Chapter 8

A sharp prickle ran across my skin as I dropped into the seat closest to the dining room door and the furthest possible position from the two assholes currently occupying the table.

I didn’t want to be here any more than I wanted to be back in juvie, but I had hell to plot against them. If my father had taught me one thing, it was to dine with your enemies. Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.

Which brought a cold, calculating thought to mind. What if Dad had hired Darius for that exact reason? To keep a lethal rival under his own roof where he could watch him?

I glanced suspiciously across the polished wood at Darius, wondering if he shared that exact mindset. There was absolutely no doubt in my mind that he wasn’t here for charity.

“What do you get out of this?” I directed the question straight at him, my voice cutting through the pressing silence.

I reached for a crystal carafe to pour myself some orange juice, but the memory of Harris’s urgent warning flashed in my mind. I forced my hand to drop back into my lap, clamping my fingers together.

Hunter shot me an amused look. Moving with deliberate slowness, he picked up his own glass and sipped his juice, swallowing noisily as if to prove a point. “What? Scared I poisoned you?”

My mouth parted in disbelief. My heart picked up its pace against my ribs, the sudden spike of adrenaline making my pulse throb in my ears. How did he know? I wanted to call him out, to demand how he knew what I was thinking, but there was no way to do it without admitting I suspected him because of Harris.

Hunter smirked, leaning across the table. His icy-blue eyes locked onto mine, heavy with a mocking, intimate heat that made my skin flush. “Figured your trusty butler already warned you. Or one of the maids you seem so eager to befriend.”

I crossed my arms tight over the lace of my top. “Oh. So this is you admitting your intentions?”

“No. This is me declaring that the whole fucking staff is paranoid because a—” He broke off, pitching his voice into a high, childish mocking-tone, “Oh my goodness, it’s a rogue. We’re all going to die.” He rolled his eyes, picking up his fork and stabbing a piece of thick-cut toast with so much brutal force the heavy table rattled.

I swallowed hard, forcing my attention away from him and back to the man sitting at the head of the table. “You still haven’t answered my question, Darius.”

Darius parted his lips, about to speak, when the swinging door opened. A new maid I didn’t recognize walked in, carrying a massive ceramic vase stuffed with vibrant pink roses. She offered me a quick, stiff bow. I forced a small smile in return, watching in silence as she set the arrangement down directly in front of Darius, replacing the low potted plant that had been blocking his view.

Suddenly, Hunter let out a strange, choked sound. He wiped a stray strand of dark hair from his forehead, and I realized with a jolt of surprise that he was laughing. The expression looked so foreign on his usually intense and overly-intimidating face, that I could only stare.

When he noticed my gaze lingering on his mouth, his smirk widened. He shifted deliberately in his leather chair, turning his broad shoulders and back to face me instead, cutting off my view.

Smash.

A loud, violent crash shattered the silence. My eyes snapped to Darius. He was breathing heavily through his nose, his broad chest rising and falling like a baited bull. The roses were gone. The maid fled the room, whimpering under her breath as the door swung shut behind her.

I lowered my gaze, finding jagged chunks of white porcelain and mangled pink petals scattered across the marble floor.

“Why the hell did you do that?” I glared at him, the anger in my chest roaring back to life.

He glared right back, his tanned face flushed, his jaw locked so tight the muscles in his cheeks strove against his skin. It looked like he was about to rip the entire table apart with the sheer weight of his impending Alpha power.

“It’s pink,” Hunter chuckled from behind his shoulder.

“And that’s an excuse to throw things on the floor?” I huffed, digging my nails into my arms. “All because he doesn’t like a color? And you have the balls to call me a spoiled princess?”

“It’s a sensitive topic,” Hunter snickered, taking another slow, mocking sip of his juice. “Pink, that is.”

“Hunter, so help me…” Darius growled, a low, vibration that rattled the silverware.

“I am helping you.” Hunter turned his head slightly, his frosty eyes sliding over to me. “He hates pink because of you, little monster.”

