Page 64 of Queen of Diamonds

I shook away the intrusive thoughts. “No.”

With more self-control than I was aware I had, I stepped back.

Kyan.

I had to remind myself of him. Of what she’d done to him. My smile was bitter. “You’re going to sit there, bundle of steaming Omega rage, and settle me down just like that.”

“Fuck you,” she muttered, but she seemed somewhat resigned to the fact we kept catching her, because it didn’t take her long to settle down, cross-legged, glare fixed on me. She had a very cute little fight with the rope she was hooked to, in order to get low enough for her to relax.

I tried not to think about how much it should make me angry—that she wanted us after all she’d done. But if she was nearing heat, she just wanted Alphas.

That was all.

I landed my first punch on the bag, blood boiling in my veins.

And with each hit after another, I tried to sweat this attraction to her into the ground, so it couldn’t come back.

There was nothing between us, I told myself. Nothing but hormones and biology.

23

GLADE

Iwas forced, cuffed to workout apparatus, to watch as Knight turned from sexy hunk of topless Alpha, to glistening sexy hunk of topless Alpha, as if that was going to help me get my head on straight.

Kyan had sent my fragile hormones completely haywire, and I would be lying if I said I was crossing my legs so tight because I was cold. I’d bared my neck to Knight, like a desperate Omega in heat. I’d never done that to an alpha in my life.

But boxing in front of me? This was getting out of hand.

I needed to get out of here.

I watched with a scowl as Zed appeared. He stopped in the living area doorframe, narrowed eyes fixed on me, then crossed to Knight like he was on a mission.

I wrinkled my nose as they argued—clearly about me, since they were hissing under their breaths like angry snakes.

As I watched, Knight threw up his arms, no longer lowering his voice. “I would say this is a bad plan, but I’m starting to wonder if you know what those words mean when they come out of my mouth.”

“She’s right about the heat,” Zed said. “Lock her up and she’ll go into it instantly. Kyan’s using it as an excuse to go behind her back?—”

“It’s gonna fuck with our heads a million times more if she’s wandering about like this is her home.”

Uh… what? I glanced between them. “You could just… let me go?—”

“No!” both of them snapped at the same time, glaring at me with furious expressions.

“Put her in the fucking room, lock the door, and take all the keys away from Kyan.”

Zed was shaking his head.

“Did you forget what she did?” Knight demanded.

“As if I could?—”

“What about Kyan—you know what she did to him.”

Zed paused, jaw ticking as he stared at Knight, and I saw a shadow cross his face.

“What?” I asked.