by T. S. Joyce
Levi stood slowly and leveled him a glare. “It’s not me trying to piss you off, Cassian. It’s an observation. You are privileged to share a meeting with the Omega. Do you understand that? Privileged. When you speak to her, you only speak in truths or you lose that privilege.”
“Mmm, or what, pup? I have to deal with Grey? Who isn’t even here? Who doesn’t care about his Omega enough to offer her the protection of the Black Wolf?”
“No, you won’t have to deal with Grey.” His tone was drenched with dark honesty as he said, “You wouldn’t live that long.”
“It’s six wolves versus you.” Cassian cocked his eyebrow. “What’s your name again? Levi, was it?”
“You’re right,” Levi murmured. “It’s not really fair, six against one. I can wait until you bring more reinforcements if you’d like.”
“You can’t be—”
Levi slammed a steak knife into the table, right between two of Cassian’s fingers with so much power, the knife buried to the hilt and shook when he released the handle. He’d moved so fast he’d been a blur Marissa’s mind couldn’t even comprehend.
Oh. Shit. Okay, Levi was seriously dangerous now.
“My patience is very thin tonight. Truth only,” Levi demanded.
Cassian’s pack surged forward, but the alpha held out his hand. “Wait! It’s fine.” The fury in his crystal blue wolf eyes said it definitely wasn’t fine. “We’re in the presence of the Omega.” Whooo, his voice sounded snarly right now. He sat down slowly and nodded to his pack. “Sit down, boys.”
He blinked slowly and blew out a breath for a three count, then dragged his furious gaze back to Marissa. “I didn’t hear about the vampires from pack rumors.”
“Then how did you hear about them?”
“A she-wolf named Alexis with the Denver pack. She was the one who suggested an alliance.”
Alexis? Holy. Fuck. It had been so long since she’d heard that evil bitch’s name.
“She’s not trustworthy.”
“Have you spoken to her in the last half a decade?” Cassian asked.
“Nope.”
“Then how do you know? I know you and your friends had problems with her, but people change. She’s mated to Jonathan Reeves now. She seems steady. I did my research on her as a source, of course.”
“Why didn’t you just say that in the beginning then?” Levi asked coolly.
“Because I knew you had problems with her. I was afraid you would shut down my proposal immediately.”
“We didn’t have a problem with her,” Marissa told him. “She was the entire problem. She tried to kill Morgan but Turned her instead. She is a Silver Wolf because of Alexis’s assassination attempt. The fallout from her evil deeds have haunted the people I love for years. Morgan has been kidnapped and stalked and put in danger more than you can imagine, and Grey? My alpha? He bleeds every week to keep us safe. We are always targeted. Never once was there an apology from Alexis. She is what she is, Cassian. She’s the most dangerous person to put any trust in. I’m sorry you have wasted your time with this meeting.”
Marissa moved to stand, but he rushed out, “Then tell me I’m wrong. Tell me there is no threat to your pack from vampires. Tell me what Alexis said was a lie.”
Marissa wanted to run. She wanted to get in Levi’s hummer and go back to the hotel and not hear another word this alpha said.
But…
The bite on her arm was still burning from where it had opened up a half hour ago. And the vision of all those dead, drained Silver Wolves in the killing field was still fresh in her mind. They had looked too much like Morgan and left Marissa rocked to her bones.
“If we have to face the vampires, we will do it on our terms.”
“You could use allies. For the cost of a mating bond, you could keep the people you love safe. Please…just…think about it. I’ll be in town a few days, waiting for your call.”
Marissa nodded jerkily. “I’ll think about it.” She walked out. Let them enjoy their dinner, her presence wasn’t needed. She was just a contract, right? He didn’t even know her, and he wanted to bond to her? Wanted her to be his mate? That was a permanent thing. Wolves bonded, and that was that.
For the simple price of a loveless life, she could secure protection for her pack.
“You need more than them,” Levi said from behind her.
She didn’t answer. She couldn’t breathe and wanted to get outside and drag fresh air into her panicked lungs.
“You need more than them,” Levi repeated as he followed her out the front door. “I know you’re thinking about it.”
