The Brothers and I

Chapter 42

Marcus 

I had hesitated at the door, tension coiling in my muscles when the primal sound of her anguish reached my ears. Let someone else deal with this, my inner voice had said but I had ignored it and pushed the door open. Her little body that was slumped over the chair, shook with muffled gasps, each sound wrenching a strange emotion in my dark depths.

Needing to limit my time in her presence, I proceeded with the task at hand.

"I think that went well."

Her body immediately stiffened, her tearful sounds ceasing as she straightened in her chair. Walk away, my voice had said but instead I had moved forward, foolishly stepping into the very trap that I had warned James about.

"Liam will take you back now and fill you in about the plan for next week."

Nothing could have prepared me for her response when she slowly stood and hissed the words through her teeth. "How about you fuck off and leave me alone?"

Surprise struck me for an instant before my instincts kicked in. Disrespecting an Alpha? Foolish move.

So here we stood, facing each other with her venom oozing in the space between us. Force her submission, the voice said but I stared in silence. A weaker Alpha would have wasted no time in rising to the challenge that her eyes conveyed, but I was not of that breed. Where another would be content to have their victim succumb, submission to me, was merely a precedent to the hell I would unleash upon those that oppose me. And this sliver of a female, currently projecting her desire to destroy me, obviously had no clue about the kind of Alpha she was dealing with.

But strangely, her insolence did not summon the slumbering rage but rather tickled my amusement and curiosity.

"Is that all you would like to do to me...mate?"

I felt, rather than see the shift in the air. Perhaps, she did not share in my amusement which was confirmed when her eyes opened wide in response, her pupils constricting as they locked onto their target. Her breathing stopped as her body stilled in preparation.

And though my lips twitched, trying to hide a smile at her predictable reaction, my beast, despite being subdued by the wolfsbane, rose to meet the threat. There was no doubt that my eyes flashed gold in that instance to show his presence but I was surprised when he did not growl nor issue a warning.

The realisation that he would never truly threaten his mate was a stark one. How could we see this through when a single look from her could buy our beast's allegiance?

But my chance to ponder into the traitorous-creature's actions were cut short when a body hurtled in my direction, bright green eyes fixed on my throat with a snarl across her pink lips. Tut-tut, did this female have no self-preservation?

Easily evading her blunt nails, I grabbed her by the throat, adding enough pressure to stop her trajectory before forcing her back over the table. A gasp of pain left her soft lips when her back hit the wood, her hands instinctively reaching up to pry my fingers away from her throat. With her face flushed in anger and her body under my control, I felt a thrill go down my spine.

My cock stirred, hardening under my trousers as she continued to writhe under my grip. I hissed in annoyance, both at her hostility and my own lack of discipline.

"You are more foolish than I thought."

Her struggling ceased, body going still beneath mine as she glared with bright hate in her eyes. Her jaw clenched before she spat through her teeth. "Fuck you"