Page 72 of The Alpha's Arrangement

Bar backs away from Scarlet.

“Show me.” It’s said whisper soft.

I edge into the room. Barren swallows hard and glances at me. Shame. Shame and fear, it’s written on his face, it’s the scent in the air. He turns. I see him tremble and think I’m the only one, but no, in her eyes, I see she sees it, too. But she looks so dangerous, far more so than Merry or Art, maybe even more than Taylor.

I ache for her. The beautiful alpha. I knew before, but right now, I know with no questions that she belongs with us. Any lingering doubts I had are swept aside.

She walks forward, her face a polite mask, and takes her time inspecting his back. Counting them.

Sixteen.

There are sixteen marks. Sixteen scars. I know each one intimately.

“Wait here.” She says to Barren. She walks to the door and then turns back, walks up to him, stands on her tiptoes and kisses him. It’s a hot, hungry, open-mouthed kiss that makes my cock hard.

She passes me and gives me a flinty look. “Take me to Taylor.”

I give Bar a once over, and he nods. So I leave the room, grateful when I see Acton standing in the shadows. He will go in and take care of our omega.

“Would you like a t-shirt?”

She looks down at herself and shrugs. Fuck, she’s pretty, all soft curves that I want to explore with my hands and then my mouth. Her hair sways as she walks like a black waterfall.

I hand her my t-shirt, and once it’s pulled over her head; I open Taylor’s office and let her in.

Taylor stops speaking to Gold and looks up at us.

“Where is the person who hurt Bar?”

Taylor’s eyes freeze over. He stands up, slow, measured movements, and then sits in his chair like it’s a throne.

“That’s not your concern, Alpha. Your contract is over in two weeks and two days.”

I gape at him. Why is he deliberately riling her up all the time? It’s information he would easily give anyone else.

Wait! What contract?

She snarls, and the sound of it, the enraged sound, makes me realise something. It’s a good thing female alphas are rare. They’d be more savage, less merciful. She is magnificent, but I’m man enough to admit I’d be cautious approaching her.

Taylor simply looks bored. But I know him well enough to see the lines of worry around his eyes.

“They got away.” Gold says quietly.

She gapes at him, looks to Taylor and then me. “They’re alive? You let them live?”

“And you would have killed them?” Taylor demands. What is that in his eyes? I almost think I sense jubilation in the bond, but it vanishes so quick I think it’s my imagination.

“Fuck yes.” Scarlet booms. She looks at Gold, really looks at him, and I see her start to notice things. Like the way there’s a strange tattoo that covers part of his neck. He has black, inky cuffs tattooed on his wrists. She’s putting all the information together and coming out at the right number.

She moves to him and stands in front of him, staring up with huge glittering eyes. Then she lifts her hand. She hesitates when he growls and then puts her palm to his cheek.

Gold is like a wild animal. He doesn’t know whether to attack or retreat, so he does neither. He freezes, locked in that spot.

“I’ll kill them for you. For him. Give me their names, Gold.” The purr, the deep, low promise. Gold is a better man than me because my knees tremble to fold me to the floor to kneel before her. If she spoke to me like that, I’d do anything for her.

His eyes flash with something. Relief? Excitement? Heat? I force my attraction back and try to get a sense of the pack through the bonds. Our pack is getting too emotional, Bar is coming back, becoming confident, assertive. He’s talking, teasing, demanding, but we’re responding to him, and it’s all because of her.

My stomach flutters, and my head gets woozy. I lean on the wall and just stare at this shitshow unfurling. She is devoted to him, to them. She’d do it, too. I can see it in every line on her face. She would kill to protect us.

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