Bought By The Beast

ress was borrowed, and I was about

't be measured by men with money. She died six mo

hrough the underground hall. "Rielle Morven. Twe

e black dress they'd poured me into clung to every curve, barely covering wh

st not for the reasons

nd power. Alphas and nobles gathered in the shadows,

e

ifty thousand," the

d in the back.

arching for the one face that mattered. The one Alpha who had held my

er

night when he whispered forever and I was foolish enough to believe him. The man who went sile

thousand," so

d the dar

-fif

ething inside me went quiet. Kieran was

omplete

ndred t

er of the room and hit the air like

t silent. Not

toward

for him. Even from across the hall, I could see he was massive... six-five at least, with shoulders that cou

ed into

an A

ted one. I knew the way their dominance press

mething els

hadn't quite cooled. His face was all sharp angles and brutal beauty. He wore a suit that probably

dress, not at the skin the dress reve

bidder countered, try

ps curved. It was not a

mill

oom e

don't

h the chaos like a blade. He was not

either a decision nor an interest. It was the expression of a ma

fer. Anyo

ll like a

d. "S... s... sold. Lot

me like he was handing someone a loa

e my brain could object, toward this man who had

something underneath that I had no name for. Something that

s not

cogniz

f," I said. My voice

n. He was not surprised. It was as if he

face up. The touch was precise... not rough, but absolute. "I'm rather what werewolves tell sto

ed against the

ielle. I know you more

ot you

atement delivered with the same certainty as gravity

re in

the thin fabric. "But I'm also the only thing standing between you and a dozen Alphas who woul

y insane, and definitely

and used until something inside me stopped working. At least wit

I could n

id. "But if

. "I know. Now walk with me befo

water before a ship. No one spoke. No one mov

e exit when someone s

er

ough his collar, his eyes wild with so

le, w

e dropped into a regis

father forced me.

ov

y girlfr

s coming. "I was your girlfriend. Right up until you l

ee. He was weak. Not cruel, not evil. Just weak. The kind of weak that lets terrible things

fix this. I'll

ed faster t

he was pinned against the wall with Caspia

Paid for. And if you ever come near her again..." His grip tightened. Kieran choked. "...I wil

rantically, fac

ieran hit the floor an

ed back to me, ad

ea

e, threatened murder without raising his voice, and was now

are

ehind his eyes, som

answer. For now, I'm the man keeping y

ered h

d we stepped

d water. A black SUV waited a

me to, but because every other d

n beside me. T

ack behind me. Not around me, he was

ment, neither

, and in the shifting streetli

ow, private. "How long has it been

n't a

gh two years with Kieran, through the months of my mother's illness, through the years before th

ched. A muscle in

't throwing out a game, he was just someone alr

d to my thigh. Hea

have push

let it

disappeared, and the road