Her Broken Alpha - Isoellen Page 0,63

in charge said, "there are two men at the door. They say they have information on the black robes."

Darre frowned. It wasn't the first time someone had come to his front door peddling information in exchange for credits or favors. But it was odd they came with just the information Darre was seeking.

"Has Mac requested a meeting? Or Seta?"

"No, Alpha."

"Any updates from either of them?"

"No, Alpha."

Darre felt the fine hairs on the back of his neck raise. There it was again—that sense of a shit storm looming. Of someone else trying to set him up, plan behind his back, and change the game.

While he loved to stalk and torment his prey—drag out the hunt until he exhausted the enemy—he did not like the feeling of being preyed upon. He was not any bastard's prey.

"Send a runner. Have them go all the usual places. Announce a fight tomorrow. I challenge my Alpha Mac, Alpha Seta, Alpha Berandal, Louis the Scribe, and any-fuckin'-body who thinks they are gonna knock me out of my tower. Those two outside want to talk to me, they can talk to me in the pit. Make sure they have directions on how to get there.”

Darre watched the guards’ faces as he issued his challenge. By morning, everyone in Sector 2 would have heard the news. Only the worst kind of breed ran from an open pit challenge. To not meet Darre would earn a brand of cowardice with a bounty anyone could cash in on.

It was one of the few laws in the sector, meshing so well with the primal instinct of alpha males that no one fought it or questioned it. Fighting was how breed alphas established dominance. It was in their biology. Trying to avoid it meant you were not an alpha. Not a man.

Louis the Scribe, wherever he was, would also feel the pressure. His name had been well-known enough that he had a reputation to uphold, even if he was only a beta. He had a significant position with the black robes. Alpha or not, failing to face Darre would put a bounty on his head and brand him as weak.

Darre was not going to play by someone else's rules of subterfuge and deceit. He played only by his: tooth and claw, flesh and bone, face to face, might makes right. The monster of Sector 2 was the top alpha.

It was time to remind people.

Chapter Sixteen

Naya

Naya felt Monster before she saw him. He was a force of nature, the daunting power and inherent sensuality of his presence lighting her up before he'd even opened the door, and startling the poor drones into freezing like prey caught in his claws.

He filled up the doorway, blocking the only exit, a wall of muscle who had to duck to enter the room. Though he’d only been gone for a short while, she'd forgotten his size, the burning intensity of his black eyes, and the shape of his lips.

He overwhelmed her, made a tingling shiver go down her spine and pool in the cradle of her belly. Forced to stay in this stifling room all day and use a bucket as a toilet, Naya wanted to be angry with him, but instead her being filled with delight and admiration.

His features were blunt, his jaw cut, chin sharp and jutting to accommodate the extra size of his teeth, which only added to his beastly appearance. He had heavy eyebrows set over dark eyes and a broad forehead under his too-long wavy hair. His overall appearance was far from human—he was large, and so well-muscled she could see the ropey veins beneath his skin. There was no mistaking him for anything but alpha breed.

He was the most beautiful male she had ever seen.

The drones didn't feel the same way. The two silent girls, Ann and Nor, dropped the plates of food they'd been holding and scrambled into the far corner of the room upon seeing him.

Sara froze, eyes locked on the floor, hands shaking. Young Tee's eyes went glassy and brimmed with tears.

Naya wondered if all alphas affected them this way, or if it was just her alpha. She planned to send them away, but before she could open her mouth, Monster had her in his arms and was carrying her out of the room.

He manhandled her as if she were a child who always wanted to be picked up. She squawked at him, a ridiculous sound that came out before she could stop it.

"Monster, please. Put me down!”