Page 56 of The Alpha: Part One
"Do you agree that she is physically unharmed?" Flores asks, gesturing toward Desie.
"What are you talking about?" I snarl, a thin, red haze begins to ring my vision.
He clicks his tongue and puts his hand on Desie's shoulder. "Reel it in, Michael. Deep breaths. Answer the question."
"She's physically unharmed." The words through my clenched teeth. "Where is my brother?"
"You're not asking questions, Michael. Only answering them."
The inside of my skull feels like it's boiling, or melting. The red ring is getting thicker, I can't stop it. His hand on her shoulder is a bigger threat than any gun would be.
"You'll do whatever you need to do to make sure she remains unharmed, won't you?"
I take a breath. "Yes."
Big, fat, silent tears fall from Desie's eyes.
"Good. Win the fights, Michael. Every one of them," he says, moving his hand to comb through Desie's hair. "Win them until I tell you to lose them. That's how you keep her safe."
"Where are you taking her?" No chance in hell he'll keep her here.
He smiles at me. "At my house, of course. An omega should always live within the safety of her pack, don't you think?"
The red closes in, a loud buzz roars to life in my ears. Then Desie's soft whimper filters through and I find myself looking up at her from the ground. Flores has his fist wrapped in her hair, yanking her head back at an angle.
"Control yourself, Michael. I want this omega, but I don't need her. She's the right age, has the right values for what I need from her," he takes a long look up and down her body, "she has the right body type, too; but I can always find another one. It might take a little while, but we get shipments every day."
I can't do anything right now but get both of us killed. Maybe that would be better. Whether or not it would be better doesn't matter, I won't give him a reason to hurt her. "Don't hurt her."
"Win the fights, Michael."
Chapter twenty-five
Desie
"It's really up to you, Desir'ee," Flores smiles. "Michael and Benjamin can either live or die. It all depends on your cooperation."
Despicable. He's a disgusting, despicable, evil, awful man. I have never hated anyone as much as I hate him. Not even the horrible people who killed Rafe.
"I'll cooperate as much as I can. I already told you that."
He smiles again, sitting there all smug behind his desk. "You did. But I haven't finished telling you what will be required of you."
"So, tell me." Tell me, get it over with. I'm going to be sick.
Lopez comes in and sits in the chair beside me. I don't even look at him. I was wrong. I might hate him more than Flores. "Ben has been made aware of his new reality."
"What about Pratchett?" Flores asks, his eyes never leaving mine.
"No sign of him," Lopez sighs. "I don't think he'll be a problem. He's probably crossing into the midlands by now. We shouldn't hear from him again, and if we do… we can take care of him."
"Let's make sure. I don't want any unnecessary trouble. We've got quotas and timelines to meet," Flores says, then to me, "will the East Coast councilman be a problem?"
I don't bother hiding my disgust at having to speak to him. "How should I know? He left." I do hide the loss I feel at that statement. I thought he was going to be part of us. He felt like he was going to be my alpha as much as the twins are.
He smiles sadly at me. "That must sting. It was looking like he was going to swoop in and make everything okay, wasn't it? Too bad his past caught up to him."
It really is. I can forgive almost anything, anything but dishonesty. Seth should have been upfront about his past and the charges and accusations against him from the beginning.
