Chapter 14
Male bonding done right was a fearsome thing. It brought together all that heady testosterone into a force that echoed in the bones and stirred even the most timid to battle.
Alyssa wasn’t timid by any means, but this man, this creature that was Simon stood like a god before these men. If he told them to die for him, she believed they would. And they had only just met him.
But what did she think of the man who had just killed not once but twice right before her eyes? She was a civilized woman and she hated such brutality. Except she had cheered when he’d killed Nanook. Her mind had stuttered into shocked awe when he had shot the drug dealer. And now, when he’d brought his men to a growling roar? Her heart had surrendered. Though she’d kept silent, her body had thrilled at the sound and her breath had whispered out in a sigh.
She was wet and willing for him, and the very thought shocked her to her core. She’d promised that he could have her, but at the time it had been simply a way to bring his mind back from the animal inside. Now she realized, she’d been lying to herself. If he asked, she was pretty sure she’d do whatever he wanted.
And that terrified her a hundred times more than the violence she’d just witnessed.
He was looking at her now. His body was strong and fiercely male, and he clearly gave no thought to his nakedness. Though, damn, it was hard to keep her eyes on his face. He spoke to her in a low undertone.
“I need to learn the details as fast as possible,” he said. His gaze flickered, and she was startled to sense uncertainty despite his gruff tone. “Will you take notes?”
He still hadn’t remembered how to read and he needed her help. “Of course.” She pulled out her cell phone. She thumb-typed way faster than she wrote.
Then he looked at Vic. “I need a beta,” he said to her brother.
Vic frowned. “I have no idea what that means.”
“An XO. Will you serve me?”
“Yes, sir!” Vic straightened into a military salute that was crisp and so handsome on her brother. Every now and then he gave her a flash of the man he could be, and right here despite all the changes, she was seeing what she’d always hoped was in there.
“The bodies,” Simon said with a gesture. “Talk to the cop. Figure out what’s the best thing to do.”
“On it.” Wow, her brother even did a military turn as if he were on a parade ground. Meanwhile, the cop nodded to Simon and then Vic.
“My name’s Ryan Kennedy. Detective.”
“Vic Nelson. Simon’s beta.”
They shook hands awkwardly, but soon got to business by talking in low tones. Alyssa turned back to Simon, belatedly realizing that she was now the center of his attention. And he just stood there looking at her with an intensity that made her heart beat triple time.
“Simon?” she finally asked when the tension got too much for her.
His voice came out in a bare whisper. “Four steps. First, become dominant. Second, please the alpha female. Third, lead the clan.” He paused as his eyes became brilliant green. “Fourth, lead wisely.”
She didn’t know what to say. Her mind was still spinning on how he could please the alpha female and the guess that he meant her. But that wasn’t what he was asking her, and she struggled to catch up.
“My thoughts are simple: four steps.”
“Dominance, female, leadership, wisdom. Got it.” She didn’t get it, but that’s all she had at the moment.
His gaze traveled the room, pausing significantly on Nanook’s carcass and the dead drug dealer. “You are the alpha female. Your role is wisdom. Only you can stop me before I go too far.” She nodded, her gaze cutting back to Vic, but Simon grabbed her arm. “They’ve sworn loyalty. They can’t disobey.”
And since she was the only one who hadn’t growled or roared, that left her. And what a sticky place that was. She was supposed to be the brakes on an unpredictable, violent man? No way. That was crazy and a sure way to die. She’d seen that enough just growing up in Detroit. And yet, the way he looked at her—dark and intense as if she was his only lifeline—had her aching to reassure him.
“I can tell you,” she said in a whisper. “I can’t make you listen.”
He swallowed, and his gaze turned anguished. “I know.” Then he glanced behind him at the body of the drug dealer. “I just killed a man.”
“You just killed two.”
“I don’t regret Nanook. He demanded the challenge and would have killed me. The other—”
“Was about to shoot you. Same self-defense argument.”
