Page 104 of Stolen By the Alpha Hunter
He knows.
Oh God—he knows.
Not just about the bond. Not just about the rebellion. He knows about the baby. The one I haven’t even said aloud yet. The one I haven’t let myselfwant, not really, because how could I possibly want something so fragile in a world like this?
I feel exposed. Stripped bare. Like he’s reached into my body and stolen something sacred.
Gideon paces in front of the door, hands on his hips, shaking his head likeI’mthe one who betrayedhim.
“Well, what do you have to say for yourself?” he snaps. “Tell me the truth for once, Esther!”
Something breaks. Not a crack—something clean. Something hard. The fear doesn’t vanish, not really…but it crystallizes into something sharper. Hotter. More dangerous.
He thinks he can take everything from me—my voice, my dignity, my mate, mychild—and I’ll just keep kneeling?
No.
“I’m telling you the truth right now, if you would just listen!” I cry out, swinging my hand toward him in frustration. “I love him and I want him back. Give him to me!”
Gideon stares at me in shock for what feels like an eternity. Then a slow smile appears on his face, cracking his jaw into a rictus grin.
“Finally, you’re honest,” he says. “How refreshing.”
The way he’s smiling makes me want to scream in rage at the same time that it scares the hell out of me. I drop my hands, my breath ragged, tears on the verge of spilling down my cheeks.
“Please,” I whisper. “I’m begging you.”
Gideon chuckles to himself and starts pacing again, his hands on his hips. He glances up at me, then to the door, then back again. He takes in the sight of me—what’s obviously a nest, Javi’s clothes positioned around me.
“You’re just like your mama,” he says. “Should’ve known from the beginning that you needed to be broken. She was a bad influence.”
I close my eyes and the first tears stream down my cheeks.
Gideon laughs.
I’m not even in a position to defend her. I have to get Javi back first.
“My first instinct was to take lover boy and give you to Abel instead,” Gideon says. “You’re already pregnant—and Abel knows how to treat a woman, unlike that no-good mercenaryyou’ve shacked up with. But now…no. I think I have an even better idea.”
I bite my lip so hard it bleeds, copper mingling with salt.
“Please,” I ask—one last, desperate appeal for mercy. Gideon grins at me again, his blind eye boring into me.
“You sit tight, sweetheart,” he says. “I’ll be right back.”
And with that, he leaves me alone with my thoughts…and with the baby I have to protect.
25
JAVI
My head feels like it’s in a vice, my whole body aching when I come to. Wherever I am, it’s dark, and I can tell I’m concussed by the fact that it takes me a second to adjust to the lack of light. My senses aren’t quite as sharp, little points of neon flashing everyone I look.
Metal creaks around me and the soft sound of waves breaks through. I’m still on the Rig, which is good—they haven’t taken me away on the Heavenly Host ship. Water drips somewhere nearby, and I’m cold, my clothes damp.
I wiggle my fingers and toes and try to sit up, but I find that I’m chained to the wall by my neck, and to the floor by my wrists and ankles. I’ve broken out of chains like this before, but it’ll be difficult with this setup. I can barely even get leverage to move from lying down, jerking desperately, and I’m weak from whatever the Angels did to me. My head is foggy, numb, dizzy, and I realize with a start that they must have drugged me.
That’s not good. With the way my kraken addiction was years ago, anything in my system could cause permanent damage.
