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“Look, I know you are mad at me, and you have every right to be.I promise, I am going to make it up to you, but first, there’s been some kind of threat against your family.I am on my way with Konstantin to find out what it is.We are sending extra guards to the house.”
“What do you care what happens to me, Eduardo?The way you left this morning, I did not think I mattered all that much.”
She spoke without heat, and the lack of emotion was even worse than the words themselves.Eddie closed his eyes and inhaled.
“We will talk about all of it, I swear.I owe you an apology and an explanation and you will get them both.But first, I need you safe, Alina.”
He waited a full minute before she replied.Hope and despair warred within him, and he prayed like fuck, he hadn’t messed up his one chance at happiness.Finally, she did reply, the honesty in her voice was like the sun coming out for him.
“Okay, Eddie.I will give you a chance to explain,”she said.
“Thank you, Alina.”
She hung up without a goodbye, but that was alright.He didn’t really expect one.Konstantin waited at the door, and Eddie went with him to the precinct.Whatever this threat was, hopefully, it would not be too bad.
Famous last words, he mused a half hour later when Detective Sergeant Llewellyn explained what they were facing.The Lion Shifter seemed just as upset as they were at the news that the Ivanovich brothers had been released from holding.
“I don’t understand.They were guilty of kidnapping, aiding, abetting, and a slew of other charges!”Konstantin raged.
“Their lawyers got the charges thrown out.Seems they were able to pin everything on their father and had alibis for the crimes they’d been accused of.As for your sister’s kidnapping, Mr.Petrov, all the evidence pointed to Gleb Ivanovich, not his sons.I am very sorry.”
“So they are out already?”Konstantin growled.
“Yes.I am afraid they are.”
Rage filled Eduardo as he followed Konstantin back to the car.The justice system was fucked, far as he was concerned.Maybe he was not the animal he thought he was.Maybe the world needed people like him to do what the law could not.
That sort of philosophical debate was above his paygrade.One thing remained clear.He needed to see Alina with his own eyes.To know she was safe.
“If Grigory, Evgeny, and Gavriil are all out, they will seek revenge.We must get the family home safe,” Konstantin told Eddie, his accent thick as his anger.
“Yes, boss,” Eduardo replied, already sending notice to his team.
“And Eduardo, that means you, too.I want you back home,” Konstantin demanded, and something inside Eddie clicked.
For a long while now, Konstantin Petrov was the only family Eduardo had known.But it was more than that, it was like his Bear heard the order and was ready to obey.The beast in him looked at Konstantin as Alpha and Eddie’s blood hummed with the knowledge.
“It is time I think we make this official,second,” Konstantin stated, meeting Eddie’s stare with his eyes shining bright with his Tiger.
The Bear maintained eye contact for a few seconds before willingly averting his gaze and baring his throat, a sign of submission.Fuck, this was real.Eddie had just been made Konstantin’s Beta, and that was a huge fucking honor.
The Petrov Pride was now official, and it would be Eddie’s pride and joy to serve under such an Alpha.Even better, he could claim Alina the way he wanted to, knowing she was safer with him than with anyone else.
Yeah, Eddie had a lot of groveling to do, and he would do it on his fucking knees for that woman.She was everything to him and it was time to take what was his.
Mine.Mate.
ChapterSix
Alina had arrived at The Stripe Club an hour before Eduardo’s phone call.Heck, she might have been there before he even left with her brother.Waking up alone had not been ideal, but she was a consummate professional and the show must go on.
Her body had been deliciously sore after the night she had shared with Eddie, her brain full of dreams.But when she looked in the mirror and saw the truth staring her in the face, she could not help the hurt that had risen.
She had been thoroughly loved, but was still unclaimed.Shame filled her, the hated emotion threatened to topple her, but that changed the second her mother had seen her.
“What is it, malyshka?”
“Oh, Mama, he does not want me,” she whispered, her heart breaking.