The nickname arrested the air right in my chest, sending a sudden, illicit jolt of electricity straight down my spine.

Little monster.

The low, gravelly way it rolled off his tongue was so devastatingly hot it made my breath hitch. Holy shit. I hated him, I hated everything he stood for, and I absolutely despised the fact that a single, mocking word from his mouth could make my blood run this hot. I clamped my jaw shut, fighting to keep my expression completely blank so he wouldn’t see how thoroughly he’d just rattled me.

I snorted, leaning forward. “How am I and the color pink in any way related?”

“You made me lose,” Darius pinned me with a heavy, lethal stare that felt like a physical weight pressing down on my chest. “Because of you, I got kicked out of the finals. And because of that, I have to wait five fucking years to partake again.”

“I still don’t follow what pink has to do with it.” My brows shot up, my anger pushing past the sudden, intense heat radiating from him. “Or how it was my fault you got distracted. No one forced you to look at me in the stands. You did that entirely on your own accord.”

Hunter let out a loud bark of a laugh. He reached out, snatched the fifty-dollar note sitting on the table, and shoved it into his pocket. “Oh, look at that. She has a backbone after all.”

Darius’s large hands flat on the table curled into tight fists, his knuckles turning a stark, bloodless white. Before he could unleash whatever threat he was holding back, his eyebrows suddenly arched in surprise.

A fraction of a second later, two heavy, iron-hard hands slammed onto my shoulders from behind. I was violently dragged backward, clean out of my seat.

“What the hell!” I screamed.

I hit the floor hard, catching a brief, dizzying glimpse of Beth returning with a broom and a paper bag. She took one look at the scene, turned on her heel, and retreated back into the hallway with a panic-stricken expression.

“Shit, man. What happened to you?” Hunter asked, his tone dripping with amusement.

A tall, broad figure stepped directly over my legs, trapping me beneath him.

It was Jace. His face was entirely flushed with rage, his nostrils flaring. “You will fucking regret your entire existence for that little stunt once I’m through with you.”

“Wait—” Hunter laughed, leaning forward over his plate. “She’s responsible for your face?”

Jace completely ignored him. He leaned down over me, pinning my upper body beneath his shadow. He was so close I could smell the metallic tang of his blood on his skin, mixed with the sharp, overwhelming scent of his agitated anger. “It’s time this one learns her goddamn place.”

“What are you—” A sharp squeal of panic escaped me as Jace reached down, yanked me up by the waist, and hoisted me effortlessly over his shoulder like a sack of grain. “Put me down, you bastard!”

“Where is my car?” he demanded, his deep voice vibrating right against my stomach as he turned and stalked out of the dining room. I rained a frantic barrage of fists against his broad, muscular back, but it was like hitting solid stone.

“Jace, so help me—” Realizing my punches were doing nothing, I did the only thing I could. I clamped my teeth hard into the thick muscle of his shoulder blade.

“Motherfucker!” Jace roared. He grabbed me by the waist, tearing my teeth out of his skin, and dropped me unceremoniously onto the plush carpet of the hallway.

Hunter filed out of the dining room right behind us, his arms crossed over his chest as he leaned against the mahogany molding. A dark, thoroughly amused smirk played on his lips as his eyes tracked the movement of my legs on the floor.

“Having trouble, golden boy?” Hunter mocked.

Jace ignored the jab, his butterscotch eyes flashing dangerously as he stepped into my space. “I’m going to ask you one more time. Where. Is. My. Car?”

I glared up at him, my lace top shifting against my chest as I breathed through my nose. I spat right at his boots. “Fuck you.”

Jace growled, a raw, animalistic sound. He wiped his face, his expression darkening into something truly vicious. “Wrong answer.”

He lunged forward, grabbing me by the arms to drag me back up. I fought like a feral animal, kicking my legs and biting at his wrists, drawing a fresh smear of blood across his skin.

