Page 24 of Ruthless Reign

My jaw drops. "Aren't you?" I accuse.

"Of course not."

Scoffing, I take a sip of coffee so I don't fling the mug at his fathead. "Well, excuse me for getting it wrong," I mutter sarcastically into my mug. "Hunters… kidnapping females from their pack—surely you can see how I connected the dots to make that assumption."

He grins at me, revealing twin dimples. "You're cute when you're worked up. But exhausting. I can see why you need multiple mates."

"What the fuck do you mean by that?" I snap, feeling flustered by his comment that I'm cute—especially since I look like crap.

"Obviously you need more than one person to rein you in."

"I don't need to be reined in! I just need to not be kidnapped."

Cade laughs, frustrating me even more at his dismissal of the severity of the situation. Sensing my impending mug throw, he holds up a hand. "We seek out wolves from other packs that we believe to be the mates of our pack members. Marie helps us determine who that might be."

"That's the biggest bullshit I've ever heard."

"It's true," he shrugs. "We don't believe in forcing connections. We just need to—how would you put it?—speed up the process."

Chapter Ten

Nyx

"Speed up the process?" I repeat, absolutely lost.

He nods. "Given packs are disappearing at an alarming rate, we took it upon ourselves to seek out the potential mates of our mate-less members. That way, if they are a part of a pack that's at risk of vanishing, we can initiate them into ours before that happens. We would hate for their mate to disappear before they even got the chance to meet."

I stare at him in astonishment. "You really expect me to believe that you're some hero, vigilante savior of the Moon Goddess?"

"I never said I was a hero, sweetheart."

My jaw clenches tightly, ignoring the flutters in my stomach. "Don't call me that."

He raises his hands in surrender. "I'm just saying—we aren't as bad as you think we are."

"I find that hard to believe," I snort. "Rock, head—hello," I mutter, pointing to my skull.

"Still mad about that damn rock," he mutters to himself. "I spoke to Ezra this morning and he's going to apologize."

"I'm still mad that youkidnappedme," I say with a raised voice. "Because in case you have forgotten, I have two mates. And neither of them needed to steal me away in the middle of the night after a friend's funeral."

At least Cade has the audacity to look pained and a little bit guilty. Though, I'm not sure if that makes me feel any less annoyed at him.

"Yes, I do apologize about that."

I freeze, narrowing my eyes on him suspiciously. "Did you kill Tyler?" I ask, voice starting to shake with anger. The mug is getting dangerously close to becoming best friends with his temple, but my need for an answer stops me.

Cade's eyes widen in disbelief. "Of course not."

As I pull my arm back, ready to hurl the mug, he quickly throws his hands up, eyebrows shooting up. "We didn't kill him, Nyx. We haven't attacked anyone in your territory. Oranypack."

I pause. "Bullcrap! The timing is too suspicious to be coincidental." I launch the now-empty mug at him—because we don't waste coffee—letting out a growl as he quickly ducks out of the way. It smashes against the glass window behind him, a large crack appearing.

"Really?" he groans, glancing at the glass before turning back to look at me. "Do you know how much that will cost to repair?"

"Fuck you!"

Cade suddenly stands, hands slamming onto the desk as he looms over me. But this asshole doesn't intimidate me. I don't believe a word that comes out of his mouth, and I push to my own feet, glaring him down—well, up.

---