50

ALEXANDER

Jared got his location in under five minutes. While he and the others handled it, Claude and I sat back, waiting for them to finish.

“Do you want us to activate intruder mode?” Steven asked, hand already hovering over the control.

“How long will it buy us?” I glanced at my watch, weighing the time.

Now that we had him, I considered wrapping things up and heading back to the house to see Alina . It wasn’t late yet so we could still go on that walk she mentioned.

The thought made me pause. Had I lost my mind on the way up here? With a lunatic on the loose and Isiah probably working for her, I was thinking about leaving all this behind just to see Alina ’s sweet face glowing in the sunlight, like the sun itself existed just to adore her?

Yeah, something was off. With me. Because that thought alone gave me a semi.

“Alpha, should we?”

A few pairs of eyes were on me. Claude’s eyes held a flicker of amusement. The rest just waited for my command.

“They’ll knock him out and hold him for ten minutes. Or keep him caged as long as you want,” Claud offered. “You weren’t listening, were you?”

I ignored him. He was right, but I wasn’t going to admit it.

“Cage him.”

I hadn’t locked Isiah up the first time because some twisted sense of respect for family. But he crossed a line, and now he’d deal with the consequences.

Steven didn’t hesitate. A cage dropped from above, catching Isiah mid-step. His startled scream echoed through the space, and damn, it was music to my ears. It had been a while since I heard fear that raw.

Honestly, I’d be scared too if a steel cage just slammed over me in the middle of nowhere.

“Thanks for this,” I said as I stood.

“Can we get a raise?” Jared asked, fluttering his lashes like a kid asking for ice cream.

Steven cursed under his breath. He did that a lot around Jared .

“You’re here every single day. What would you even do with more money?” He didn’t mean it. The question was more of a joke than anything. They didn’t even like taking payment half the time.

“Maybe I want to buy a diamond ring. Thinking of proposing,” Jared said, sounding so serious I almost believed him.

“His right hand is his girlfriend,” Steven cut in.

Jared ’s cheeks turned red. He lunged for Steven, but the bastard rolled his chair away before he could land a hit.

“Keep your hands off your dick while you’re watching over my pack,” I told him, smirking.

“You’ve got nothing to worry about, Alpha. I’m great at multitasking.”

“If you behave, I might actually get a real girl to help with that problem,” Claude added, making Jared flash a grin and throw up a mock salute as we made our way out.

“We’ll keep you updated on his location,” Steven called after us. Jared was probably still fantasizing about that offer.

“You know he’s still young enough to think with the wrong head,” I said as Claude and I got into the elevator.

“Let him have fun,” he shrugged. “Isolation’s not easy.”

“They chose this life. They knew what it demanded.” That was the end of that conversation for me. If he had more to say, he kept it to himself.

We reached the ground floor and started the walk back to the house. Most of the men had gathered again. As we approached the path that split off toward the holding cells, he asked, “You coming?”

There was a look in his eyes I didn’t like. That too knowing, too smug one.

“I trust you can handle it,” I said, not missing a beat. “I’ll meet you downstairs when you’re done.”

“Roughen him up a little?” he asked, already veering off.

I considered it for half a second. Then nodded.

“He deserves it.”

With that, I left them behind and headed back to the house. I caught myself nearly skipping up the stairs like some idiot. I knew I was losing it and I didn’t care.

I found Alina in her room, sitting at her window, reading. That same book in that exact spot. It’d been there for weeks. I was starting to think it was just another piece of furniture.

She was so into it she didn’t hear me come in. My mind wandered, and not in a good way. I imagined testing her, seeing just how deep her focus went. Would she even notice if I got between her thighs, slipped her panties aside, and started licking her?

Yeah. My pants were getting too tight.

“Now I almost feel bad for interrupting,” I said, settling for the saner option.

She gasped lightly and looked up. Her lips parted, a small gasp that had me thinking sinful thought slipped out. She scrambled to hide the book.

“Hi,” she whispered, voice breathy. Not helping my situation.

“How much do you like that book?” I asked, ignoring the urge to pull her close while she read.

Weird. Even for me.

“A bit,” she replied shyly.

“What’s it about?” I couldn’t help it, I sat next to her. She tried to tuck her legs away, but I pulled them back and placed them on my lap.

“Just a couple,” she mumbled, cheeks burning.

That got my attention. I reached for the book.

The cover was familiar. It’d been in the library for ages. Cassandra picked it up once and begged me to reenact a scene from it.

Of course, the moment I realized which book it was, my thoughts went straight to Alina. All the filthy scenes. And there she was, reading it with that innocent face.

“How did this even get here?