SHE'S MINE TO TAME

Chapter 7: Playing Lost And Found

"What do you mean explain to you?" I repeat, raising an eyebrow. "You're the ones who sat there with your little ass and watched it happen!"

"And you're the one who he took into my goddamn house," Alpha Romano retorts coldly

"So I'll say it again to you, and I want you to give me an answer" he stands up straight as if to add an intimidation factor, "What does that rouge want with you?"

I realize that I don't want to tell them. This thing between me and 'that my monstrous bastard,' assuming it is what I think it is, is too personal to be ruined by Romano's opinion and Jasper's hatred.

So I play dumb instead.

"I don't know what he wants," I answer, adding an irritated tone to make it sound believable.

Romano hums as his eyes rake over me, from head to foot and back. Deciding whether to believe me or not. Whether to kill his prey or let it walk another day.

"That's his shirt you're wearing," he observes, stroking his black and grey beard.

I notice his nostrils flare subtly, smelling.

"Did he force you to wear it?"

I nod.

Half a million minute passes by. Half a minute of Romano deep in silent thought and half a minute of Jasper and I in silent confusion.

Then, the devil speaks.

"You're the prey," he says.

"Come again?"

"He was watching you during the ceremony from the dark," he concludes, "He knows you're Jasper's chosen Luna. Taking his pack is one thing, but taking his Luna is a statement of further dominance. He's baiting Jasper to challenge him and you're the bait. The prey"

I blink, dumbfounded. His theory sounds... surprisingly reasonable? Probably even.

My stomach drops as I consider the possibility that he might be right.

The feeling of stupidity heats my cheeks. Maybe I didn't know as much about my mate as I thought. Maybe his ferocious desire to replace Jasper's scent with his own had a different motive than I thought. Maybe what I thought I felt for him was nothing at all.

Out of the corner of my eye, Jasper stiffens in his seat. His jaw is clenched without a doubt, and I'd bet money that the vein in his neck is just waiting to make an appearance.

"So he's toying with me?" Jasper growls, balling his fists on the table top.

Alpha Romano pulls out the chair opposite his son and sits down in it, stretching his long legs out. He crosses his arms over his chest and heaves a sigh. Three prominent stress lines crease the old stupid Alpha's forehead.

"Damon Black doesn't toy with people. He destroys them."

A forceful shiver jerks my entire body and my breath audibly hitches in my throat. My chest is like a drum locked in a room with metal walls, every beat being echoed right back to it. The affect that this name has is terrifying.

Damon Black" I repeat in my head. The Banished Alpha. That's his name, only his name sends chills down my spine in a good way.

My eyes blur out of focus as I remember his sexy face. His perfect jawline covered with just the right amount of stubble.

Stubble that I haven't gotten to feel against my skin or in my palm. His sharply cut nose and strong cheekbones. Somehow, there's something about everything about him— right down to that minuscule scar that cuts off the tip of his right eyebrow— that Damon Black really fits perfectly.