Page 28 of Lonely Alpha

I sighed. “Don’t thank me yet. We’ve got to get you cleaned up first.”

Her teeth sunk into her bottom lip and she looked down at her hands. She was holding her knife. More fresh blood was on it, and her brother had a small gash on his forearm. Pride filled me for a second before I remembered what else she’d used that knife for.

And how it had ended with her getting exactly what she wanted.

Did she at least feel guilty?

Fuck, I could tell. We were in each other’s heads, to an extent, feeling all the emotions. Guilt was at the forefront of hers.

“Is Ambrose…?”

“He’ll live.”

She clenched her hands into fists, likely to stop another question from rolling off her tongue. I was grateful for the quiet because it gave me a chance to process.

Not only did I have an omega now, but she was dark bonded and was going to bring a whole shit storm down onto my head.

I had to get back into a position of control, or I was going to crack. I already had the ultimate control over Kiara, but that wasn’t going to be enough. Telling her what to do wouldn’t fix the situation.

“You’re not allowed to use that knife on me or Ambrose,” I said, unsure of what I had to do to give her a command. I put the weight of my aura behind it, and felt the command settle over me like a light blanket.

She’d put herself under my control, so I thought it was fair that I made sure I didn’t get fucking stabbed. Her back stiffened and she nodded, the motion mechanical. “I won’t.”

We stayed quiet for the rest of the drive and while I pulled into my parking garage. Kiara didn’t say a word even as we got in the elevator, luckily alone so no one saw how dishevelled she was. The next sound I heard from her was a soft gasp when she followed me into the condo, spotting Ambrose groaning on the couch.

Jasper knelt beside him, stitching up the knife wound on the small of his back. With Ambrose’s shirt ripped halfway up his torso, I could see more of his scars than I’d ever been able to before. The skin was uneven, unable to heal completely, and around the edges of the burning were knife wounds.

Much like the one Kiara had given him today.

“She looks like shit,” Liberty said, blowing a bubble with her chewing gum.

She sat on an armchair across the room, laptop resting on her folded legs.

“Things happened,” I muttered.

“You know, I told you she was trouble.”

A growl rumbled up without my consent. Something about Liberty talking about her that way irritated me to no end. My friend’s eyes widened, and she popped to her feet. “Oh, fuck. Leigh, did you dark bond her?”

“Thingshappened. I’m going to get her cleaned up and then we can have a big old conversation about how everything is imploding. Kiara, come.”

She began walking immediately. I cursed. It was hardnotto put my aura behind my words—I was so used to it. My bark wasn’t like a male alpha’s and was actually far more natural. In this situation that was a downside.

“That wasn’t a command. Sorry.”

Her feet stuttered to a stop and a breath whooshed out of her. The tension in our bond dissolved too, telling me the order was no longer affecting her. Taking the commands back was as easy as doling them out in the first place, luckily.

I led her through the house to my bedroom, grabbing a bag from beside the front door on the way. They were the clothes I’d bought her, and it was a good thing she had them now. She was a mess and Tobias’ scent clung to her like a bad odour clung to an old pair of shoes.

“Sit on the bed.” I had to soften my tone, being very careful to avoid making it a command. It would take some getting used to.

She hesitated, glancing down at herself. “I’m dirty.”

“Doesn’t matter. You could take your clothes off first, if you wanted to.”

Her knife was placed gently on the bed when she reached for the hem of the t-shirt, and I immediately regretted everything.

She definitely should keep that on, but I hadn’t been thinking about how aroused she made me even when clothed from head to toe. I couldn’t look away as the fabric slid up her torso, freeing her tits with a generous bounce. Biting back my groan, I almost swallowed my tongue when she pushed the sweatpants down her hips. Her underwear were cheeky, showing off a lot of her ass. I wanted to fucking lick it.

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