I cup my palm behind my ear, “Is that praise? Not something I’d ever thought I’d hear from you…half-brother.”
His shoulders bunch, “Don't remind me.” He sets his jaw.
“Unfortunately, there's no denying the resemblance between us.” I drop my hand and lean forward on the balls of my feet. “Our father dealt us the ultimate blow, for his genes were too strong. Enough to paint your features and mine with the same brush strokes. There’s no getting away from the fact that we have blood ties. Except”—I drum my fingers on my chest—”Don’t expect me to honor it, hmm? Our fight to the death will be so much more entertaining for that, don’t you think?”
“I am not here to talk about what we have in common.” He raises his gun and aims it at me.
I draw myself up to my full height.
I will not show how afraid I am and it's not about losing my life. It's her. I cannot let anything happen to my omega, to the one thing that belongs to me, only to me. Not to this stinking city, not to my men, not to anyone else. She is mine and I will protect her at any cost. "Why do you hate me?" Yeah, that's me resorting to the oldest trick in warfare: trying to distract my enemy. It's a testament to just how out of ideas I am. Just keep the man talking while you work out what to do next.
He stares at me and his lip curls, "Is that all you have to ask? Are those going to be your last words?"
Fucker grins at me like I am losing my mind, and perhaps I have. I am going out of my head with worry. For her. Fuck me, what is this omega doing to me? My scalp prickles, the back of my throat hurts. The mating bond jolts and I raise my palm to rub the skin over my heart where it aches. What the hell? Did I just give away another clue to just how torn inside I am? I tuck my elbow at my side. "Answer me."
"Golan paid me a visit when I was five." He widens his stance. "Bastard revealed that he was my real father. Like that was a surprise, eh? My adoptive father never hid my origins from me so I knew that already. No, what took me unawares was Golan declaring how much he loathed me. How unworthy I was, unlike my older half-brother, Zeus who would one day inherit everything from him."
I stiffen. "Motherfucker played you." I clench my fingers at my side. “He played both of us,” I mutter.
"He did it well." He chuckles, the sound a harsh whine in the space.
"He made it clear that you were his heir, while I was just the product of a rape, an illegitimate son who'd never scale the heights of his older sibling. I'd never hated anyone more than him...and you from that day. I swore I'd not stop until I took down both of you. Too bad, you beat me to him." He waves his gun at me.
A bead of sweat trickles down my back.
"Now I am going to defeat you and take over your city."
"So that's what this is about?" I purse my lips, "Sibling rivalry?" Soldiers have killed for less, so what he says doesn't surprise me, but that humane part inside of me that I have discovered since meeting my little squirrel rears its head insisting that I try to find a way out that would spare his life. Again. Me, showing mercy? Fuck me, I am going soft in my head.
"It's about power. You, of all people, must know the importance of absolute dominance." Kayden leans forward on the balls of his feet. "The kind that makes alphas tremble in your presence, that has omegas baring their pussies for you to ravage."
"It has its benefits," I keep my voice casual. The mating cord twinges in my chest and I shift my weight from foot to foot.
His gaze sweeps over my frame and comes back to rest on my face. His forehead creases, "Don't try to downplay the sole reason for your existence. You were right, we are similar, both driven by power, by the need to stamp out any trace of our blood-father and leave behind a legacy that re-writes history completely."
His words are too close to what I was, how I used to think, to everything that used to drive me until... one pint-sized omega swept into my life and turned it upside down. The blood rushes to my head and my stomach rolls. What the fuck is wrong with me?
Why can't I be as single-minded, as focused as I used to be? I used to want just one thing: the destruction of everything that motherfucker Golan stood for. And I am as driven, as needy, as one track as I have ever been. I do still crave one thing and one thing only. Her. Only her. Her lips. Her scent. Her cunt. "The fuck?" The roar rips out of me, and fuck me, but I can't rein in my emotions anymore.
