Page 35 of Heroes & Hitmen
This is his turf, his pack, his rules.
It wouldn’t be a fair fight, so I’m left with only one option.
I lie.
CHAPTER 12
Miley
People havemany reasons to fear Alpha Gage Morgan, but for me, the threat of violence has never been one of them.
Until now.
He’s never hit me before, but I’ve also never seen him this angry– jaw set like stone, nostrils flared, eyes alight with terrifying, barely-restrained rage. He’s storming across the concrete like a phantom, muscles bunching beneath his pressed shirt, fists clenched at his sides like he’s fighting the instinct to shift or rip someone to shreds with his bare hands. I flinch despite myself, body trembling and braced for impact.
Ares steps in front of me without hesitation.
It’s not a dramatic gesture. There’s no accompanying growl or verbal threat; just a simple, solid movement.
One step.
A line drawn.
Still, Alpha doesn’t slow. Doesn’t blink. It’s as if he doesn’t even register Ares’ presence, his murderous glare fixed solely onme, the daughter who dared to defy him. The asset gone rogue. His voice cuts through the silence like a blade as he demands, “Wherewereyou?”
I knew this would happen when I didn’t show up for the pairing ceremony.
I didn’t even leave the parking garage.
I’ve been sitting behind the wheel of my car for the past hour like a goddamn coward, paralyzed with indecision. I couldn’t bringmyself to turn the key and drive to the preserve, but I didn’t know where to run to, either. I just…froze.
That won’t be an acceptable explanation to him. Alpha doesn’t stand for disobedience, and I’ve embarrassed him in front of the pack to boot. I need to come up with some plausible excuse, some way to smooth things over… but before I can even consider how to respond, Ares crashes in like a kamikaze pilot.
“She was with me,” he says coolly, rolling his shoulders back.
My breath catches, pulse skipping.
What the hell is he doing?
My father stops short, his head swiveling toward Ares. A predator registering a new threat.
“You knew the rules, Raines,” he growls, low and menacing.
“I do,” Ares replies smoothly. “But surely there’s an exception for fated mates.”
My brain stutters.
Fated what now?
Alpha’s eyes narrow, suspicion slicing through him like a current. His arms fold slowly and deliberately across his broad chest, thick with muscle and authority. “Explain.”
Ares doesn’t so much as flinch, holding my father’s gaze with unwavering confidence. As if he’s not pulling a lie from thin air and staking his life on it.
“Miley here was having car trouble, so I offered to give her a ride,” he says, throwing a casual thumb toward me. “She must’ve zoned out, because she didn’t tell me I was in the wrong place until I turned on some shitty little service road into Forest Glen Woods. I offered to turn around, bring her wherever she needed, but she was dead set on making it on time for the run. Said she’d just shift and run from there.”
Alpha watches him carefully, but Ares doesn’t miss a beat, continuing right along with his story. I’ve gotta admit, his delivery is so convincing that I almost believe it myself.
“I wasn’t about to have something happen to your daughter on my watch by sending her into the woods alone, so I shifted too, and thenBAM.” He claps his hands together, the loud sound echoing off the concrete and making me jump. “The bond snapped in. I felt it, she felt it…” he trails off, glancing back at me with the kind of smirk I can’t tell if I want to punch or kiss from his lips. “It was fate.”
