Page 17 of Brutal Alpha's Sold Mate
As we find the rhythm, I pull her a bit tighter than necessary. She stiffens in my arms, and there’s a defiance in her posture that wasn’t there when she danced with Jacob.
“What’s wrong?” I ask, keeping my voice a low whisper that gets lost in the swell of strings and woodwinds.
“Shouldn’t I be asking you that?” Her voice is equally soft, but sharp like a blade hidden beneath silk. “You look like you’re about to declare war.”
“I just might,” I confess, and my grip on her tightens just a fraction. “After what Jacob just pulled.”
She scoffs and pulls back to meet my gaze. “Is that what this is about? Your brother dances with me, and suddenly it’s an act of war?”
“It’s not about the dance,” I clarify, steering her smoothly around a particularly enthusiastic couple. “It’s about respect. Something Jacob’s always struggled with.”
Kai’s eyes search mine, looking for something I’m not sure I want her to find. “And you think dragging me around the dance floor is going to teach him that?”
“It’s not about Jacob,” I admit. “It’s about me not liking to see you with him.”
Her laugh is short, more of a scoff. “Because you care so much about who I dance with?”
“Because my brother would use you to stab me in the back without so much as thinking twice about it.”
Her step falters just a bit, and for a moment, we’re out of sync. “That’s rich, considering what you’re planning,” she says.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
She forces a laugh, and it feels like she’s mocking me more than anything else. “Jacob told me everything. The real plan to officially become alpha. Quite the bedtime story, if you ask me.”
I glance over my shoulder, spotting Jacob leaning against one of the carved wooden pillars, looking damn smug as he watches us. “You shouldn’t believe everything that comes out of Jacob’s mouth.”
Kai presses her palm to my chest to create more distance. “So he lied about you killing your brothers and everyone loyal to them in order to conquer the rest of this territory? He lied about that being your plan all along?”
Now it’s me who trips, forcing the pair of us to stumble. It’s enough to draw the interest of a few onlookers. People start whispering, but I pretend not to notice. Kai’s eyes blaze, demanding an answer.
“It’s more complicated than that. A friendly handshake and a surrender just isn’t possible. My brothers—both of them—are dangerous. We’re not going to solve this with a polite negotiation over tea.”
“So that’s a yes,” she bites back. “You really plan to kill them to get what you want.”
I grit my teeth, wrestling with the words I don’t want to say out loud. “It’s not my first course of action, but if it comes to that, I’m prepared. I’m not going to let them rip the pack apart. If they insist on going to war, I’ll do what I have to do to protect what’s mine.”
She wrenches her arm free of my grip, and we’re no longer dancing but standing in the center of a swirling crowd, locked in a standoff. “How is that any different from what Malcolm and Wiley do?” she demands.
My brows knit. “Malcolm and Wiley?”
Her gaze moves between me and the spectators, as if she’s weighing whether or not to air this in front of everyone. When she does speak, her voice is venomous and loaded. “Don’t act like you don’t know what kind of men you made a deal with.”
“I don’t,” I insist. “One of my elders put us in contact.”
“So, you purchased a wife from a couple of assholes and didn’t even bother to check them out yourself?” she scoffs. “You have got to be kidding me.”
She spins to storm off, but I catch her wrist. “Enlighten me, Kai. What exactly is so horrible about those two?”
Her body visibility trembles before she whips her head back to look at me. “They abduct females—witches, shifters, it doesn’t matter—to sell them or use them for their demon dealings. They don’t see people as people. They see them as commodities. And you—” she jabs a finger against my chest “—are acting just like them, planning to kill your brothers as if they’re nothing more than obstacles.”
A surge of unfamiliar guilt flares in my gut. If I had known the sort of business that duo engages in… my wolf claws at my insides, demanding to break free to get vengeance for what they’ve done to my mate.
“That’s not the same thing,” is all I can manage.
“Really? Because to me, it looks pretty damn similar.”
I swallow the retort burning on my tongue and inhale, trying to steady my breathing. “I’m not enslaving anyone,” I insist, keeping my voice low so only she can hear me. “And I’m certainly not funneling witches to demons. This is the first time I’m hearing about Malcolm and Wiley’s operations. If you know something about them, you should’ve told me.”
