Page 86 of Filthy Royal

Back home, he’d trained hard. Focused. Gotten bigger, meaner, more disciplined. Became their Enforcer, someone who his brothers could rely on.

Three heartbeats in Scarlett’s presence, and he’d fucked it all up.

“Nikolai and the others said… nothing.” Maddox rubbed his jaw. “We haven’t mentioned it. It’s not like I’d want to broadcast the fact that I got my ass partially kicked by some Golden Dome wanna-be soldiers.”

“And I’m not about to risk them coming here and me losing the small amount of adventure and freedom I get with you,”Anya added.“Emphasis on the small.”

Damien actually got a little choked up.

Those two… He heard beneath their excuses loud and clear. They were covering for him.

Maybe they weren’t such pains in the ass after all.

“Plus, now you owe us.”Anya’s words brought him back to reality.

But he couldn’t be mad. He did owe them.

And now it was time to step up.

“Right.” He squared his shoulders. “So, what’s the damage?”

Maddox shrugged. “It’s all a bit of a blur, but I’d say between our efforts and some friendly fire that worked in our favor, there were at least fifteen dead when we left.”

Definitely not subtle.

Damien blew out a forceful breath. “If Darvish is here or nearby, he’s likely to notice that.”

“You think?”Anya’s sass was legendary.

“At least we clipped the vid feeds in the corridor before we went in,” offered Maddox. “If it is Darvish in that building, he’ll know there was an attack, but he won’t know by whom.”

“Kadon can identify me. He’ll give them a description.”

“Well, that’s the interesting part,”Anya said.“I’ve been monitoring the chatter, and there’s been no mention of the kidnappings or you two on any public channel.”

Damien considered this. “It makes sense the Consortium would want to keep the abductions under wraps. News that a high-level omega was stolen from right under their noses might raise too many questions and shake up business, make bettors jittery, and risk profits—and no way will they want that.” He smiled, feeling a little more hopeful. “We can use that to our advantage. Still, Anya, continue to monitor the chatter. At some point, we’re bound to have unwanted guests.”

Hopefully, though, their prisoners would be smart and cooperate, and this wouldn’t take long.

Damien finally allowed his gaze to return to the smaller cage—and growled.

The barely there scraps of Scarlett’s dress did even less to cover her now that they were torn. Her fancy hairstyle was ruined, most of the jeweled adornments that had dotted her face and hair had fallen off, and her eye and lip paint was smeared, yet she somehow looked just as gorgeous as before.

But not so high and mighty or perfect—and that, he liked.

Then he noticed the bruises and scrapes on her body, and his gut clenched in a different way; the thought that he’d played a part in putting them there was something he didn’t like at all.

Knot him. That was definitely not Enforcer thinking.

“You good?” Maddox’s voice pulled him back from the edge.

“Yup.” Damien choked down the unwanted surge of protectiveness and tossed the comms back to Maddox. “You hold on to this. This time, I’m staying in control.”

“No doubt.” A slight pause. “Still, I’ve got the taser.”

“Good call.” No point in pretending.

An omega’s scent was always distracting to an Alpha, but his reaction to Scarlett was on a whole new level.

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