“You don’t know me anymore,” she gritted out.
“Marissa!” He gripped her elbow and spun her. His eyes were fire and ice as he searched her face. “If you’re going to sell your mating bond, you better throw out a better negotiation than ‘I’ll think about it.’”
“What?”
Levi swallowed hard. “We need more than just Louisiana. If you consider his offer, you go into it swinging. You ask for the moon, and you don’t budge until he drags that moon out of the sky and puts it in your lap.”
“What are you talking about?”
“He has the biggest pack in the south and connections to every state around us.”
“How do you know all this?” she whispered.
“I know everything about every pack.”
What the hell? There were too many packs to keep up with.
“He’s had meetings with Oklahoma, Arkansas, Florida, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Kansas, you name it. Cassian has his hands in everything. If you actually…fuck.” He ran his hands through his hair and gave her his back. “If you’re actually considering this, you need to ask for the fealty of every ally he has and see what he can do.”
She felt stung. Betrayed. “You just kissed me in there, and now you’re okay with me considering a meaningless mating bond to another man?”
“Not meaningless.” His voice had hollowed out. “If it keeps you safe, it’s not meaningless.”
She shoved him. She couldn’t help it, but anger blasted through her veins.
He turned slowly with his teeth bared. “Don’t.”
When she shoved him again hard, he took a couple steps back, angled his head down, and exposed his neck, but it was a lie. She could feel him. Feel his monstrous wolf. Feel the air thickening around him in a fog of rage.
Marissa jammed a finger at him. “You said I was safe with you.”
“Yeah? And what can I give you, Marissa? The protection of my body? It’s yours. It was always yours. Cassian can give you the protection of a hundred bodies.”
Stupid tears welling up in her eyes. They burned, and she blinked hard to keep them in as she marched out the door and to the empty valet stand. “You played with my head,” she whispered as he followed her close. “You’re different now. You know how to play with minds.”
Levi shook his head, and she could hear it—that low growl in his throat he was trying to tame. “I’m here to do a job.” Oh, the empty echo in his voice. “I keep you safe, and in return, my animal feels steady. It’s a symbiotic relationship, Marissa. You continue to exist, and I can control the wolf.”
She didn’t understand. She didn’t understand anything, not when so much was happening. Vampires, Cassian, pack alliances that depended on her…and Levi. Her feelings for Levi.
A valet jogged around the corner of the building. “Are you ready for your Hummer already?” he asked through a grin. “No one leaves before trying the steak here. Your lady looks upset. Trouble in paradise? A good steak can fix anything.”
He wore an open smile and was only teasing, but there was a soft, barely audible, growl in Levi’s throat. He handed the man his claim ticket. “The lady wanted to stay. I wasn’t much in the mood for steak tonight.”
So smoothly he cast the blame on himself. The valet couldn’t even tease her about fleeing the restaurant because of Levi’s excuse.
And it
hit her how many times he’d done that before. This was just him. How many times had she done or said something that embarrassed her when they were younger, and he picked up immediately and dragged the attention to him so she could slink back into invisibility? Invisibility was her favorite comfort blanket, and when it slipped when they were kids, he’d always known just how to secure it back in place for her. She’d always thought it strange, but maybe it was him secretly telling her he cared.
She thought, in this moment, Levi was probably the one who had understood her the most, and she’d never realized it until it was too late. Until he was too different to match her. Until he was lost. Her limbs felt heavy as she climbed up into his Hummer and buckled up. It was quiet, no conversation, no radio.
“You know,” he said, breaking the silence. “No matter what you decide, I’ll still be here.”
“In this Hummer?” she asked.
He snorted. “Yeah, right here, driving around Dallas, cursing every streetlight. I meant I’ll be here for you.”
“Is that before or after you challenge Grey for our pack?”
His lip twitched, and he went quiet again.
Back at the hotel, he led her through the lobby and toward the elevators but then stopped so fast she nearly ran into the back of him.
Grey was sitting on a bench near the elevator, elbows on his knees, hair mussed, bright gold eyes trained on her.
“Hey,” she murmured, stabbing her heels into the carpet faster as she tried to jog for him. “Are you okay?”
