Forty Nine

Aiden pulled back slowly. His eyes were still doing that complicated thing they did when he didn’t want anyone to know what he was thinking. His expression was always unreadable, but I knew at least that he was watching me—every reaction, every action I made.

The bond told me everything he was trying to hide.

I could feel his emotions. I could feel this sense of attraction that wanted me to just go close to him and be with him.

Damn.

This was lust.

I was seeing Aiden in a completely new way now. I knew he was handsome—I’d registered that the moment he walked into that room—but I just hadn’t focused on it. Now I couldn’t stop. The way he moved, the way his lips curved when he almost smiled, the way his shirt pulled across his shoulders. My eyes were chasing after him without permission. His body was really built.

I wondered what it would look like without the shirt.

Damn. Fuck. What was I thinking about?

I shook my head hard, snapping myself out of it.

“Are you checking me out?” Aiden said, and the way he said it told me he already knew the answer.

“WHAT, NO, Definitely not,” I sputtered immediately.

Zara laughed inwardly. “Your lying skills are terrible, you can’t fight it.”

“Well, I can and I will,” I shot back at her.

“Yeah, yeah. Only for so long. I’ll be watching you. I’ll be there by nightfall,” she said.

I ignored her completely.

What exactly will happen by nightfall that she will be watching?

If Zara thinks I won’t be able to sleep she can keep on dreaming.

No such thing will happen.

Nathan moved closer, studying my skin with his sharp eyes.

“It seems it’s working,” he said. “Your skin is going back to normal.”

My eyes trailed down my body.

Yeah, I noticed it too.

The wounds and poison in my body were slowly healing—but much faster than before. With the bond’s power running through me now, I could feel that within a few hours, I would fully recover.

“Well, you have me to thank for that and I still haven’t heard a thank you” Zara murmured, satisfied.

“After the torture, threats and pain you made me go through, you want an appreciation for that?” I questioned in a sarcastic way.

“Nah I enjoyed every bit of that, I always get what I want. It’s about time you understood that. And I meant for saving your life, don't be ungrateful little April”

I frowned. Once again, she was right, she was alright right.

“Fine. Thanks for not letting me die” I spat inwardly and I meant it in a way I still didn't mean it too.

“That's all you are getting” I added once I noticed Zara was about to speak up again.

“I’ll be taking Josh?” Nathan said, glancing toward the where he laid on the floor. “We need to figure out what all that was about. And we need to make sure he’s secured.”

Aiden approved with a single nod.

The next second Nathan moved fast.

He crossed the room without another word, grabbed Joshua by the collar like the man weighed absolutely nothing—which surprised me, because Nathan had that lean, diplomat energy that made you forget what was underneath. But the ease with which he lifted Joshua told me everything. Nathan was much more powerful than he let on. Even more than Marcus, maybe.

He dragged Joshua out of the hall with the same energy someone uses to move a piece of furniture they’re tired of looking at.

Joshua was just waking up as he stumbled, trying to protest.

“What’s going on?” he slurred, holding his head as he was being dragged. “Where are you—let go of me—”

Nathan stopped outside the room and released his collar, letting Joshua stand on his feet.

He looked at him with a flat, patient expression.

“Something is seriously up with you, buddy,” Nathan said, and his voice was calm the way a locked door is calm. “You did something deadly that almost got you killed. Until we figure out what that was and why, I’m going to need you locked up in the dungeon.”

He turned and found two guards immediately.

“You two. Lock him up. No one is allowed near the dungeon. No one is to communicate with him. Not a word to anyone about what happened in that room.” He paused, making sure they understood the weight of what he was saying. “He answers to Alpha Aiden when Alpha Aiden decides he wants answers.”

The two guards nodded, grabbed Joshua by both arms, and hauled him away without ceremony.

Joshua looked back once.

At me, specifically.

I held his gaze with a hard, steady frown until he disappeared around the corner.

My grudge with him wasn’t over.

Not even close.

I still wanted to end his life with my claws or fangs—now that I apparently had them. Just like he had tried to end mine. The rage that thought produced was quiet and cold and patient, which somehow felt more dangerous than if it had been loud.

I had time.

He wasn’t going anywhere.

Nathan turned back to the room and raised his voice just enough to carry through the corridor.

“The pack is on full alert from this moment. All perimeter guards double up. Nobody in or out of this building and the pack territory without direct Alpha authorization. Any threat—any at all—gets reported immediately. No exceptions.”

A chorus of “Yes, sir” filtered back from somewhere down the hall.

He walked back in and looked at Aiden. “The pack is on lockdown now.”

Aiden nodded once. “Good. Suspend the hunt, by night fall we will pay the Black Shadow Pack a visit”

The Black Shadow pack? That was my pack, no that came out wrong. That was my father’s pack. The one that tried to kill me and wanted me dead.

The pack I wanted to take revenge on.