Page 89 of Chased By My Grumpy Alpha
My heart hammers against my ribs. “You can’t just decide that. You can’t just—”
“I can do whatever I want.” The certainty in his voice is absolute, unshakeable. “And what I want is you.”
“That’s not how it works.” My protest sounds weak even to my own ears.
His hand slides away from my jaw to cradle the back of my neck, his fingers tangling in my hair again. The gesture is claiming, possessive, and it makes every nerve ending in my body light up.
“I’ll bring Andrew to you,” he says, his tone growing dark and promising. “You can do whatever you like with him. Even kill him.”
The offhand way he talks about murder makes my stomach clench. “Killing humans isn’t allowed.”
“You can do whatever you like,” he says, his voice carrying an edge that makes my pulse race. “Nobody can stop you. And if someone tries to, I’ll make them regret it.”
There’s something about the way he says it, like there’s a double meaning I’m not grasping. Like he knows something I don’t.
“This is the last time I’m asking you,” he says now, his tone sharp with demand. “I want a straight answer. Do you want revenge?”
The finality of the question cuts through my confusion. I look up at him, this dangerous man who appeared in my life like a force of nature. Who saved me when I was dying. Who kisses me like he has every right to claim my mouth. Who looks at me like I’m something precious even while calling me weak.
The smart thing would be to say no. To tell him I just want to disappear somewhere quiet and safe and never think about Andrew again.
But when I close my eyes, I see Andrew’s face as he watched those men beat me. I hear his voice telling them I’m primebreeding stock. I remember the collar his customer wanted to put around my neck.
A fierce sense of vengeance unfurls inside me. “Yes.” My voice is steady, certain. “I want revenge.”
Lucian’s smile is sharp and predatory, like a wolf that has just cornered its prey. It should terrify me, but instead, it makes something hot and tight coil in my belly.
“Good girl,” he murmurs, and the approval in his voice sends heat racing through my body.
He stands suddenly, depositing me back on the ground with ease. I feel cold without him, empty without his hands on me, and I hate myself for missing the contact.
“Stay here while I fetch Andrew,” he says, already moving into the forest.
As I watch him walk away, my heart feels uneasy and yet exhilarated for some reason. There’s an aggressiveness in the way he moves, something that speaks of violence that is barely leashed.
I realize that this man will be way more dangerous for me than Andrew ever was.
Andrew tried to break my body and steal my future.
But Lucian? Lucian may very well steal my soul.
And the most terrifying part is that I’m not sure I want to stop him.
Less than half an hour later, I hear footsteps approaching through the trees. My heart pounds as Lucian appears from the shadows, dragging something behind him.
No, not something. Someone.
Andrew stumbles along after Lucian, barely able to stay upright. His face is a mess of bruises and cuts, and one eye is swollen completely shut. His clothes are torn and bloodstained, and he moves like every step is causing him agony.
Lucian throws him at my feet like discarded garbage. Andrew hits the ground hard, crying out in pain as he lands awkwardly on what looks like a fractured arm.
“Decide his fate,” Lucian says, crossing his arms as he watches me.
I stare down at the broken man in front of me. This is Andrew. The man I spent years waiting for at the forest’s edge. The man I gathered rare herbs for, risking my life in the Wyvern Woods just to have something valuable to offer him. The man whose smile I treasured, whose gentle words I hoarded like precious gems.
The man who planned to sell me into slavery.
My heart feels heavy as I look at him now. I think of all those times I eagerly anticipated his arrival, thinking his kindness meant something real. All those conversations where I believed I was building something beautiful with someone who cared about me.
