Page 49 of The Alpha's Regret

“If you hurt her, Dean Reynolds will burn your new pack to the ground. He’s not an enemy you want, Kim. Just take me and let her go,” I roar, twisting my arms in the cuffs again, despite the raw wounds from my previous attempts to free myself.

“You really want me to do that, Nathan? Kick your unmarked mate out to wander around the hotel in the middle of her heat? She’ll be torn to shreds and someone else will get to put their mark on her pretty little neck.” Kim doesn’t look up but raises an eyebrow as she speaks.

I growl territorially, feeling completely helpless. She’s right. Even if Maya escaped, she won’t get far on her own. She’s too weak to fight off a frenzied male, driven wild by her scent. Not that Kim has any intention of letting her walk out of this room.

There’s a loud knock and I force myself to concentrate on who it could be, to tune my senses in, but I can’t. Maya’s scent is driving me crazy. My skin crawls and I can’t focus.

“Perfect timing.”

Kim stands, looking terrifyingly cheerful while anxiety courses through me, and she moves toward the door.

My wolf only knows Maya. He only smells her heat, only sees her pain. I can't sense who has arrived, and I've never felt more helpless.

Kim swings the door open with a flourish and steps aside. I shuffle as best I can a few inches closer, and Maya warily looks up from her position, tears streaking down her face as her eyes meet mine. I furiously tug at my bindings, not caring if I need to chop my hand off to get out of these damned things.

A deep voice, that under any other circumstance I’d be thrilled to hear, booms out as he steps inside and the door clicks shut behind him.

“What the fuck is going on, Kim?”

My head snaps up at the familiar voice, but my heart sinks.

“Oh no,” I whisper, instantly understanding the implications of what Kim has done here. She’s pure evil.

Ethan steps in and pinches his nose, immediately reeling away when he spots Maya and sees her distress. The air is thick with the scent of her heat. She’s barely dressed, in a tiny pair of shorts and a thin running top, now plastered to her pert tits with sweat. My wolf roars, furious that another male is seeing her like this, adding to her humiliation.

Ethan’s piercing blue eyes flash, pinning me with a challenging stare when he feels my possessiveness hit him and my growl fills the air. His top lip pulls back in a snarl and shows his lengthened teeth in response to my unspoken claim over the defenceless female between us. Instinctively, his wolf wants her all for himself.

He stares at Maya, his nostrils flaring, and fists clenching repeatedly. Ethan was Cooper’s beta, but he recently left the pack, ignoring our pleas to stay after Toby attacked Leah. What the hell is he doing coming here with Kim?

“Yours?” Ethan grits out the question, pressing himself against the wall and breathing hard, his chest heaving as he tries to regain control. Every breath drags more and more of Maya’s tempting scent into his lungs. He groans and I see his knees dip as his body betrays him.

“MINE!” I shout, reminding him what he’s doing and trying to reach the man inside that knows this is wrong. Shaking his head, he curses and tries to move back toward the door to escape, but Kim tuts and shakes her head, the gun pointed at Maya lying prone on the floor.

Kim knows Ethan. She knows he'll never put someone else's life at risk, and now that his wolf has set his sights on her, neither will he. With the gun trained on my mate, Ethan is as stuck as I am.

“Kim, what the fuck is this? You said there was an emergency. Get her out of here. Or let me out, now,” he orders. He doesn’t know who Kim really is, or what she’s done.

“You guys like to share. Remember the Harvest Full Moon last year? You had no problem sharing me. Why not Maya? I have a feeling she’d love it right about now.” Kim leans forward and laughs cruelly in Maya’s face. “Two cocks filling you up, taking all your pain away. Probably sounds pretty good right about now, doesn’t it?”

Maya cries out as Kim pokes her sensitised skin with the tip of the gun.

“Cut it out, Kim. Let everyone go. There’s no need for this. We’re all friends here. Just tell us what’s going on and what you need.”

Ethan sounds calm and reasonable, but he has his fists squeezed together tightly, pressed into his closed eyes. When Kim doesn’t answer, he curses and bangs his head hard against the wall, so hard I expect there to be dents when he moves away. I love him, but I will gut him like a fish if he lays a finger on my mate. I’m not sure he’ll be able to stop himself, though.

“Get up. Climb on the bed.”

Maya shrinks away from the gun pressed hard into her shoulder and places her hands flat on the ground, before pushing unsteadily to her feet. Ethan cracks his eyes open, watching her with a predatory gleam, and growls, low and primal, before bending double and gripping his knees with his hands. His claws lengthen, and I can see spots of red on his jeans where they dig into his legs, drawing blood.

“Fuck, Nathan. I’m in trouble here,” he warns, looking as devastated as I feel. I shake my head, tears springing to my eyes.

“Ethan, brother, please, don’t do it.”

“I can’t help it. She smells too fucking good.”

She doesn’t smell good. She smells fucking amazing, but it’s all for me. He shouldn’t be breathing in her delicious scent. He shouldn’t be seeing her tight nipples pushing through her top or hearing her breathy little moans and pants. Maya’s eyes flash with desire as she hears his complimentary words and sees the hungry wolf in his eyes. I want to scream. Even though I’m her mate and I’m right here, she’ll accept him if Ethan gives in.

“I wasn’t planning anything this elaborate, but it seemed like too good of an opportunity to miss. Strip, Maya.”

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