Page 49 of Pack’s Prize

“Myalpha?” I said. My voice was strong and clear, surprising even myself. “I think you lost the right to say that a while ago.”

“I don’t think it matters what you think, babe,” Roman said, not looking at me. “You still think everything is about you, but… this is alpha business.”

My gut twisted. I had wanted so badly to belong to someone. I hadn’t seen what it would have meant to belong to him. The very thought made bile rise in my throat.

I swallowed it back, just as his eyes finally landed on me, scanning me from head to toe, then back again, lingering on my chest, despite my conservative silk blouse–one of the many gifts the three men had lavished upon me since that first explosion of packages. I imagined the thin silk to be armor, protecting me from Roman’s gaze.

Where was the lawyer?I wanted to get this over with, to leave, so I never had to see Roman ever again. So I could leave, and start my own life, thanks to the generosity of Michael and his pack. My heart wrenched against my ribcage, as I remembered what came next:I would try to find a new pack to belong to. I would try to get over them. Michael, and Elias, and Theo–

“And besides,” he continued, “Istilldon’t see any claiming mark.”

My armor shattered.

“I don’t know what you’re getting out of this little charade–or maybe you really have been playing house for them, letting them fuck you like we did.” Michael tensed beside me, taking a half-step forward, but I held on to his elbow, my grip vice like. “Looks to me like you still belong tomypack, just as much as theirs.”

“That’s not true,” I hissed. “Ineverbelonged to you and your pack. You made sure of that.”

“Maybe so. But you want to tell me that these…artists,” he sneered, his lip curling suggestively as he looked from me to Michael, “really plan to keep you around? I doubt it.” He looked at me, then, and smiled. “You’re so naïve, babe. They’re using you.”

“What,” I said, suddenly enraged, “you mean, like stringing along an omega for years and years just so you can have somewhere convenient to stick your knot? Like breaking my heart over and over again, every day? You mean using me like that?” Hot tears burned down my cheeks, but I didn’t feel sad, just furious.

The door opened and a dark-skinned, silver-haired woman in a dark suit strode into the room. It only took a second for her to read the room, looking from me, to Michael, to Roman.

“Well, you’re all obviously acquainted,” she said with a hint of irony, “so let’s get this over with. My colleague Mr. Wilson is unavailable today, so unfortunately, he’ll have to meet the omega we’ve all heard so much about at a later date.” She pursed her lips, glancing at me disinterestedly. “Mr. Stoll, it seems everything is in order with the inheritance. I see that there was an unusual proviso included in the late Mr. Stoll’s will, but you’ve met that term?” She looked up over the top of her glasses at me, then Michael. She didn’t seem impressed. I wouldn’t be either, were I a beta like her: this whole thing reeked of alpha posturing, and that was before I’d known Roman would be here. It felt like I was supposed to say something, but Michael simply nodded, so I did, too. “You are mated?” she asked.

“No,” he said, and I couldn’t help but sneak a glance at Roman. He was looking back at me, and I looked quickly away. “We are courting,” Michael said, and squeezed my hand. He was a good actor, and my chest contracted painfully as he continued. “Courting with the intention to mate.”

For the first time, I realized what this accounted to:this was fraud, wasn’t it?But as Michael held the lawyer’s gaze, there was no trace of nervousness in his scent, in his demeanor. In the confident way he held my hand against his bicep, in the steady thump of his heartbeat through the skin of his palm over mine.

“Your honor,” interrupted Roman. “I object.”

Michael’s heart remained steady, but mine… my pulse was wild under my skin.How was it possible that Roman was the distant cousin? What was he doing here?He must have been planning this all along–what had he meant anyway, I was so naïve?Was I? Iwas, after all, I’d only just now realized the magnitude of Michael’s request, hadn’t I? I was going to go to jail, I–

“The “your honor” is not necessary, Mr… Marcus,” the lawyer said, checking her documentation. “But what is it that you would like to say?”

“That omega,” he said, and paused for what felt like a thousand years. “Does not belong to Michael Stoll.”

She raised an eyebrow.

I couldn’t breathe. Romanknew, he knewme, better thananyone. He’d been able to tell that we were lying–

But I wasn’t lying, not really, was I?

I did belong to him, his pack. My heart did, anyway.You may not want me, you may not even know… but I do. I do belong to you, and I will, whether you want me or not.

“No,” Michael said, and I whipped my head around to look at him. “No, she does not belong to me. She belongs to no alpha, only herself,” he continued, looking down at me. His eyes were warm, but the wrinkles at the edges told me he was holding something back. “We’re courting this omega, but if she’ll have us, if she chooses us…” Michael said. His thumb ran across my knuckles, and his other hand came up to cup my cheek.

A tear slipped from my eye, and I blinked hard, trying to clear my vision. I wanted to remember the way he looked like this, even if I knew it would hurt later, when this was all over.

“No, she doesn’t belong to me. Not yet,” Michael said, his eyes unreadable. “But… I belong to her.”

CHAPTERFORTY-EIGHT

Michael

Roman put up a protest,but in the end, the lawyer had made her decision.

“You don’t understand!” he exclaimed. “That man isfuckinghispackmates.” He paused, then emphasized. “The otheralphas.”

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