Page 96 of Love Bites Hard

“Fuck,” Kim hissed. “If Evan’s with him…”

“We go through with the plan,” the laptop woman said without looking away from the screen. “He’ll forgive you after he’s alpha.”

Wait…

Was she saying Kimwasn’tworking with Evan? She was going against her fiancé?

And wanted to make him the alpha?

Damn.

“Evan and I are friends. If you kill me or Porter, he’ll refuse to step up as alpha. He might even kill you,” I said quietly, tapping into my magic a little. Though I didn’t want to risk pissing anyone off, I had to dosomethingto save myself and my mate. My mother had taught me how to slip my power into my voice, to influence a conversation to go my way. I never used it, on principle—but in this situation, I’d dig into every tool I had.

“I’m going to be his mate,” Kim said fiercely. “He’ll take my side.”

“If he killedyourbrother, wouldyoutake his side?” I asked, pushing a little more magic forward.

“Shut up,” her brother snarled, pressing the knife harder into my skin and drawing a small amount of blood.

Kim didn’t seem stable—but her brother seemed fucked up.

I backed off on my magic.

Guess Porter was going to have to get us out of the situation on his own.

“Easy, Corbin,” one of the guys holding a gun warned Kim’s brother. “If he smells her blood, he’ll be a lot harder to negotiate with.”

The guy had a point.

Corbin, Kim’s brother, scoffed.

He moved his knife long enough to wipe at my throat roughly with his sleeve. I winced, but at the same time, was kind of glad he’d have my blood on him.

It would tell Porter who to kill.

The grimace on the other guy’s face told me Corbin had only managed to smear the blood over more of my skin.

“It’s going to be a miracle if we make it out of this alive,” one of the other guys muttered.

Corbin snarled at him, too.

“There’s another vehicle incoming,” the laptop chick warned. “East side. Driver looks like…”

She trailed off, and all of us looked at her laptop’s screen.

“Fuck!” Kim cried out, looking at the door. “I knew this was a bad idea.”

“It wasyouridea,” the laptop girl tossed back.

“It was Corbin’s,” she argued.

“You poisoned the chocolate. Only way out now is by killing his mate and making a run for it,” Corbin growled.

“He’ll still scent her in the room. Thereisno way out now,” the laptop girl said, still typing furiously. “I’m closing the east gates. Might buy us a few minutes without Evan.”

“He’ll scent you in the room too,” Corbin told his sister. “You’re just as fucked as I am.”

“Unless we kill Porter while we distract Evan.” Kim’s eyes were on me.

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