“Are you okay?” he asked instead of answering.
“Oh, I’m just great.” If she ignored the vampire visions, bleeding arm, confusion over wanting Levi’s boy parts, the kiss that fucked her mind, and Cassian’s romance-less proposal. Everything was going swell.
“Good. I need to speak to Levi,” Grey murmured.
“Kick his ass,” she muttered. She hit the elevator button and arched her eyebrows at Levi.
“Thanks a lot,” he said with a frown.
The elevator dinged, and the doors opened. Marissa did a little curtsy before she disappeared inside.
Whatever Levi was up to, Grey was a wise wolf with solid instincts.
She watched the glowing floor numbers increasing. 3…4…
But…what if Grey fought him?
What if he’d figured out Levi was a traitor taking over his pack? 5…6…
What if he challenged him right there in the hotel hallway?
What if he killed him?
I keep you safe, and in return, my animal feels steady.
With shaking fingers, she fumbled for her phone and typed out a text as fast as she could to Grey. Don’t hurt him. Send.
She understood what Levi had meant. If he didn’t exist, she didn’t think she would be okay either.
Not after the kiss that had brought her back.
Chapter Six
Levi sighed as the elevator door closed.
He could live to be three hundred years old and would never understand women.
“I got a call from Cassian,” Grey told him.
“We just left Cassian fifteen minutes ago. That’s not enough time for you to make the trip out here.” Levi took the seat next to Grey and frowned at the elevator. Okay, so Marissa was mad. Or not? But teasing a little. And she smelled angry. Or sad?
“Ha. Busted. I was already headed here. I took Cassian’s call in my truck. So, an alliance, huh? He wants Marissa as a mate?”
Levi couldn’t take his eyes from the damn elevator. She was probably upstairs slipping out of her dress right now. Unzipping it slowly…
“Levi! Are you listening to a word I’m saying?”
“Oh, yep. Cassian definitely wants her as his little trophy.” Rage burned through him at the thought. Should’ve killed that asshole, his wolf enlightened him for the twentieth time since they’d left the restaurant.
“I’m surprised he still has his head,” Grey muttered.
“Marissa took it surprisingly well.” He nearly choked on the growl in his throat.
“I wasn’t talking about Marissa.”
Levi rested back against the wall and stretched his leg out from the bench seat. “Grey, what do you want me to say? She got an offer better than one I could ever give her.”
Grey belted out a laugh. “God, you’re even dumber than I was at your age.”
“Shut up. None of this is funny.”
“Did you tell her what you did?”
Levi shook his head slowly, staring straight ahead at the shiny gold crisscross pattern on the wallpaper. This hotel was fancy as hell.
“You didn’t tell her anything?”
“I told her I trained to take over your pack, and she got pissed. I think.” Then he’d kissed her and she’d melted against him so he’d gotten all confused.
“You didn’t tell her why?”
Levi shrugged up a shoulder. “No point.”
“When Morgan was pregnant with Thorne, she got really quiet. Her emotions swung wide, and the more her belly grew, the more she closed off from me and the more I gave her space. I got quiet, too. I didn’t understand, so I just…” Grey kicked at a diamond pattern in the carpet with the toe of his boot. “I got quiet right along with her. Focused on fighting to keep her and my pup safe. She didn’t need silence, though. She didn’t need patience. Do you know what she needed?”
“What?”
“She needed me to toss her against a wall and remind her how fucking beautiful she is, round belly and all. That was a tough lesson for me to learn, but it stuck with me. And now, when she goes quiet, I know the fix. It’s not to go quiet right alongside her.” Grey turned to Levi, and his eyes flashed bright gold. “It’s to remind her who she is. Who she belongs to. Who I belong to.” He stood and winced. “Don’t let Marissa go in silence.”
