Page 37 of Stolen By the Alpha Hunter
I wish I was stronger.
I wish I could stop crying.
But here I am, about to sob in front of a pack of alphas who would revel in my pain.
Gideon’s gaze flicks between us, his amusement twisting into something colder, something calculating.
"Well," he muses, tilting his head, mocking curiosity laced through every syllable.
"You caught her."
Javi’s grip on me tightens.
"You marked her."
Javi stills.
"There’s just one more step."
He reaches out.
Javi snarls.
But Gideon doesn’t move any closer.
He just extends his hand, holding something small, dark, and heavy.
A leather collar with a silver ring attached to the front.
My stomach plummets, my breath catching on a sharp, angry sob. Something feral, something wild, something screams inside me.
Not this.
I feel Javi’s hesitation, the way his body tenses against me, the way his fingers flex on my waist, like he doesn’t want to take it.
But he does.
He plucks the collar from my father’s hand, the leather sitting heavy in his palm.
And then?—
He turns to face me.
The hunger in his eyes is devastating.
The possessive lust roiling in his green stare makes my whole body go tight, breathless, aching.
His tongue drags across his lips, slow, deliberate, like he’s already tasting me, like he’s imagining what I’ll look like underneath him. His gaze drops to my throat, to the bite he left there, still raw, still bleeding, still marking me as his.
A low growl vibrates through his chest.
Then—
He grabs me.
One massive hand snaps to my waist, jerking me forward, his grip so tight I gasp, my fingers flying up to grip his arms, to steady myself.
The other hand lifts the collar.
