marcus.I had to restrain myself because I couldn’t have her. She couldn’t shift, but I didn’t care about that.

What I cared about was the Whispering Pines Pack.

They had been pestering us for years now, even more since Livia had joined our pack several months ago. We had been preparing for them to attack, but they hadn’t.Yet. Still, if they knew my mate couldn’t shift, they’d targether.

“Was this one of the guys you were telling me about?” I asked him.

Marcus chuckled. “One of the many that will be here today.”

“But him? He’s a bellhop,” I said, looking over at Roger, who had his finger curled around a strand of her hair, twisting it. A low growl left my mouth, and I stepped between them. “You’re dismissed. I’ll take care of our belongings.”

Eyes widening, Roger bowed his head and scurried away.

“What the hell was that for?” Livia exclaimed behind me, glaring up at me with those pretty green eyes. She poked me hard in the chest. “Excuse me, but you and Dad agreed that I needed to find someone else.”

“Not him,” I said through my teeth, then lowered my voice so Marcus couldn’t hear. “And I didn’t agree to any of that shit.”

She crossed her arms. “Well, if you can find someone else, then I can too.”

---