Everyone stops to watch, and I see her fingers twitch a few seconds before her palm connects with my face. I swallow, unable to meet her gaze, instead, she looks toward Marabella, who has her hands cupping her mouth like she can’t believe Sage just hit me. Her face turns red with embarrassment as the entire pack starts crowding around.
“Explain yourself, you dare try… Try…” Sage can’t bring herself to say it. Tears spring in her eyes and her lip quivers. “You have disappointed me,” she says and my stomach drops at her words. She is like the mother I never had and her words sting more than her hand.
“I’m sorry,” I tell her, meaning every word of it.
“I’m not who you should be apologizing to,” she says before walking off. She pauses when she reaches Marabella’s side and grabs her arm, turning to look at me.
“Andrei is inside with Jonah,” she says, tugging Mara away and toward the training grounds. I watch them go before heading inside. Her fathers walk down toward the packhouse and I groan, ignoring them and heading inside.
Andrei is sitting on the stairs when I walk in with no shirt on and a pair of shorts. He doesn’t even look up as I enter, instead his fists clench on his knees, and his jaw clenches. Andrei rises and walks over to me, stopping beside me. He doesn’t even look at me like he is disgusted by me.
His voice is a threatening growl, deep but so spoken calm. “You hurt my niece.”
“I know, I wouldn’t have gone through with it, you know me, Pa,” he nods.
“You’re right, I do. And you know me, you know how we handle things.” I press my lips in a line and nod once. My eyes lift to the stairs and I spot Jonah on the top of the stairs, watching us.
“You will block him out. He doesn’t need to feel it, but you get in that ring afterward, you take your punishment, understood?” Andrei says.
Kyan
“Yes, sir,” I sigh and Jonah looks away.
“You’re lucky I know you, you’re lucky I love you like my own; if you were anyone else, and you had gone through with it… you wouldn’t be breathing. Kaif or not, I would have found a way to bury you for what you did,” Andrei says, his gaze still averted from me.
Great, now nobody would look at me.
“I know you would, but I wouldn’t have,” I whisper.
“I know because I know my boys. I know what they’re capable of, and you aren’t capable of being that monster, but I know you did it to scare her. And I know your reasoning, but I am telling you now, your reasoning is wrong and now, you pay the price for your mistake,” he says before walking out the door.
Jonah looks away from me and folds his arms across his chest. “Did you see Mara yet?”
“Yes, and Mom,” he nods as he walks down the steps toward me.
“And?”
I raise an eyebrow. “And what?”
“Fuck Kyan, you need to fix it!” Jonah finally hisses at me, the words tumbling out of his mouth in one breath.
“I know, and I will. I’m rejecting her after the challenge,” I tell him, and he growls.
“You do that, and I will fucking hate you,” Jonah warns.
But what else does he expect me to do? I can’t keep her. The other night proved that. This arrangement wouldn’t be good for any of us.
I can’t risk losing control, I can’t let Kaif get to her. It’s too dangerous. Why can’t they all listen to me? I’m trying to protect her!
“What else do you want me to do? I can’t keep her and I doubt she will want me after today ends, anyway.” I try to sound like this doesn’t hurt me, but I know that sooner or later, the bottled-up emotions might escape.
Jonah walks down a couple of steps and shakes his head before glaring at me. “You’re a damn idiot,” he hisses.
“No, you are for thinking this was ever going to work! I’ll kill her, Jonah, kill her. I have told you this!” I repeat the same damn thing I have been telling him for ages. Why couldn’t anybody seem to understand that?
“No, you have some blurred-out image of what you think you did to her. We don’t know for sure,” says Jonah like he’s somehow the expert on all of this.
“I do know for sure, Jonah, she was dead in my arms! What fucking part of this isn’t he understanding?”
“Just.. fuck. Why do you gotta be so complicated?” Jonah snaps.
I rub my temples. Am I the only one here that is trying to protect her? Why is everyone trying to force her death? What is it with everyone? Pretty soon I was going to lose all of my patience if I had to keep explaining this to people.
“You need to get ready,” I tell him and he sighs. “What?” He shrugs, and his jaw clenches. “What Jonah?” I snap.
“What happens when I win?”
I raise an eyebrow at him. Ah, he must be talking about when he becomes an Alpha when he wins, and he will win!
“What do you mean?”
Jonah looks down at his feet and kicks imaginary rocks. “We are bonded in more ways than one. We can’t be apart now without weakening each other?”
“We will figure it out,” he nods and runs his fingers through his hair, but I stop him when I grip his arms. “You want this, you have trained for this,” I tell him and he looks at the ceiling. I can feel his worry through the bond, feel his anxiousness, but also something I can’t decipher. I slap his arm. “Go get your title,” I tell him, and he nods.
“Yeah, I should get out there.” The moment we walk out the door, I am punched. What shocks me most is that it is Mateo that hits me. I expected Ezra, but it is Mateo who sits me on my ass before gripping the front of my shirt. Ezra moves quickly to his side and grips his arm.
“You touch my daughter again and not even the gods will protect you from me!” Mateo snarls as Ezra yanks him back. But Mateo’s hands don’t leave my shirt. .
“Save it for after,” Ezra orders, and Mateo snarls at him. It looks like he might actually swing at his husband for stopping him. Mateo lets my shirt go and shoves me back on the ground.