Jace cursed violently, struggling to pin my thrashing limbs. “For fuck’s sake—Hunter, grab her feet!”

A wild, manic laugh escaped my throat. It felt frantic, bordering on madness as I looked up at them. “It takes two of you bastards to handle me? Pathetic.”

Despite the fierce bravado, a cold, heavy wave of panic was rearing its ugly head in my chest. What were they going to do to me? My dad wasn’t here to stop them.

“You fucking framed me!” I screamed as Hunter stepped in.

His large, tattooed hands locked around my ankles with terrifying strength. He didn’t flinch as I kicked against his grip. Together, they hoisted me off the carpet, hauling me down the long, secure corridor toward the back of the estate. We passed the study and the ballroom. I thought they were taking me to my father’s office to call his enforcers, but they swung a sharp left, heading straight toward the indoor pool area.

“All in a day’s work, little monster. Nothing personal,” Hunter replied, his voice completely cool, completely detached from the weight of what he had done to me.

“Nothing personal? Nothing personal?” I screamed so hard my throat burned, the raw agony of the last twelve months tearing out of me. “You ruined my reputation! You took my chances of getting into a decent college, and you locked me in a cage for a year!”

“Keep her here,” Jace instructed, letting go of my upper body.

Before I could slip away, Hunter instantly took over. He spun me around in one fluid, powerful motion, slamming my back flat against his hard chest. He wrapped his strong arms securely around my upper body, pinning my arms against my ribs.

He was too smart to leave me room to fight. He hooked one of his long, heavy legs tightly around both of mine, completely neutralizing my leverage. I was locked against him, the heat of his skin bleeding through my thin lace top, his steady, terrifyingly calm heartbeat thudding against my shoulder blades. I couldn’t move an inch.

I kept cursing, my breath coming in ragged gasps as I trained my eyes on Jace. He rounded the edge of the water, stepping up to the digital control panel that operated the pool’s automated systems and the massive, bulletproof glass cover that shielded the water. The cover was imbued with our family crest right in the center.

The heavy machinery groaned, and the thick glass panels began to slowly slide back, exposing the deep blue water beneath.

Jace fumbled with the settings on the wall, his broad back flexing. “You know, Elise, I really tried to play nice with you.”

“Nice?” I snapped, writhing against Hunter’s steel grip. The proximity to Hunter’s body was suffocating, his scent wrapping around my senses until I could barely think. “Do you even comprehend what you did to my life?”

“Well…” Hunter’s deep voice rumbled directly against my ear, his hot breath brushing my neck and sending a violent shiver down my spine. “If we’re getting technical here, Jace didn’t do anything but try to help you that night.”

I froze, my head snapping back against his shoulder to look up at his jaw. “Oh, really? The same shithead who ditched me at the police station while I needed help?”

Jace came to a standstill right in front of us. He crossed his arms over his bare chest, the dark blood from his broken nose dry against his skin. His eyes were completely dark, working hard to maintain his composure. “I left you there because I was explicitly told you were safe. I wouldn’t have left you if I knew they were going to process you. But it’s a bit too late for that now, isn’t it?”

“You planted the fucking drugs on me, Jace!”

“Give credit where credit is due,” Hunter murmured behind me, his grip tightening just enough to remind me how easily he could crush me if he wanted to. His large hand slid slightly up my ribs, the heat of his palm searing through my clothes. “Like I said, all in a day’s work. Daddy offered me a financial deal I simply couldn’t refuse.”

My eyes shot wide, my gaze flying from Hunter up to Jace’s rigid face. The pieces clashed together in my mind, sending a sickening jolt through my stomach. “Wait… Jace, you didn’t know?”

Jace didn’t answer. Instead, a slow, predatory grin spread across his face—a look that chilled my bones to the absolute core. He stepped forward, closing the final inch between us. His hands shot out, gripping my bare shoulders with a bruising intensity as he locked his gaze onto mine.

“A little too late to care now, princess.”