Page 48 of Lonely Alpha

He spoke like her weight was a bad thing, like it disgraced him. Had he ever said that to her directly? With a man like this, I bet he had. She’d grown up with those kinds of sentiments. No wonder she’d looked surprised when I’d called her gorgeous.

My aura lay thick over the room, intimidating him but without it being overt. A male alpha aura would be flaring by now, broadcasting their displeasure, but mine was easier to hide. Yes, it was out more than normal, but Noah Connolly didn’t have to know that.

“Do you have a picture?” I asked through gritted teeth.

He opened a drawer in his desk and thumbed through some papers before pulling out a file. He tossed it onto the desk, and I picked it up. Inside was a series of pictures of her, taken from all angles. She had a big fake smile plastered on and was wearing a tight dress that left nothing to the imagination. Panic lived in the depths of her eyes.

It was a pamphlet describing her like she was a prize poodle being put up for auction.

My vision went red, nails piercing the file folder.

“May I keep this?” I asked.

“Yes. I have no need for it anymore.”

“Do you have any idea where she might have run off to?”

He grunted and shrugged. “She doesn’t know anyone. My son Tobias is out looking for her right now, and he knew her better. He may have some insight.”

“Could I get his contact information?”

Keeping my tone pleasant was almost impossible. Every second in his presence my rage built, and I wanted to kill him. Fuck the consequences.

Noah gave me two business cards, one with his information and one with Tobias’s.

“Is there anything else I should know?” I asked, itching to wrap this up and escape here.

“Nothing of note.”

“Perfect. I’ll keep you apprised of my findings.”

I wouldn’t be keeping him apprised of anything at all.

But I was going to have to do something about this, because all my worlds were colliding and it wasn’t fucking looking good.

SIXTEEN

KIARA

Dash and I spent most of the time Leighton was gone eating in silence after my quick nap. I kept catching his gaze lingering on my lips as I slurped up pasta noodles, but he didn’t make a move. That was good. I may have antagonized him on purpose, but I wasn’t sure I was ready to tango with the consequences of that.

Leighton’s frustration spiked through the bond multiple times while she was gone, but it felt muted because of the distance between us. Or maybe I just couldn’t tune in properly when her aura was farther away.

When she came home, though, she was all smiles.

Well, OK. Leighton wasn’t the grinning type, but she was as happy as I could expect her to be. She claimed the situation was taken care of and her client was no longer set to be on the evening news, so she could relax.

She was lying.

She wasn’t good at hiding her anxiety when she spoke about the situation, and I knew what a liar looked like. I was always terrible at hiding my tells, but I could easily figure out other people’s.

Leighton tapped her nails against things when she was lying or withholding. Sometimes it was her arm, sometimes it was a counter, but she always tapped. We weren’t going to talk about how I’d been paying so much attention I figured that out within twenty-four hours of knowing her.

I let her maintain the lie, unsure if it was me she didn’t want knowing, or Dash.

We went to sleep in the same bed with Dash taking the couch.

The next morning, I stretched out and groaned at the sheer comfort of the bed, before feeling around the opposite side and only meeting cold sheets. Leighton was gone.

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