Page 31 of Bonds of Pain
“We’re a pack and I’m the pack Alpha, which you would do good to remember.” Logan gestures toward the door with his chin. “Don’t you need to be updating the firmware on the surveillance system, or is that already done?”
Ares takes a breath deep enough to swell his chest before stalking away, muttering under his breath as he goes.
Logan’s attention remains fixed on me, his eyes roaming over my body as if checking for injuries. Finding none, his gaze hardens again.
“Poe, you’re dismissed. We’ll have words about this later.”
Poe doesn’t move immediately. “It was my call to bring her along. She handled herself well.
Logan takes a step forward. “I said you’re dismissed.”
His eyes meet mine briefly before returning to Logan. “Just so we’re clear, I’m going to bond her whenever she’s willing to have me.”
The declaration hangs in the air between them, a gauntlet thrown down.
I should be outraged at being discussed like property to be passed around, but the cunning part of me is absolutely thrilled.
Logan’s lips thin with barely suppressed anger. “I am this pack’s Alpha.”
“I’m aware,” Poe drawls. “That’s why I’m making my intentions clear instead of planning something behind your back.”
Poe doesn’t seem to intend the words to be pointed, but Logan’s expression blanches. Before he can respond, Poe turns and leaves the room, the door closing quietly behind him.
The silence that follows is suffocating. I’m acutely aware of Cillian watching, his expression unreadable.
“Go to our room,” Logan finally says to me, his voice tight with frustration. “Get in bed.”
The fact that he thinks he has any right or ability to control me is laughable.
I lift my chin, defiance surging through me. “No.”
“Maya.” My name is a warning on his lips.
“I’m not tired,” I say, even though just thinking about lying down makes my limbs feel like they suddenly weigh a hundred pounds. “And it’s not our room. It’s yours.”
Logan takes a step toward me, and I instinctively back away. “I won’t ask again.”
“Good, because I won’t answer differently.”
His eyes flash dangerously, but before he can respond, Cillian’s quiet voice cuts through the tension.
“Maya, go to the bedroom and get in bed.”
The command ripples through me, my body responding to the bond before my mind can resist. I shoot Cillian a betrayed look, but he just shakes his head with a resigned impression on his face.
Asshole.
Coming between them is going to be harder than I thought and might even be impossible.
“Fine,” I mutter, hating how easily my will crumbles under his command. “But only because I want to.”
It’s a childish retort, but it’s all I have left as I turn.
“Seems like all the defiance you swallow is coming out in her,” Logan grumbles as I slowly turn away, still fighting the compulsion of Cillian’s soft command. “When she speaks, I practically hear your voice. It’s astounding.”
Cillian’s reply is dry. “The fact that you still think this is going to work is what’s astounding.”
The rest of their terse conversation is cut off when I turn down the hallway, but the trouble in paradise is obvious.
