Page 30 of Queen of Diamonds

I didn’t move, unable to look away, not understanding what I was watching. “If he gets there before Knight, he’ll do what we want,” Zed breathed.

Kyan let out a low whine, his breaths short and sharp, his cheeks hot.

Fuck.

I clenched my legs together, but it was far too late for that. I felt every Alpha’s gaze snap to me. Knight even paused for a moment, a snarl curling his lips as he took me in.

It didn’t matter.

Kyan groaned, teeth bared as he inhaled the perfume I’d just released into the space. I could see the moment the orgasm took him, clenched fist trembling, and a feral sound sliced through the momentary silence.

I felt Zed’s scent shift from derision to fury, and he was on his feet in a moment. “Right. Show’s over.” He gripped me by the neck as he dragged me to my feet and into another room.

11

GLADE

Inside was a small space with a bathroom attached, and on the floor a single beat up mattress. Zed slammed the door behind us, then he ripped the gag from me, and I heard the sliding metal sound of a key before there was pressure on the cuffs around my wrists. They were free in moments.

“On your knees. Strip.” He’d changed. Before he’d been taunting me. Now he just seemed pissed.

“Go fuck yourself.”

“You just brought the Brotherhood down on my pack’s head,” he said, lips drawing back in a snarl. “Please, Glade. Be difficult. Find out what happens.”

“We can be civil.”

I needed that as a baseline. They had bailed me out and saved Lucy. That was something. He sneered. “You’re not here because we like you, sweetheart. You’re here because my brother wants you. Don’t think I’ve forgotten who you are, and all the weapons you’re carrying. I’m not above pinning you like a dog and searching you myself.”

I had to work to control my breathing.

“Boots. Toss them.”

I knew the look on his face, and how little he was fucking around when he was in this mood. Zed Maverick rarely fucked around.

I tugged them off and threw them at him with as much force as I could muster. He caught them easily, dropping them to the floor at his feet.

“Socks and robe.”

He tapped his knife against his wrist impatiently. Scowling, I shrugged off the robe, and tugged my socks off, trying to ignore his expression when one of my switchblades tumbled out.

It was small. Not my smallest, but still. The satisfaction twinkling in his eyes made me want to scream.

“Dress.”

“No.” The word came out too fast, carrying with it a bit of panic.

He didn’t understand. I couldn’t.

He raised an eyebrow, but I gritted my teeth, beating back my fear. I didn’t want him to see it, or he might force it on principle.

But if he saw the marks across my back... I swallowed, not wanting to imagine.

Everything I’d ever sacrificed for…

I’d lose it.

He would know the truth he could never know.

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