Kayden's features light up in a look of utter delight, “Who’d have thought the mighty Zeus, the Beast from the East who killed his own father to gain the leadership of the most powerful city in this region, would meet his end deceived by an omega.”
Deceived? A chill floods my chest. I clench my jaws so hard that that pain bleeds down my neck.
“Explain yourself.” I drop my hands to my sides, straighten my fingers, and keep my feet firm on the sandy ground.
I need to stay calm, stay focused. Kayden is canny and trained at ways of pulling a fast one over his opponents.
Hell, he’s proving to be as ruthless as me when it comes to navigating the corridors of power. But the one thing I have which he doesn’t? Instinct. It’s never failed me before…and it insists now that…he is right. She betrayed me.
Every muscle in my body goes solid, and she must sense the complete and utter feeling of loss that engulfs me, for the ball of heat nestled under my ribcage rears up. The omega's trying to reach me, trying to weaken me, and no way am I going to let her infiltrate my heart again.
I slam down a barrier on the mating cord. The emotions that pour from her end and into my veins cut off.
Kayden’s lips twist. His gaze narrows on my features.
I shouldn't give away more of just how much this revelation has shattered me, but my brain, my heart, my soul, all of them seem to have a different plan. “You knew…” I try to complete the sentence, but the words stick in my throat.
Me, the alpha-hole of alpha-holes, struck dumb because the first time I trusted someone, she played me. Anger squeezes my chest and the blood pounds at my temples.
“Did I know you would claim the omega I sent you? No.” He taps his foot on the ground. “But I’d calculated the odds. I knew she was exactly the kind of woman to appeal to you. Strong, feisty, and with that core of helplessness to her which would call to the gallant in you. I gambled.”
“And you won.” I pull my spine upright. There is a rolling in my gut and my chest aches. Blood-fucking-hell. Apparently, I have a heart. Who knew? And hey, I have feelings for her, too. Wonderful, let the realizations keep rolling forward, no matter that it seems like someone punched a fist through my ribcage and tore out that piece of flesh that used to beat there.
“She led you to me.” My voice comes out hollow and the back of my throat hurts. It fucking hurts. Every part of me already knows what the look on his face confirms.
“Correction. She made you vulnerable, brought you away from your stronghold to this unguarded location, kept you wrapped up in the high of mating so you didn't even register our approach.”
Anger squeezes my chest and I can’t breathe. And it’s not the fact that I let my guard down, though that too, but the fact that he dares talk about our mating as if it was just another callous coming together of bodies and it is not. It isn’t. The mating chord slams into my rib cage and a groan tears out of me. Fucking get your head back in the game. He is going to kill you…worse he is going to hurt her and you are mooning over what could have been, how he is insulting her…and I am so screwed.
“How did you find us?” I force the words out. I don’t want to know. If he tells me, that last sliver of hope that I am holding onto will shatter and then…then I will be gutted, absolutely, I know it and yet I can’t stop myself from deepening that wound in my chest. Masochist that I am.
“I had her followed, had my soldiers posted across the city and at sea to track any move from either of you. You didn’t think she could escape unless I had allowed her to, did you?” Kayden’s eyebrows knit. His gaze sweeps over my features.
He’s
going to see the truth in my eyes and damned if I am going to glance away. I am not a coward, never turned away from a fight. I have my faults, but turning tail and hiding was never one of them. Not even when it's clear that I am losing… for the first time.
“Bloody hell.” Kayden’s gaze widens, then he throws back his head and laughs. That full, unabashed chortle from the depths of his belly which changes his countenance and which makes him look more familiar. Which highlights the similarity between us again.
“You have feelings for her.” He props his hands on his hips.
No, it's worse. Much worse. I had fallen head over fucking heels with the omega. I'd claimed the one woman who could go toe to toe with me, and she’d deceived me, she was going to wipe me out, and you know what? None of that matters. I am going to die…but damned if I am going to let Kayden or anyone else get to her.
“You won’t harm her.” I thrust out my chest and put every bit of dominance I know into my voice.
