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“He probably can’t be alpha with a human for a mate, right?”
“It’s against our pride’s laws. But if he mated you last night, then he’s stepped down from taking over the pride for you. Why the females showed up this morning, and where Duke is… I couldn’t say. Would you like me to call him?”
“No,” Ree said. “If he really meant everything, he wouldn’t have left me like he did.”
“Maybe he had to,” Mercy said.
“Why didn’t he leave a note? Or send me a text or call?” Pressing her fingers to her temples, she said, “I just want to forget everything. I made a mistake, but I won’t make it again.”
She looked at her sister and realized that she’d missed a mating mark onherneck. “You and Barron?”
Mercy shrugged with a grin. “He offered to take me home last night, which is why I left the car for you. One thing led to another and what can I say? He’s irresistible.”
Barron purred and nuzzled Mercy’s neck.
Ree wanted to crawl into a hole.
“Ree!” Duke’s voice rumbled through the door, followed by his pounding fist. “Open the door.”
“I don’t want to see him,” Ree said. She knew it was cowardly to hide, but she wasn’t ready to face him.
“What if he came to apologize?” Mercy asked.
“I don’t have that kind of luck. Make him go away, please.”
She walked out of the kitchen and down the hall to her room, locking the bedroom door. After gathering clean clothes, she went into the bathroom and locked that door. Her current plan was to take a shower and get dressed, and hopefully by the time she was done, he’d be gone. Maybe she’d be willing to talk to him later, but she didn’t really want to hear anything he had to say. There wasn’t anything he could say in explanation that would make it okay for him to leave her alone in his bed, or how the lionesses got his apartment key.
She’d definitely learned her lesson this time around. She would not be fooled by sexy guys again, especially shifters. Maybe someday she’d open her heart again, but staying single forever and keeping what was left of her tattered emotions in tact seemed like a much better idea.
Chapter 6
Duke stormed into his apartment and found Madison and another lioness sitting on his couch. Titus stood nearby, his face impassive and his arms crossed over his chest. Even though he knew it was a long shot, he still rushed to the bedroom and found the bed empty. He tore the covers off and threw the pillows aside, hoping she’d left a note for him the way that he had for her, but he couldn’t find anything.
Returning to the family room, he stopped in front of the couch and suppressed his instinct to throw the two lionesses out the window.
“What the ever-loving hell are you doing in my apartment, Madison?” Duke yelled.
Madison stood slowly, smoothing her dress slacks as she straightened. “You meanourapartment? When we mate next weekend, everything that is yours is mine, even this repulsive bar.” Her upper lip curled in disgust as she looked around. “We won’t be staying here much, if at all.”
Duke nearly roared. He stopped from flashing his fangs at her by only a thin margin. “Our mating is canceled. I know that you saw the human in my bed and the mating mark in her neck. What did you say to her?”
She blinked slowly, as if she had all the time in the world and didn’t have a furious lion ready to tear her to pieces. “I told her the truth. You’re lucky I’m the sort of female who can overlook dalliances such as this before we mate. If you want to chase females after we mate, you’ll do it under the radar andonlywith lionesses.”
Shocked, he shook his head. “I already said once that the mating is over. You had no right to come in here and chase my mate away. My father is already canceling the contract. You have no say in who I’m with or what I do with my life, but I will strongly suggest thatyouget the hell out of my place or I’ll use force.”
The other female stood, giving Duke a hard glare as she brandished her phone at him as if it were a weapon. “If you don’t stop the cancellation, I will call her father. He’s waiting to bring war to your pride’s doorstep if you go through with this.”
For a moment, all the wind was knocked out of Duke’s sails. He didn’t want his family or pride to be harmed because of his actions. He’d expected to take the brunt of his choices on his own, not for others to potentially be hurt.
Titus growled as he moved to stand beside Duke. “Your pride would threaten war over a broken mating contract? That’s insanity.”
“A vow is a vow,” Madison said. “I was promised I would become alpha female, and I will be. If it comes to war to make that happen, then so be it. Your pride’s blood is on your hands, not mine.”
She sauntered out of the apartment with the lioness close behind. Duke stared at the empty doorway, the lioness’s words ringing in his ears. Exhaling with a growl, he turned to Titus. “How did she get in here?”
“The lioness with Madison is Emma. She came into the bar last night and hit on me, I figured – why the hell not? I didn’t know that your arranged mate was from Lewiston or I might have been suspicious. Emma was in bed with me when I fell asleep; when you called and woke me up, she was gone and the key to your place I keep on the hook at the front door was missing. They were sitting on the couch when I got here, and wouldn’t answer any of my questions.”
“I don’t think they hurt Ree. I don’t smell blood in the bedroom.” If he had, he wouldn’t have been able to stop himself from physically harming the females.
