Page 56 of Stolen By the Alpha Hunter
I freeze.
“I didn’t let you take her because I wanted her to live pampered,” Gideon says. “Do you know what she did?”
“No.”
He has to know, right?
“She took our people. Stole mates. Separated alphas from omegas. Took our daughters—our little girls. She got her own mother killed, for God’s sake.”
Somethingsnaps.
“I didn’t!”
The words rip out of me raw. My head jerks up, tears burning hot tracks down my cheeks. The sound is awful—too loud, too real—and the moment it leaves my lips, the whole room turns on me.
“You killed her!” I sob. “You—you!”
My finger points like a blade, like I could cut right through him.
And I feel it the second I’ve gone too far.
The alphas snarl as one, their outrage rising in a chorus. The scrape of boots, the creak of shifting bodies. Javi’s grip tightens around my shoulder, locking me to him as the wolves begin to move.
Gideon surges up from his throne.
Ephraim and Abel stalk forward, their eyes flashing with murder.
But Javi—Javi moves faster.
He plants himself in front of me like a wall of flesh and fury, towering over Gideon, his teeth bared in a snarl that sends a hush rippling through the room.
He’s taller. Broader. More dangerous.
Javi is the biggest man here—andthatis a threat in a pack of wolves.
“If you touch her,” he growls, low and lethal, “I’ll kill you.”
I drop to my knees behind him, clutching at the leg of his pants, my cheek pressed to the rough fabric. Trembling. Breathless. The air is too thick to breathe.
Oh no…I’ve made a huge mistake…this could be the end.
But Gideon just lets out a cruel laugh.
“As an alpha should behave,” Gideon says, his voice oily with approval. He turns to the others, sweeping his hand toward us. “Fellas, you could learn a thing or two—if you’d been so possessive, your females might not have run out on you.”
He glances back at Javi, a smirk curling on his face. “So what are you gonna do with her?”
Javi tenses beside me.
“What do you mean?” he asks, slow, dangerous.
“What are you gonna do to show her she’s misbehaved?” Abel pipes up with a nasty grin.
The room shifts. The other alphas perk up—like predators catching the scent of fresh blood. I go rigid against Javi’s side,unable to stop the tremble that racks through me. They want a show. They want to see me punished. And I don’t think Javi is the type to?—
“Come here,” he growls.
My breath catches. He reaches down and grabs me by the arm, not hard, but firm. He hauls me up and into the center of the room with him. His green eyes lock onto mine. There’s something in them I can’t name—anger, guilt, heat—and a silent apology that slices through me like a blade.
