Knight’s eyes stay on mine for a while. He’s never responded well to my threats. I mean he marked me because I wasn’t going to take his crap. He lashed out every time I’ve gotten upset with him, and this doesn’t feel any different from that. When I try to pull away, his hand is gripping my face, keeping me in place.
“What did you just say?” he asks, straightening up to crowd me against the island.
“Don’t overdo it.” I simplify.
“No, no, no,” he growls, leaning down so we’re inches away from one another.
“I’ll stab you if I see you getting carried away?” I ask.
“Hmm, try again, Angel.”
“I don’t–you better not bite me,” I growl at him.
He comes closer, his nose barely grazes my skin until he gets to my mark, and I can’t help the way my body reacts to him when he’s this close, even if it looks like he’s about
to attack.
“You love me?” he whispers in my ear. His voice is low and almost vulnerable, so unlike the other times. “Can you repeat it without the threat?”
I pull away from him, and he lets me go this time. His eyes are pitch black, the way they get when he prepares for whatever argument we’re bound to have. It’s not the first time I’ve seen him do it, and I’m not the only one who can trigger it. It’s always upsetting when I have time to wind down and think about what was said on the spur of the moment. I hate how he tries to sugar coat everything for my sake as if I weren’t strong enough to handle the truth.
He’s expecting it now. I can tell. I can be a bitch. I’ve always had to be, which I’ve always hated. It’s a defense mechanism that helped me through hell, and sometimes I forget that I’m not there anymore.
“I love you,” I say gently. “I thought you knew that.”
He hooks his index fingers through my belt loops and pulls me to him. The darkness in his eyes fades, and he’s not aggressive again. His touch is gentle as he traces my face. “I still think that I’m dying somewhere and this is all a dream,” he whispers. I lick my lips and reach out to pinch his nipple, getting the tip perfectly. He growls, pulling away angrily. “What the fuck, Phoebe?”
“You seem pretty awake to me,” I laugh. He grips my face again, and suddenly his lips are on mine hard.
“Eww,” a little giggle interrupts us.
“Do you need something, Ayrie?” I laugh, pushing him back.
“There’s a big puppy owside.” she points at the door. “Big–big puppy. I tink is Grandma
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shark.”
“Okay, baby. I need you to go upstairs with your brother and close all the doors. I have the key, so only we can get in. Yes?” he crouches down in front of her.
He offers her a couple of fruit snack packets. I turned the stove off and am glad he didn’t put the pasta in. She takes them and then looks to me for confirmation. I give her a nod, and she shrugs before skipping off. I listen for the doors to shut and then look over at Knight.
“What is happening?” I ask him.
“Remember when I told you that my father chose my mother to give him an heir for a reason?” he asks, rushing over to the back door.
He returns to the kitchen and opens the cabinets at the top to reveal a black armored box with what looks like a camera. He holds the box up to his face until it pops open, and from inside, he holds out what looks like a long taser.
“I should start questioning everything you tell me,”
“She comes from a special bloodline like yours. They’re called shadows, and she’s the last alpha–ranked female of her kind. Remember I told you she was the last remaining of her pack? Well, some dumb ass killed her grandfather and her grandma went feral and killed everyone that same night. She survived because she was out getting drunk with her friends and-” he sighs. “My father is the only person who can claim her, so that doesn’t happen to her when Freddy dies.”
“She’s not feral now, is she?”
“No, we’d know.”
“How?”
“She’d be trying to get in to kill us,” he says. “But I think her wolf feels the threat and is trying to protect her.”
“Or maybe stop her from going to him,” I place my hand on his weapon.
“What?” he asks.
“She told me that her wolf respected her mate but that he was never her alpha. She loved her life, but it often felt like it was never enough. Hence-”
“Remorseful,” he finishes. I pull away from him and turn to face her.
“She’s caught between loving him and no longer having any respect for the man she thought she knew.” I look out the window to see a shadow standing in the middle of the gazebo that leads to the beach.