“Cassian can give her more—”
“Horseshit. What can he give her? Fealty? Bodies to throw in front of the vampires? When they come, they will barrel right through a few half-loyal wolves, Levi. You and I both know that. Women like Morgan, like Marissa…they don’t need a safe bet. They’re too tough to be coddled and put in some ivory tower. They would wither there.” He clenched his teeth, and his words filled with grit. “All they need is a man who would bring hell to earth right alongside them. This story ain’t about you, and it ain’t about me, Levi. We have a job, and that job is to get them where they’re going. You think it’s some coincidence Morgan turned Silver Wolf right when we met Marissa? You think any of this clan’s rebirth is a fluke? It’s fate, man. Look at all the shit happening around us. I hear Marissa screaming in her sleep. See her hiding fresh blood on her vampire bite. See her eyes glaze over and she disappears. She means something to the vampires, but she ended up as a guardian of a Silver Wolf. Me and you? We’re their weapons. Fuck Cassian and his hollow offer.” He twitched his chin toward the elevator. “Tell her. Give her the truth and let her decide what she does with her heart.”
“If I go after her,” he murmured, “we lose all those allies.”
“Dull blades, my friend. All of them. You’re the sword. Stop forgetting who you are. I know why you did this to yourself.”
“Yeah? Why? Because sometimes I don’t even know.”
“Bullshit.”
Grey lifted his eyes to the ceiling. “It’s all for her. Let her see you.”
He didn’t like being told what to do. Didn’t like that Grey thought he knew everything about everything. “You smell like blood.”
Grey made a clicking sound behind his teeth. “I’m battle-ready. You smell like a coward.”
“I hate your fucking smile right now,” Levi muttered as he stood.
Grey’s laugh echoed down the hallway. He turned to leave, but paused. “I didn’t tell you before. Thank you.”
Levi swallowed a lump in his throat and dropped his gaze so Grey wouldn’t see how affected he was. “For what?” he murmured.
“For giving your life to protect her
. To protect us. For all the sacrifices you have and will make.”
“I learned about sacrifice from you. I always looked up to you, Grey.”
“She cares, you know.”
“How can you tell?”
Grey held up his phone, and a text from Marissa lit up the screen. Don’t hurt him.
“She sent this about ten seconds after she got in that elevator.” Grey arched his eyebrows with a knowing look and left him staring after him. Grey walked right out of the mouth of the hallway, through the hotel lobby, and out the sliding glass door without looking back.
Huh.
The elevator ride to the tenth floor was eternal. Time slowed as he pressed his keycard into the slot and opened the door.
There she sat, the girl he loved. She was on the footrest by the couch, her back to him, still all dressed up.
“I couldn’t unzip my dress on my own.”
He approached slow, tracing the curves of her slender shoulders with his eyes, fingers itching to touch her skin to see if it was as soft as it looked.
It was. A shiver trembled up her spine when he brushed her hair over one shoulder. He unzipped her slowly.
“Marissa?” he asked.
“Yes, Levi?”
Let her see you.
“I need to tell you something.”
Chapter Seven
Oh, how those words made her stomach clench. This was going to be bad. Everything was always bad.
She moved to turn around, but he gripped her shoulders and stilled her. “Let me be a coward for a minute. Just…let me say it, and then you can look at me.”
Did he realize she could see him in the reflection of the television in front of her? His blue eye shone so bright, and he looked so troubled.
“Do you remember the first time we met?”
Marissa couldn’t help her smile. “You tried to fight Grey for me and Morgan.”
He huffed a laugh. “I was a punk kid who didn’t know the first thing about my wolf, or really myself. The first time I saw you, you were a wolf. Beautiful. Cream colored with sandy brown tips. Pretty eyes. All cowered up on your belly. I didn’t know what I was doing. I was homeless, living out of my car, starving, desperate for a place to fit in. The first time I saw you in human form was at Summit that year. I knew it was you before I even asked. Your eyes were the same as your wolf’s. I couldn’t forget your eyes. You were sitting at a table talking to Morgan and Grey, and you looked uncomfortable when the males talked to you. I got this feeling that I wanted to protect you. Maybe it’s because of what you are. Omega. But I think it was more. For me, it was more. I watched you blush easy. When I saw your smile for the first time, it did something to me. You were young like me, but you were okay. And I really wanted to be okay, too. I couldn’t stop looking at you the entire Summit, but you didn’t notice me until I pledged to Dean’s pack.”