Page 38 of The Piece You Stole

“Leandro?” I keep my gaze trained on Dariel. “And who is Leandro?”

As if it isn’t fucking obvious.

It isn’t Dariel who speaks, but Leandro himself, his tone outraged. More outraged than it needs to be. “You walk away from your mate and you don’t tell your bedmates that you have abrother.”

This guy likes drama. Looks like it isn’t just the long hair that’s diff—

Hold up.Mate. Thefuck.

“That isn’t important,” Dariel says. “Let’s go and—”

“Save the girl you were so desperate to get rid of before?” I remind him, eyebrow raised.

“What girl is this?” Leandro asks. “Didn’t you kill her? Or is this a new one?”

Mona’s face flashes in my mind, followed closely by the memory of her body, still warm, not long dead yet in my arms. A few minutes too late, and she was gone. If we’d been just a little faster, if we’d fought a little less, she would still be alive.

I shift my focus from Dariel to Leandro. He gazes back at me with enough amusement filling his green eyes that tells me all he’s missing is a bowl of popcorn to enjoy this show.

When he blinks at me with false innocence, Iknowwhatever he’s about to say is going to make me want to reach a hand into his mouth and drag out his spine. “Where do you find these girls? And does she have her own room or do you—”

“Stop. Talking. Now.” I bite out.

“Did anyone ever tell you that you have a crooked nose?” Leandro asks. I don’t respond. “Well, I’m guessing you had a broken nose that didn’t heal right, so you were human before. Bitten not born.” Leandro glances at Dariel with a raised eyebrow. “My brother? Or did someone else do the biting?”

No one says a word, but in the silence, the tension rises.

Leandro shrugs. “Whoever it was, you can’t take me. I’m a born shifter. An alpha. And you are…” His lips turn up in a sneer as he slides his gaze over me. “Not.”

Now I’m the one grinning, but this is no false smile. This one is all real. “Is that so?”

He nods. “It is.”

My smile widens as I shove the nearly-drained bottle of Macallan in Aden’s direction and let go, forcing him to take it or wear it. Aden fumbles with it so badly that his clumsiness nearly pulls my attention away from Dariel’s sneering brother. I don’t break our stare, but out of the corner of my eye, I glimpse Dariel shifting his focus from me to Aden, and at that moment, I swear I feel him frowning.

I push myself to my feet. Not fast enough to make Leandro wary, because I’m going to have fun showing this alpha just how wrong he is. That he looks so much like Dariel means I get to pretend it’s him. And God fucking knows our disappearing alpha deserves some serious face-pounding for the shit he’s put us through lately.

I’m not six feet tall, nor am I bulky. My ability to win comes from my speed and my willingness to do whatever is necessary to put someone down. Fairness has never entered the equation. Winning was what mattered. So, whatever it is that Leandro sees when I’m on my feet has wariness creasing his eyes.

Dariel steps between us. “We don’t have time for this. Aden, put that bottle down. Kade, put a shirt on. Let's go.”

I snort. “You expect us to—”

He stares me down. “I expect you to fall in line.That’swhat I expect. I’m alpha here. Not you. And not Aden.”

Guess he was close enough to hear us.

“Ah,” Leandro murmurs, “is there trouble in parad—”

“If you want to live through the next five minutes, Leandro,” Dariel interrupts, his voice a cold lash, as he continues to stare me down. “I would shut the fuck up.”

Movement out of the corner of my eye distracts me. Aden.

“What do you know about Rylan?” Aden asks as he rises, only to wobble so badly he tumbles back into the couch.

Sighing, I turn and grab Aden’s shoulder before hauling him upright. “For fuck’s sake, Aden, you couldn’t have drunk that much, could you?”

His cheeks flush.

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