Page 19 of Bound to the Dragon
“You’re relieved of your position,” I interject. “Get out.”
He visibly swallows, and I catch Madison’s jaw relax as he stalks by her, heading up the stairs, leaving me alone with my Beta and her.
“We’ll have to run facial recognition on them.” I look at their corpses and back at Madison. “Unless you can offer any insight here.”
She grunts. “I already told you I don’t know them.”
“I don’t believe you,” I retort sharply.
She balks at the accusation. “I don’t need to listen to this. I’m going back to my suite.”
She starts back up the stairs, but I chase after her. “Oh, no, you don’t. I’m not done with you yet.”
Her attempt to slip past me is successful, only because of her slight figure, and she jets up the rest of the steps faster than I expect her to run. Maybe she does have more assets than I gave her credit for.
Oh, it’s on now. I half expected her to shift into her crow form, but she’s fast enough at running to make it to the main floor. By the time I catch up to her, she’s halfway to the stairs again, but something stops her. Before I can call out accusinglyto her, she puts her finger to her lips, silently telling me to be quiet. My patience with her has completely expired, but before I can bark at her, I hear voices from the front room. She’s listening to a conversation inside.
Curiosity overrides my annoyance with Madison for the moment as I take in my mate’s bewildered face.
Clamping my lips closed, I approach her, honing in on the conversation. I immediately recognize the voices of some of my packmates speaking in half-hushed tones.
“…any surprise something like this happened today, of all days, though?”
“Of course not. It was obviously Silver Glade,” one of the others replies. “This whole thing was a big setup, and we have to pay the price with an untrustworthy Luna and an Alpha who can’t defend us.”
My eyes widen in disbelief as I realize they’re talking about us, under my roof. Madison catches my gaze, and a gleam of sympathy ignites in her sultry, dark eyes. Before I can react, Madison steps out of the shadows and into the front room.
“What the hell are you doing?” I hiss after her.
If she hears me, she doesn’t acknowledge my question.
I have no choice but to follow after her, my hands clenched into fists at my sides.
“Hello,” Madison drawls, marching into the center of the room. “I don’t think I’ve formally met you all yet.”
The collective looks on their faces remind me of children with their hands caught in cookie jars.
“Luna.” The murmur is barely audible.
“That’s right. I’m the Luna, Madison. You know that because you all just attended the ceremony where my birth pack was right beside yours, injured and fighting.”
I catch the eye of one of the earlier speakers, and his complexion fades to gray as he realizes I had heard him, too.
“I don’t expect you to like me, at least not yet. You don’t know me, after all. But I will not have you disrespect your own Alpha in his house.”
“We didn’t—” one of the shifters tries to interject, but for once, Madison’s forthcoming attitude comes in handy.
“Don’t insult me.” Madison’s words snap like a whip, silencing the denial. Her dark eyes bore into the small group, and she glowers at them. “I don’t know how forgiving your Alpha is about these kinds of things, but if I were him…”
She shrugs and looks back at me. A fusion of pride and awe twists inside me at her completely unexpected speech. It takes me a minute to gather my own thoughts in the aftermath. I hardly know how to follow that up.
So, I don’t. “Get out. All of you.” I look toward the door. “I don’t have the time or patience to deal with any of you right now.”
“Alpha, we didn’t?—”
“Did I stutter? I gave you all an order.” I point toward the exit.
They reluctantly head toward the door, but I note the looks of respect they toss toward Madison. I can’t blame them. I’m developing a begrudging respect of my own.
