Adea
“Well?”
His fingers squeeze my skin tight and I flinch back from the pain. When my response comes out muffled, he releases my chin and glares at me expectantly.
“I-”
“Who are you?” The guard growled, interrupting me, and cutting me off.
If he hadn’t interrupted I would have finished my sentence, telling him who I was. He would know the answer to that. Now that I’m free from his grasp, I lean back and dust off my hands. Dirt sprinkles and falls to the ground. Lifting my chin, I level him with an unfazed look.
“I’m Adea Biscoff.”
My voice was the opposite of how I felt. It was firm and despite being on the ground surrounded by rogues there wasn’t a shake in my voice. He may have been large but he wasn’t the scariest person I would face here in Half Moon. There were bigger monsters, he was just the first one I had to deal with.
“Nobody cares who the fuck you are. Why have you come here? We aren’t expecting any visitors today and we don’t like surprises,” he growled.
“You may not be expecting visitors but Shane would be pleased by my visit. My reason for coming here is none of your business. I’m Shane’s person, he would want to see me.”
“Alpha Shane doesn’t have a person and if he did that person would be able to get hold of him. You just admitted that Alpha doesn’t know you’re coming. I was one of the first rogues he recruited when he was exiled. He hasn’t had anyone other than Beta and Gamma by his side. So, you lie,” he spits.
“He may not have a person by his side right now but I was by his side before he was exiled. How can I get hold of him when we aren’t a part of the same pack?” I asked. I was trying hard not to lift my hand and wipe the spittle from my cheek. “We have been out of contact.”
“If you lost contact when he was exiled, you should have already been here when he came back. Something’s not adding up,” he said. He mulled around the idea of who I was and if I were telling the truth.
“It’s complicated. I-”
“Stop drilling her. I can think of better uses for her mouth.”
Another rogue walks up behind the one spitting in my face. This one is smaller and definitely skinnier than the first. He’s got red hair and freckles. He’s missing an eye and I try not to stare at the gaping hole.
“Duke, I think I know who she is,” he says when Duke doesn’t speak. An evil smile spreads across his lips. I swallow at the thought that I’ve been caught. For a rogue to get their hands on the Luna, they would be on a power trip knowing they have the Alpha of Desert Moon’s Luna. “I think she’s one of those whores from one of the nearby packs.”
I never thought I could feel relieved and horrified at the same time. “You know, the ones who’ve been coming by begging us to let them through so they can fall to their knees for Alpha Shane.” His voice is kind, the opposite of his words. Duke doesn’t say anything but from his silence, I can feel he’s in agreement with his partner.
“He doesn’t have a mate yet and the allied packs keep making offerings, hoping he’ll make one of them his Luna.” Duke grabs my arm, his fingers dig into my files and I know it’s going to bruise. My eyes dart from the red-head and return to Duke.
Standing to his feet, he pulls me up with him, and I hang a few inches off the ground. While the red-head has been talking, I could feel Duke’s gaze on my face. He was watching me in case I gave anything away.
“Come on, let’s just have a small taste. We can sample the goods before we deliver her to Alpha,” the redhead whines. “We’ve been on watch since he took over and I haven’t had a chance to have a woman in my bed. You know how much I like my women.”
“Watch yourself, Pan, if it weren’t for Shane you wouldn’t even have a bed,” Duke growled.
“And I’m forever in his debt,” Pan says not so graciously as he dips his chin. “Besides, it’s not like he’s accepted any of them. Look at her, she’s all clean and soft,” Pan says as his gaze trails down my body. Duke turns back to me.
“What do you think of that, Miss Adea?” Duke asked. “My comrade thinks we should try you out first, maybe break you in before we hand you over to Alpha Shane. I don’t think he would mind at all.”
“I’m not a whore from the surrounding packs. I think you would find yourself in a great deal of trouble if you were to “break me in”. If you know Shane as well as I do, you would know he doesn’t like it when someone touches his property or makes decisions without consulting him but hey, if you want to try your luck, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Duke scoffed and for a moment I thought he didn’t believe me but didn’t stop staring into my eyes. What he saw must have been enough to convince him against “breaking me in” because in the next second he leaned back and released his grip on my arm.
I fell through the air and landed on the ground. His charge hand snaked around the back of my neck and I gasped as his hand clamped shut in a vice grip. I fight down the whimper that almost made its way past my lips.
Duke pushes me back and his eyes trail down from my face to my neck. His eyes drop down to my neck and a devilish smile spreads across his lips when he sees my mark.