Page 15 of Alpha Games

His lips quirked, just a little, making a tiny crack in his otherwise stone and scarred face as he pushed open the door. “I requested this detail, Luna.”

I brushed off his weird comment, enjoying the small win. He probably just took his job seriously. “Right. Well, it’s good to have you around. Never know when a piece of cake or cherry pie might try to take me out.”

Ivan’s jaw clenched. “I swear on my life, that won’t happen again.” His deep voice echoed down the hall to the conference room, making me even more nervous.

And he completely missed my joke.

Admittedly, it wasn’t a funny one.

We walked in silence for a few more steps.

“You’re safe on my watch from any dangerous pastries,” he mumbled.

“I knew you had a sense of humor under the tough guy persona.” I shot him the finger guns. Then wanted to smack myself in the face for it.

“Whatever you say, Luna.” He was a little weird, but at least he was still kind of smiling as he swept the conference room with his stone-cold gaze and left me alone with Molly.

“Miss Nuva, please take a seat.” Molly had composed herself during the walk over here, beating us with enough time to adopt her ice-queen producer hat again. She seemed smaller sitting at the table without her lawyers, but she still scared the heck out of me.

“Is something wrong?” I sat on the edge of my seat.

“I think you can answer that. What happened to our deal?” Her tone was like a whip, cutting straight through the air and making my hair stand on end.

I discreetly sniffed, wondering if I’d somehow missed the animal she shifted into.

Nope. Still human.

And still a ruthless bitch.

“I’m not sure what you mean.” I fiddled with a pleated fold on my dress. “Trenton was coached and is performing better.”

Granted, I hadn’t paid much attention to his efforts during the speed dating because I was a little preoccupied. But he’d made Ismelda laugh and I’m sure there were a few other Lunas who appreciated his training.

“Cut the bullshit, Aspen.” Molly leaned back, crossing one leg over the other. “What kind of gameare you playing with Mr. McCaw? You promised to be on film with more of the Alphas.”

Oh. That part.

I let a teeny-tiny bit of my wolf shine through my eyes, which was hard when she wanted control.

I just want to show her something.

She knows you have teeth.

But she hasn’t felt the strength of them.

Not yet.

“If you have a problem with Mr. McCaw, I fail to see why I’m in here.” I kept a pleasant smile on my face, ignoring my wolf’s urge to dominate. “I’ve more than held up my end of the bargain by increasing ratings. If my sources are correct, the final night of the Luna Trials was your most streamed episode in seven seasons.”

True, my sources were a cheetah shifter and an incarcerated coyote, but dang it felt cool to be able to use that line.

Molly didn’t seem to appreciate it. “You know the problem with having a major climax early in the season?”

I shook my head.

Molly smiled. It was not a nice smile. “We have to up the ante for the following episodes to get viewers to come back. Which means we’re going to need a whole lot more from you.”

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