Another horrible interaction with the backstabbing liar I’m bonded to, a moment I both completely hate and desperately longed for with zero answers, and Dimitri might have just ruined my life all over again because of it.
And I fucking let him.
CHAPTER 22
LIV
THREAT OF JOY - THE STROKES
“Iswear to fucking god, if you don’t let me in there right fucking now, I will cut you from knot to nape without batting an eye.”
Alexei grins down at me and tilts his head. “You areadorable.”
“And you’re a fucking dead man!” I screech as I lunge for the gigantic sack of limp dicks, Rune catching me mid-air but I kick my legs and swing my fists, anyway. “Dead and buried, motherfucker!”
“While I’m having an absolute banger of a time trying to keep a feral omegaoutof my auction house, I do have business to attend to.” Alexei chuckles when I growl at him. “And rules are rules, sweet cheeks. Adder employees stop here.”
He motions over his shoulder to the door Rune has been posted at since our shift started, as if I can’t fucking read the sign on it that saysPushkin Staff Only Beyond This Point.Something I decide to reiterate.
“I can read, dickhead, I just don’t give a good goddamn.” I pointlessly wriggle around in my alpha’s arms, trying to do what, I don’t know because I won’t be going anywhere unless the bigguy lets me. “I’m starting to worry aboutyourIQ, though, since the English language appears to be too fucking complicated for you.”
Alexei lifts his eyes to Rune’s, staring at him over my head as he laughs. “You’ve got your hands full with this one, my brother. She’s fucking feisty.”
“You don’t seem to understand what’s going on,” I grunt as I contemplate taking off my mask and throwing it at this idiot since it’s all I’ve got at the moment. “I’m telling you, my omega is down there, something is wrong, and?—”
“What’s the problem, Pushkin?”
I sigh in relief, my body sagging against Rune’s chest as I hear my beta’s voice, only to stiffen up the second I turn to face him.
“One of your employees is going rogue, Adder, and she might have a few screws loose since she’s trying to getintothe auction house.”
Styx winks at me as he clears the stairs, reaching out to squeeze my hand before he puts himself between me and the giant, grinning asshat in front of me, but my eyes stay glued to the equally big,very familiarmale that stops directly next to me.
Oh shit.
“I’d bid on you. Top dollar, easy,” the white haired alpha I just scent matched says as he looks me up and down with a grin. “Then again, I’d also break into the dorms and steal you right out from under this idiot’s nose so I didn’t have to pay. I’m a little too frugal for my own good.” His smile widens as he looks between me and Rune then nods to Styx. “Just ask my boyfriend, he’ll agree.”
Oh, double shit.
“What’s going on, Row?” my beta asks as he turns to face me, even though I’m staring at hisboyfriendinstead. “Why is thebig guy holding you back from plowing through Pushkin and the door behind him?”
I swallow hard as I tear my eyes away from my other alpha—might as well call it like it is—and take a deep breath. “Mikhail. He was texting me a while ago, he was supposed to come up so he could talk to you as a matter of fact, but he obviously didn’t. I can’t get a hold of him at all and something feels?—”
“You heard her,” the white haired alpha barks as Rune finally sets me down. “Something is off with our omega. Open the fucking door.”
Styx sighs and holds up a hand then turns back to Alexei. “I’ve got this, Leon.”
“Oh, I know, Red. You’ve got it in spades, but the urgency rolling off our little bird right now is more than enough for me to ask you nicely to fucking use it.”
“What does he mean,youromega?” The Russian idiot asks. “I know it isn’t out of the realm of possibility forLeonidasto refer to himself in third person but, I didn’t think, I mean, I thought that asshat was an alpha.”
Styx pushes a hand back through his hair as Leon laughs. “Wanna see my knot?”
Alexei’s face twists in disgust. “You’re not my type.”
“And I’m happily taken.” Leon motions to the three of us. “But I have no problem dropping my leathers to show you how much of an alpha I am. Big dick, thick knot,hugefucking balls. Balls that mean you need to open the fucking door and let Row in to check on ourotheromega because I don’t give a fuck who you are or what you do, I will?—”
“Okay, that’s enough,” I say as I grab Leon’s forearm and give it a gentle squeeze, doing the same to Rune before I slide in front of Styx. “Let's play nice, now.” I sigh as I look up at the alpha I want to punch in the throat. “I really don’t care about anything except getting to Mikhail. I just want to go in, makesure he’s okay, then bring him out to talk to him. Whatever happens behind that door doesn’t matter to me unless it involves my mate, and the last thing I want to do is hang out in an area where omegas are auctioned off like farm animals.”