He stiffens, his eyebrows drawn down. “Once the alpha, always the alpha, eh? Tell me, if you were in my position, if you had the gun trained on me, if I was the one thing standing between you and the woman I'd claimed, what would you do?”
“I’d kill you both,” I say that without hesitation, because that’s what I would have done, and because right now, lying won’t serve me. “But you’re not me. You have a conscience, Kayden. It’s why you are not the leader of the most powerful city in the region. I am.” I widen my stance. “I am going to crush you and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
His features go white as the color fades away, then he chuckles. “Fucking Zeus. Your balls are bigger than your brains.”
“And your balls never did match up to the ambitions you had.” I want to wind him up, to push him over the edge, so he loses control of himself and slips up. Or at least I hope so.
His lips thin, his skin is stretched over his cheeks, and a pulse beats at his temples as he walks toward me with his gun raised, then darts past me, picks up speed, and keeps going.
“No, no, no.” Adrenaline spikes my blood. I break into a run, but it’s too late.
13
Lucy
Kayden jams the barrel of the gun against my temple, and I freeze. I shouldn’t have come out of the bungalow. I should have stayed inside as he’d asked, but I couldn’t help it. When Kayden raised the gun at Zeus, I knew I couldn’t stand by and do nothing.
Now Zeus looks at Kayden, his nostrils flared, those blue eyes burning with an unearthly light, every muscle in his body coiled with tension. I sense the anger surging from him in waves, and I know he is about to do something very stupid that will get him killed, and that I cannot tolerate. I’ve come this far, led Kayden to him, all without the view of finally handing him over to his sure death. But now, faced with the evidence of what I have done, with Kayden ready to kill him, I know I’ll do anything to stop it. I’d give myself up to save Zeus.
“Don’t do this.” I turn to Kayden.
He steps back, gun still trained on me and beckons me to step toward Zeus.
Zeus starts to move forward, but Kayden growls. “You were right, I am going to kill both of you.”
“You don’t have the balls to do that, so why don’t you hand over the gun to me?” Zeus slides his bulk between me and Kayden. He props his arms on his hips so his body covers me from sight.
Kayden shoots, and a surge of heat rips through my shoulder. A scream tumbles from my throat.
In front of me, Zeus’ big body sways.
He takes another step forward and, closing the gap between them, grabs Kayden’s gun. Another shot rings out.
I hear the bullet punch into his chest, scent the heavy, coppery burst in the air. Then Zeus collapses to the ground. My alpha, who is invincible, his big body crumples.
Kayden steps over him and seizes my arm.
I snarl and slam my fist into his side. His arm shakes, and the gun falls to the ground. I grab for it, and he jumps on me, his body crashing into me.
My shoulder is whacked into the sand. Pain rips up my arm. The gunshot wound from earlier rips open, and red and silver sparks behind my eyes. My head whirls. He hits my hand, and I groan, then loosen my fingers.
He snatches up the gun and pulls me up with him. “Move,” he snarls in my ear.
Tears prick my eyes, and I turn, trying to get a glimpse of Zeus. He’s on the ground with blood pooling under his big body. The ball of emotions coiled against my rib cage screeches and pain floods down the bond. I tug at the hand holding me. His grip loosens, and I pull away to run toward Zeus.
Before I can reach him, Kayden is on me.
He seizes me around the waist and hauls me up over his shoulder. “He’s dead, and you are mine.”
“No.” He’s not dead. He can’t die. “Zeus, Alpha,” I sob.
The pain in my chest is huge and growing, taking over every part of me. My palms and feet grow numb. The mating bond twitches, then its resonance begins to ebb. Fear threads my spine, and at that moment, something inside me snaps. I cannot leave Zeus.
I will not allow him to die.
He has to live.
For me.
For what the future holds for us.
I bite down on Kayden’s arm. He roars in pain, and his grasp falters. I twist my body and fall to the ground, rolling to break the fall, and then run to Zeus. I turn his body over.
