Page 56 of Darkness Bound (Night Prowler 5)
“For not hurting you,” he guessed when she faltered. His voice was quiet, his stare fixed.
There was no moisture in her mouth. Jack couldn’t speak for a moment, but when she’d recovered her composure, she simply said, “Yes.”
His gaze cut to Hawk, standing silently behind her. “And what would make you think I would do a thing like that, my dear?”
The Earth was turning too rapidly beneath her feet. Her equilibrium had tilted, and it seemed the only thing holding her to the ground was the cool weight of his hand grasping hers.
Jack whispered, “Because if I were in your shoes . . . that’s what I’d want to do. I’d want revenge.”
The Alpha narrowed his eyes, contemplating her expression, mulling the words over. After a moment, he released her hand. A tiny smile crooked one corner of his lips.
“You’re quite direct, aren’t you?” His eyes began a languid survey of her body that heated her cheeks. “Though perhaps it’s just recklessness.”
In a tight voice, Hawk said, “She doesn’t mean any disrespect—”
“If I wanted your opinion I’d give it to you!” the Alpha hissed. “Don’t try my patience, Hawk, so soon after our new visitor has arrived.”
At that moment, Luis Fernando and his cadre of guards arrived, shoving their way through the crowd to get to the front.
They barged toward the dais, hulking and silent, until they stood beside Jack in a row. She kept her eyes focused on Alejandro because Nando and his guards were still unclothed.
No one seemed the least bit concerned with their nudity.
The Alpha took one look at Nando’s bruised and bloody face, and his expression hardened to granite. “Ever the rebel,” he snarled, lip curled in disdain. “How many lashes do you think it will take before you finally learn to respect the rules? Fifty? One hundred? Perhaps two hun—”
“No need to count to one thousand. I get the picture,” Hawk interrupted, sounding bored. The look on his face was anything but bored, however. He glared at the Alpha with unconcealed hatred.
The Alpha glared back with murder in his eyes, and Jack went cold.
Lashes . . . stocks . . . the gibbet. My God, these creatures are barbarians! And judging by the look on the Alpha’s face, Hawk was about to be on the receiving end of some very nasty barbarism, indeed.
“It wasn’t his fault!” she blurted, and she reached out and seized Alejandro’s arm.
The crowd gasped as one, their shock universal.
For a moment there was nothing, just frozen silence and a look of stunned disbelief on Alejandro’s face as he looked down at her hand wrapped around his arm. His gaze snapped back to her face and his look told her one thing for certain.
She’d just made a terrible, irreparable mistake.
“I’m sorry,” Jack whispered. She released his arm, and took a small step back.
“Well,” said the Alpha calmly after a long, horrible moment. He lifted his gaze to the crowd. His voice, clear and strong, carried to the far reaches of the clearing. “It appears we’re going to have not one but two canings to complete the evening’s festivities!”
He clapped his hands. The drums resumed their throbbing beat. The crowd looked on in ominous silence.
And Jack shrank back in terror as two hulking males approached her from either side, while the Alpha watched her, a sinister little smile playing over his face.
The hulking males brushed right past her, however, and grabbed Hawk.
He didn’t struggle, comment, or even looked surprised. He simply let the males lead him away through the crowd as Jack watched on in stunned disbelief, too shocked to move.
The Alpha watched Hawk’s receding back. “Nando . . . you know the drill.”
Beside her, Luis Fernando stiffened in outrage. “Sire! He attacked me!”
Alejandro snarled, “And you were either too slow or too distracted to evade him! Either way, he bested the head of my security detail . . . which doesn’t make me feel particularly secure. Failure isn’t an option. You know that. Take your lumps like a man or your second-in-command is getting a promotion.”
He didn’t mention what would then happen to Nando, but judging by the look on both their faces, it wouldn’t be pleasant.
