Page 274 of Entangled

Her grip is tight on her pistol as she hesitates to throw it down, and those glacial green eyes are arresting.

“That one too,” Alastair advises her politely.

“Motherfucker,” she spits, her face flaming with her anger, and her pistol crashes down on the pile.

Dom touches her arm to draw her away, and at that exact moment, the ground at his feet bursts open, spraying dirt. Heather and Dom fall back, and it takes my brain a second to realize that Alastair fired on Dom.

I try to shove to my feet, but Beau grabs my arm and yanks me down. “Stop, Eden. He can handle himself.”

Alastair and Dom stare at each other for a long, tense moment, and then Dom lifts his hands away from Heather. Alastair’s cold expression doesn’t change, but the tip of his gun dips away from Dom.

Heather spins to stalk back to the group, but Alastair shakes his head at her back. “Stop. Kneel beside me here.”

My brows lift as he doesn’t even attempt to hide his possessiveness.

Heather turns stiffly, her red hair snared with flickers of gold in the harsh lights. Instead of kneeling, she sits down, and leans back casually on one hand. With the other, she flips him off.

I bite down to hide my shocked squeak, even as familiar concern spikes. I think Alastair craves her too much to shoot her? Ithink.

I don’t trust anything Alastair does anymore.

Dom faces off against him, seeming unfazed by the number of guns pointed on him. “What do you want, Alastair? We’re not dead already, so there’s something. Where’s Sam?”

Dom is right. If Alastair and Mateo simply returned to Sam to rejoin the Sinners, then why hesitate to kill us? That would be the cleanest, smartest thing to do. We attacked the Den—I’m not quite sure how he can justifynotkilling us.

And then there’s the Sam issue. Is he out of the city? If Sam were here, then I don’t think he would let Alastair speak for him now. There was too much mistrust between them.

I try to pick over the possibilities. We need an edge, and there’ssomethingin that. I just wish I knew better what we’ve walked into.

Are the men surrounding us loyal to Alastair... or to Sam?

“I don’t like Rangers.” Alastair’s tattooed fingers tap thoughtfully on his gun. “Brash and loud and not half as clever as they think they are. I prefer to deal with intelligent leaders.”

He glances over our kneeling group. “You might understand why I don’t put you in that category.”

I can only see Dom’s back. He doesn’t move, but I feel that blow for him. Dom didn’t do this. The plan wasgood.

God, whyisAlastair hesitating to kill us? If he’s on Sam’s side, then the women at Bristlebrook would be easier to claim with us dead now. He has our weapons. We have nothing else of value to bargain.

The only answer I can think of is that he doesn’twantto kill us.

I wrench out of Beau’s grip and stand. “Stop it, Alastair. We came here to stop Sam, like you wanted. We’re... we’re allies.”

Lucky curses, but I don’t look over at him. This is a gamble; I know it is. If these men do belong to Alastair, then I’ve given him an opening, something that sayshe’smasterminded this, and we belong to him.

But if these men belong to Sam, then I just confessed to trying to kill their leader.

At least, if they’re Sam’s men, I just outed Alastair too.

The air in the courtyard is brittle. Breathless.

Alastair’s head tilts, and he looks over Dom to where I stand. Very slightly, he inclines his head, and I feel a violent rush of relief. He’s taking my offering.

Does that mean he’s on my side after all?

“Sit down, Ranger. I think I would rather discuss business with your Eden. I’ve seen first-hand how wellherplans play out.” He smiles faintly, and adds in a murmur, “She has a mind for scheming.”

His voice is smooth as an unrippled pond, but I feel the guilt dig like poison fangs between my ribs. I hear his warning: I need to be very, very careful of what I say.

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