Page 99 of Knot Their Girl
Do I really have to pee? No, it’s nowhere near emergency levels, but getting out of this room would give me a better clue as to where we are. Are we in a house? A basement? Maybe I’d be able to make a break for it—but no, I couldn’t leave Colter.
If I go to the bathroom, it has to be for recon specifically.
Colter still sits on the bed, watching me with a confused expression on his face. We’ve kept each other calm so far, but it’s obvious he doesn’t quite know what I’m doing.
I like to think I’m okay under pressure. Sure, I made some mistakes where those scent-dampening injections were concerned, but that was out of my own anxieties. This? This is totally different. This is a freaking kidnapping.
Shit. It’s akidnapping. I really should be more upset, huh?
“You have ten seconds till I go in the corner, squat, and take a nice, long, hot piss—” Right as I say that last part, the door unlocks and swings open, and a scowling Bradford stands in the hall.
Looks like a normal hall from here.
“How on earth is a Whittenhall so uncivilized?” he asks me with a disgusted frown. “The Whittenhall bloodline goes back to the founding of this country. Weren’t you taught better than that?”
I place my hands on my hips and give him my best attitude. “Weren’t you taught that kidnapping is bad? I guess we both have some room for improvement.”
Bradford rolls his eyes at me, then snaps his fingers and gestures to the open door, saying, “Watch him. Make sure he doesn’t try to run while I take this one to the bathroom.” Though I can’t see them yet, he’s clearly not alone in the hallway.
Great. Definitely can’t make a run for it right now.
His black eyes land on me. “Come on, then.”
I duck my head as I follow Bradford out into the hall. Two other alphas, part of the team that kidnapped Colter and I from the house, stand on either side of the open doorway, looking like typical beef heads. I try not to be obvious as I study my surroundings while walking behind Bradford.
A normal-looking hallway, which tells me we’re in a house, not a basement. It doesn’t have that basement-y smell of stale air. It’s a wide hall, too, which means this house is not some tiny little thing; hallways like this only come in decent-sized houses, and I wonder if Bradford had us brought to his actual home.
I mean, how stupid is that? It’s like he didn’t even try to hide this whole thing from Pax.
Unless… no, there’s no way he doesn’t know about Pax.
“So, what made you decide to pull the trigger on this stupid plan now?” I ask, prying for details as we walk down the hall.
The alpha in front of me growls, and I resist my urge to act meet and subservient. Fucking omega instincts. “Seeing you two at the dinner party made me hope that, finally, I could convince him to sell his company to me. Everyone can be pushed, you just have to find the right way to push them. For Gideon, that’s you and the beta.”
He abruptly stops before an open door—a bathroom. Alas, a bathroom with no windows. His tall frame turns as he faces me, studying me anew, and I say, “So, what, you waited until Gideon went back into the office so we would be alone in the house?” I purposefully don’t say a word about Pax.
“That’s right. It wasn’t too hard to pay for eyes and ears at the office. Took a few days to plan everything out. There’s never a time like the present to finally make your move.” As he says that, he lifts his nose, and I hope to God he’s not losing himself in my scent. The last thing I need is this guy losing his shit over me.
Before he can say anything else, I duck past him and hurry into the bathroom. I shut the door and glance all around as I slowly make my way to the toilet. I don’t see anything sharp. Nothing I can steal and use.
Fuck.
I’m forced to actually pee and wash my hands. After drying them, I sigh and open the bathroom door, finding Bradford there, waiting for me, his nose still upturned.
“I can’t believe I didn’t recognize it sooner,” he says, sounding bored, in spite of the fact that he has two kidnapped people in his house and a crew of goons ready to do his bidding. “You smell like the beta in there. You’re not just with Gideon, are you?”
The question is flung at me, loaded. Is that why he kept sniffing the air around me? He wasn’t smelling me for himself;he was noticing that I have more than one male scent mingling with mine.
Can he smell Pax? I wonder…
“And if I am with more than just Gideon, what’s it matter to you?” I shoot back.
“It doesn’t matter to me at all. I simply find it… interesting. I shouldn’t be surprised, since Gideon and that nephew of his are basically housebound. I can’t believe someone of your pedigree would agree to that, however. Surely you could’ve had any pack you wanted? Why accept an offer from a broken alpha and his equally broken nephew?”
Hm. Nothing about another alpha’s smell on me. Granted, we didn’t sleep together last night, so that could be it—not that I’m complaining. If this guy doesn’t know about Pax, it gives Alabaster Security a leg up.
I do find it insulting that he called Gideon and Colter broken, and I frown up at him to show my displeasure. “They are not broken. The only one broken here that I see is you, bucko. I mean, kidnapping, just to buy a fucking company? Is it really that important? Don’t you have other things to do?”
