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“You’re lying.”
I smile. “Am I?”
The vampire looks over my head, locking eyes with Aleks. “I only wanted what was good for Muncie. They said she was your weakness. I… I didn’t know.”
I’m not surprised. I’ve spent my whole adult life keeping my abilities a secret from the shifter world. Even after I came to live in Muncie, I did everything I could to keep them under wraps. Roman knew, thanks to Gem, but that was all.
Things are different now. With the Alpha collective on my side, I don’t have to hide them any more. Might as well use them to support my mate, instead.
Just like he’ll do anything to support me.
“She might be my weakness, but that doesn’t make her weak,” Aleks tells him. “Who said that?”
The vampire’s expression becomes bewildered. His eyes fade from red to a light hazel color. “I… justthey, I guess.”
Ah, Luna. Really?
Alek’s moves into me, laying his hand over my shoulder. “Then you better do yourself a favor, Justin, and stop listening tothey, yes? Believe me, I also want what’s best for Muncie. That could be you if you get rid of that knife.”
With a clatter, the silver knife hits the sidewalk.
Smart vamp. Each one of us knows that, while I might’ve been bluffing, Aleks wasn’t. He gave Justin the chance to rethink what he was doing. If he insisted on challenging Aleks anyway, I might have been able to snap his bond. No doubt in my mind that Aleks would’ve fought him and won.
He bows his head, giving my shoulder a squeeze. “Tak. Now go home, kiss your beloved, and hope that if our paths cross again, I don’t remember how much you insulted mine.”
Justin mutters something under his breath that might possibly be an apology. I don’t know. Don’t really care, either. He didn’t try to attack Aleks; that’s all that matters to me. And when he bows his head deeply in Aleks’s direction before disappearing into the shadows of the night, I’m pretty sure he’ll never try pulling that stunt again.
Glancing over my shoulder at my mate, seeing the pleased look on his aristocratic features, I know he thinks the same thing.
I laugh.
He furrows his brow. “What?”
“Nothing.”
“Oh? Is that so?”
I shrug. “I was just thinking that, if all those threats were like that, I might have worried for no reason.” It’s a tease, and we both know it. “Also, it’s nice to see that not everyone who pisses you off ends up without a head. I was starting to get a little worried there, Aleks.”
He throws his arm over my shoulder tucking me into his side. “If I killed every vampire who disagreed with me, I wouldn’t have any to lead.” He makes a thoughtful sound in the back of his throat. “Actually, that might not be so bad of an idea.”
Snorting under my breath, I bump into his side. As if I believe that. He might not want to be the leader, but there’s no one better in Muncie to look out for the Cadre, and we both knowthat. “Come on, baby. Take me home.”
He pressed a kiss to my temple. “As you wish.”
CHAPTER17
FOREVER MATES
At the time, I thought it was a little weird that the Alpha collective went to the trouble of gathering twelve Alphas together for my trial, interrogated me, interrogated Peyton, and then had a decision made in barely forty-eight hours. It was like, if they weren’t going to punish me for something completely out of my control, what was the point?
Now, I understood why I had to be called against them. If I didn’t know me, I’d be spooked at the prospect that there was a shifter who could go around and break bonds when they suited them. It didn’t matter that I’m not like that. That I never meant to hurt others and ruin their lives. My track record speaks for itself. I was obviously a threat to all shifter kind, and it was right that the collective had something to say about that.
On the plus side, I don’t have to worry about the threat of them hanging over my head. The matter’s been settled, and if I decide to use my Luna-given “gifts” against those who don’t deserve it, whatever happens is mine to deal with. But did I really have to be dragged in front of the twelve like that if the whole thing was going to be settled so quickly?
I realize something the morning after I return to Muncie. Despite Aleks and I mating into the early morning hours after we made it to the apartment, I wake up with my skin itchy, my pussy soaked, and my tits heavy and aching. I’ve never been so fucking horny, and that feeling only grows to pure sexual frustration when I roll over and see that Aleks is missing.
He left a note for me on the kitchen table, next to a breakfast frittata he must’ve whipped up before he left. It’s still fairly hot, so he couldn’t have been gone lone, and I’m not surprised when his note says that he had to head to the Cadre building to take care of somethings, but he’d be back before nightfall.