“My dad,” he sighs.
“I thought you said that he said no to saving her,” I whisper. He looks down at me and smiles. “What?”
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“Ever since meeting you, I’ve had this sense of having everything backwards. I never stopped to think of my family from the outside. He hurt me, so he was the bad man. I meant it when I said I trust you completely. So, I took that leap of faith,” he looks out the window to see his father reach up to pet the massive pitch black wolf. “Before you, I never considered what others might be feeling. I just focused on the results.”
“That’s a good thing.”
“Not for someone like me, Angel. It’s just another weapon in my arsenal. I want to be a better person, but it doesn’t mean I’m ever going to stop being a bad one,”
“Everything that’s happened was that your whole life?” I ask him.
“Basically,” he nods.
“Then you don’t owe anyone a single thing. If you want to take what I’m sharing with you to use as a weapon to keep yourself and us alive, you’re welcome. It’s always the charming people, right? The ones who swear they’d never do anything bad because they’ve got their shit soooo together. In the end, they turn out to be the worst. All to protect their image.
“I’m learning a lot from you guys, too. Not just Arnold, but you and Perry. Violetta is a little harder to read, but that’s just because she’s trying her best to hide something from everyone. Ayrie does that when she does something she knows will upset me. She brushes me off and tries to gaslight me like I wasn’t the one who taught her that.”
“You never fail to get a fucking reaction out of me. The closer I get to you, the more I feel complete.”
“Isn’t that the point of mates?” I go back to the stove and start it up again. “Come on. Arnold has that, and the twins will be hungry when their snacks run out. Maybe your parents will want something to eat later.”
“You don’t seem affected by what’s happening,” he says as he sets his weapon back where it belongs.
“I’ve seen your parents interact several times since meeting them, and they have an insane chemistry. They’re always on the same frequency. Compared to how your mother was with Freddy. It felt rehearsed, like she was trying to make everything perfect.
“At first, I thought it was. She did everything he asked. Down to the way she dressed and spoke. She would look at Freddy almost like she was asking permission. But with your father, she was herself. She gave him as much as he was giving. There’s passion. She delivered because she was afraid to fail her mate.
“She said something along the lines of him being mad at her for not trying more to get you to become the alpha of the city. When you were working on becoming the rogue king, I felt so fucking bad about the mark misunderstanding after your father told me why you were upset and I wanted nothing more than to give you what you wanted.
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“I had a plan to make it up to you and Midnight fucked it, but I never stopped thinking that you were upset with me. I remember thinking that as soon as it was over, I would do anything to make sure you’d forgive me.
“And she didn’t care. She was here cleaning up and getting what we needed when we returned. She was working and going on spa days with her friends. I saw it on PackChat. I could never. Not while knowing you’re upset with me.”
He takes the pasta from my hand and dumps it into the boiling water.
“I never noticed that,” he admits.
“Of course, not. I see how you stiffen when she hugs you. When you’re both in one room, you try to stay as far away from her as possible. You’re kind of busy trying to ignore wanting to kill her,” I cup his face. “You miss things because of the guilt you carry. You’re caught up in trying to make things better.
“I have nothing to feel genuine guilt for. It’s why I’m so good at seeing things most people miss. You keep saying you’re a bad person, but never have I seen you do anything with bad intentions.
“Same with everyone else. Even your father. He’s right. ‘In this world, you’re either the prey or the predator. I would rather be the one who makes someone cross over to the other side of the street than the person crossing over with their head down.
“People who keep their heads down never see the danger coming, and boom. They get hit by a car. It’s what your dad has been trying to teach you all along.”
“Yeah, but it’s likely him behind the wheel,” he scoffs.
“You will never see me argue that, Hon. I bet he’s blasting Toxic Rose Thorns and singing along to the words when he hits that gas pedal to hit his prey,” we laugh. “Look at him out there. As happy as evil can be. I love that for him. Tea