His eyelids flutter open. His chest is splattered with blood and with sand. The mating bond stabs into my chest.
He tries to speak, and blood spurts out.
“Don’t you fucking die on me Alpha,” I snarl. “You hear me?”
Tears flow from my eyes and fall on his cheek.
He swallows. “I’ll find you where you are. This much, I promise you.”
Reaching down, I slide my arms around his shoulders, pull him, hold him close, feel the breath from his lungs sear my throat…then, nothing. His body goes limp.
I hear screaming and realize it’s me. Fear curdles my gut, my heart feels like it is shattering, then I am being hauled away from him.
His limp body rolls to the ground.
“No.” I shake my head.
Kayden begins to drag me away.
There’s a pounding in my ears, and my vision narrows. I throw myself at Kayden, scratching his face, his chest, going at him with my teeth and nails and kicking him, howling at him.
“Let her go,” a voice snaps through the violence that fills my mind.
The sound of a gun being unlocked snaps through the space. Kayden turns, still holding me.
“The alpha is dead. Long live the alpha.” Kayden jerks his chin at the new arrival.
“Ethan,” I croak.
He doesn’t look at me. “Let her go if you value the life of your sister.” He tugs the woman he’s holding forward.
“Reena.” Kayden stiffens, but his hold on me doesn’t waver.
She stares at him, her eyes troubled. Her features are set in a look of resignation. She knows this is going to end badly for all of us.
And why is Ethan asking Kayden to release me? Am I not the enemy here? My mind whirls.
Before I can say anything, there’s a flurry of movement, footsteps, and a bunch of men wearing the Scottish colors surround us.
“You didn’t think I’d come on my own, did you? I am not as foolish as my half brother.” He nods over his shoulder at the fallen Zeus.
“Half brother?” I breathe out.
Ethan’s eyebrows furrow. “Let her go. Tell your soldiers to step back, else I’ll kill your sister.”
“You keep her.” Kayden peels back his lips in a grin. “I’ll take Zeus’s omega.”
14
Zeus
The sound of her screams rips through the haze that envelops me. I rush toward her, but my feet sink into the sand and drag me down. There are hands grabbing at her, pulling her away. She turns to me and extends her hand. I reach for her and grab at thin air.
“No.
” I spring up to find I am back in my suite in London.
The pulse thunders at my temples and my breath comes in pants. The mating bond screeches at me, slams against my ribcage, and yanks me up. My spine bends, my chest snaps forward, and I gasp.
Adrenaline spikes my blood.
Waves of stress and helplessness and so much hurt bleed down the bond and slams into me. Sweat beads my forehead.
“Fuck.” I try to growl, but my throat is so raw as if I have been screaming for her. And for a second, I can’t understand why I am doing this. I’ve never felt so gutted. My insides churn, my chest hurts. Every molecule in my body yearns for her. My very life is ebbing out of me, for without her, I am nothing…nothing.
The realization sinks in, and the tension drains from me. I bow my head.
There! I’ve admitted to myself that I cannot live without her. I am as good as dead if I don’t have her.
I am going to do everything to protect her.
She is mine, and no one is going to hurt her.
Least of all that asshole, my very own half brother. And the fact that he is family means he is more dangerous. I snicker, the sound echoing through the space. To think people rely on those closest to them. My nearest blood has always been the bloodiest to me.
I am going to break that cycle. I am going to see this through to the end and save the one thing that has made me feel alive, made me connect with the truth of what I am inside. Not just an alpha, but also a protector.
I fling off the cover and swing my legs over the side of the bed. The effort sends pain shooting through my chest. I rub the space over my heart to find I am bandaged up all around my torso. My shoulder screams, my thigh muscles spasm, but I push on. I need to get to her.
I rise to my feet, and the blood drains from my head. The world tilts around me, and my leg muscles quake with the effort of trying to hold up my weight.
“Easy there.” Ethan strides in from the door and steadies me.
Claimed by the Alpha Page 7
