Page 20 of Alpha's Arranged Mate

“If you mention Billy one more time, so help me wolf god, I’ll—” Macie began, her nostrils flaring with anger once more.

Lottie gripped hold of her sister’s shoulders then and squeezed reassuringly. “Yes, Billy was one of them, but there were more besides,” Lottie said with a deep sigh. She met her sister’s gaze without flinching, holding her breath as she prayed that her sister would hear her. “If you only spoke to Braxton you would understand.”

“I’ll not speak with him!” Macie snarled back at her, yanking herself free of Lottie’s grip. “All he has done is cause trouble.”

“He’s trying to put an end to the trouble!” Lottie hissed back defensively. She felt heat rushing up into her cheeks as she spoke. In truth, she had no idea what Braxton’s true motives were for agreeing to the alliance. For all she knew, it was a trick, a desperate plot to get himself and his pack released so that he could attack Silverdale and release his father and the others who had not been deemed worthy of release. There were enough of them, demon wolves with no humanity left in them who were utterly redeemable; wolves determined to be a danger to themselves and everyone around them.

Lottie shivered to even think of them. She could entirely understand why Macie reacted the way that she did, and yet she would not abide it. How could she? She was about to be married to one of them.

“I’ll believe that when I see it,” Macie scoffed.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Lottie demanded, her hands balling into fists. Her claws started to protrude from her nail beds, and she felt them digging painfully into the palms of her hands, but she would never allow herself to raise a hand against her own sister, no matter how out of order she was being. “Ever since your she-wolf surfaced you’ve been a total bitch!”

“Maybe that’s because you’ve turned into a demon wolf’s bitch!”

Anger rose like lava up from Lottie’s stomach and into her throat. If she had been a dragon shifter, she might have breathed fire right then and there and the consequences be damned.

But just as she was about to spit venom back at her sister they were interrupted by a loud knocking upon the door.

“Go away!” the women shouted in unison, but just as Lottie was about to yell at her sister that she had no right to tell anyone at her door to go away, the knocking came again.

It was even more insistent this time, and Lottie, curious and angered in equal measure, hurried forward to yank the door open. “What?”

She snapped the word so harshly that the moment she saw who was standing on the other side she felt immediate guilt well up inside of her.

Astonishment caused her jaw to almost hit the floor as she exclaimed, “Braxton!”

The low growling behind her told her that her sister wasn’t at all pleased with his arrival. It continued up until Lottie turned on her and demanded, “Would you just shut the fuck up?”

Though she was silenced, Macie did not stop her glaring at Braxton over Lottie’s shoulder.

Determined not to let her sister’s awful mood get to her, Lottie turned back to Braxton and asked, “What are you doing here? I thought you would be…”

Braxton smiled an award-winning smile that cut her off before she could finish her words, and she felt heat rising to her cheeks all over again. This time it traveled south, too, pooling between her thighs until she was so hot under the collar that it was a decidedly good thing her sister had turned up when she did. Otherwise, Lottie might well have done something she would regret.

“You thought I would still be down in my cell until the ceremony, I know,” Braxton said, still smiling. He glanced over Lottie’s shoulder at her sister, an almost smug expression on his face, before he turned back to her and added, “I think I earned some good faith with Dash tonight. We have just returned from the pits.”

For just a second Lottie was unsure of exactly what he meant. Then she recognized the scent that had been offending her nose for the last few minutes.

“You’ve been to hell?” she exclaimed. “Why didn’t anyone tell me?”

Braxton raised a brow and shook his head. “I’m unsure as to that, but I am glad they didn’t. I’m sure you’d have been headstrong about it and demanded to join us, and you would have distracted me.”

Lottie gulped at his words. How did he already know her so well?

Macie’s scoffing, as though she was thinking the same thing, made Lottie turn to glare at her sister once more. “Are you seriously still here?”

“The two of you were clearly in the middle of something,” Braxton stated, glancing between the two of them as if he were trying to figure out what was going on between them. “Perhaps I should go and come back later?”

“Yes,” Macie hissed.

“No!” Lottie said at the very same instant, and she quickly turned to her sister to snap, “It’s you who has outstayed your welcome.”

Macie opened her mouth as if to protest, but then just as quickly she dipped her head. Finally, she seemed to have remembered that she was the little sister and had no right to question her big sister’s actions. Lottie guessed it had far more to do with her not wanting Braxton to witness their argument. After all, if he did, it was one more thing for him to use against the pack if this was all in fact a trick.

“I’ll go,” Macie hissed under her breath just loud enough for them both to hear. It was then that she raised her gaze once more and met Braxton’s eyes with thinly veiled disgust hiding just beneath the surface. “But I will be back to check up on you later.”

“There is no need for that,” Lottie insisted.

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