Page 11 of Prey for Me

“Who the fuck are you growling at,” Raphael growls back. “I am your pack leader when Nakoa is away. “Back off, or I’ll tell him you’ve disobeyed rank over this bitch!”

Three? Are there three of them in Leo’s pack?

For some reason, that scares me more than the other alphas and betas surrounding me. Leo can leap like a wild animal, with the aim of an apex predator, and Raphael can bend fucking metal. What in the world can this mysterious third alpha do that would make them defer to him? To command the respect and loyalty of an island full of lunatics?

But to my surprise, and apparently Raphael’s, who goes slack-jawed, Leo doesn’t back down.

“Shut the hell up! You’re scaring her. And no, I was patient. I want to claim her, together. She’s ours, Raphael. Can’t you smell it, don’t you feel it in your bones? How was she born to be with us?”

He laughs in Leo’s face, and the sound is so bitter it makes my tongue prickle, like I’m tasting dark chocolate.

“You’re insane. This bitch really has done a number on your head,” Raphael murmurs, refusing to look at me, like I’m a piece of trash that can be dismissed when his pack mate kidnapped me!

“You–” Leo is cut off, dropping his mask as he steps forward to grab Raphael by the collar, his bare chest plastered against the slightly taller, but obviously higher-ranked, alpha.

And why, despite everything, is Raphael’s presence oddly comforting, even if this scentless alpha wields murderous intent?

“Grace Wilder,” Raphael grunts, ignoring the hand fisting his shirt with a sickeningly sweet grin, like he’s imagining all the ways he’ll break me. “To think you’d come to me.”

How is this new mutant bastard? And again, how does he know me?

I don’t need to know how strong he is to understand this new alpha is more lethal than Leo with his bare hands, and that’s saying something. Somehow, he also makes omega sound more like a slur, more hurtful than calling me a bitch. I flinch away like I’ve been slapped and go back to being a tightly wound ball in the corner. I’d rather the ghost get me before I let Raphael get his hand on me.

Raphael frowns, and Leo smiles at me. I’ve done something to piss him off, and make Leo proud, but I don’t know what.

“You’re scaring her; leave her alone and cool down,” Leo says in a measured tone, stepping protectively towards my cage to block me from Raphael, apparently. The same cage he locked me inside. Hypocrite!

It’s for your protection.

I suddenly hear my father’s voice in my mind, and chuckle to myself. Maybe he’ll use the same excuse, for my protection. Either way, I was robbed of a choice. But I’d rather have my alphas than this new guy. Something looks even more off about him.

My alphas? Get a grip, bitch! These men are your enemies, just like the rest.

“Enough, Raphael! Leo! Back down,” A gravely booming voice fills the room, and everyone is at attention.

Suddenly, the betas drop to the floor and drop their heads in submission like an omega would. The alphas take a knee, including Leo. Curiously, Raphael remains standing, but he’s stiffer like a solider at attention. And I also notice his chin tuckin just a tad, his eyes burning with rage and another emotion I can’t decipher quite yet.

I crane my sore neck towards the entrance. There stands one of the most gorgeous man I’ve ever seen, and Leo and Raphael aren’t exactly hard on the eyes despite being lunatics. He’s tall, maybe six feet two inches or three, so a few inches taller than LeoandRaphael. He has the same midnight colored hair as his second in command, but a streak of gray runs through his bangs, compliment his amber brown skin. Swirling, solid black tattoos with sharp edges cover his arm, chest, legs, and calves, the intricate patterns telling a story I can’t make sense of. This alpha’s hair is shorter in the front and wild in the back; loose spikes and curls cling to his nape. He resembles a wolf more than his black fox mask lets on from the cut. He marches forward, flanked by two men wearing gas masks and matching suits. Strangely enough, this pack leader–for it’s undeniable what he is–isnaked!

I gasp as he walks closer, his thick, meaty cock at half-mast between his legs. I rip my eyes away but can only take in more of his magnificent, bronze body. When he stops at my cage, he removes his masks, and I’m stunned by his onyx gaze flecked with silver that resembles the stars. And when he leans down, the colors shifts to a stormy gray that seems unnatural. The tips of his eyelids tilt upward, giving him an animalistic appearance. He’s handsome, older, but still far too young to be going gray. But maybe that’s what happens to pack leaders in a tropical hellhole disguised as paradise. They start to go gray from stress in their late twenties, or early thirties, since I don’t peg him as much older.

“Nakoa, this is her, our mate,” Leo says, rising from his kneeling position to his full height at the faintest flick of his leader’s fingertips like an obedient pack mate.

Leo and obediently in the same sentence seems like an oxymoron as he comes closer, smiling down at me like I’m someone precious to him and not a pussy in heat he’s desperate to fuck. Suddenly, Nakoa grins at me too, sporting white teeth and enlarged canines like the rest of his pack. However, instead of being comforted by the display of friendliness, I fear that charming smile hides his deadly intentions.

“So this is her…” he murmurs, sending a jolt of electricity racing down my spine.

He’s not purposely using pheromone manipulation. I know what that feels like for sure. But somehow, his presence is having the same effect on me. And to my absolute shame, I’m dripping wet!

Nakoa seems to notice, lust overtaking his serene expression, “A beautiful woman, even under all that dirt and grime. Good job saving her, Leo. Though I don’t appreciate you trying to hide her from us.”

Leo demurs, and I let out a woosh of air. Saved her? So he’s the one who patched me up? And if he hid me, I guess my assumption was correct that I was out for days, maybe even weeks.

Shit, shit, shit!

Apex alpha is just a more powerful variant of our basic biology. Freaks of nature, if you want to be cruel about it. And, out here, genetically disposed to rule, unlike the false birthright of kings.

Nakoa is their king. And I’m his captive,I think, taking a slow, steadying break and standing back up, hoping against all odds he’ll see reason and not…

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