It irritated me, driving me to call him out.
“You’re a liar,” I said. “You don’t hate the way I smell.”
He gave me a wry smile. “Oh, I do. Just not for the reasons you’d think.”
He left before I could demand an explanation. I squeezed my thighs together, ignored the slight ache in my stomach, and popped pieces of cut fruit into my mouth to fuel myself for whatever the day was going to bring.
* * *
“He’s just… engrossed in it? And you don’t even know what he’s doing?” I asked.
I was peering into Leighton’s office, which had been thoroughly taken over by Dash. We hadn’t delved into the difficult conversations yet. My bondmate was deep in conversation with Liberty and had taken the call into her bedroom to gain some privacy.
“That’s about right,” Ambrose said. “He gets like this.”
Dash’s fingers moved like lightning on that keyboard, typing away. He hadn’t acknowledged us even though we were talking about him.
I moved out of the doorway, wandering over to the couch and sitting on the side opposite Ambrose. Mercury was sitting on the armchair with a scowl. Its intensity made my skin grow hot, because I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do.
He didn’t like me.
It didn’t matter, did it?
Leighton was my alpha, and she wasn’t in his pack no matter how wound up we were getting with all of them.
“What do you think he’s doing?” I asked, referring to Dash again.
“If I know anything about Dash, he’s making sure Leighton never gets arrested again. Using whatever means necessary,” Mercury said.
Leighton, finished with her phone call, came to sit beside me and passed me a bottle of water. Her body was angled to keep me mostly out of sight of the other alphas.
This was why Mercury disliking me didn’t matter. We were both too possessive, our instincts screaming at us. Trying to include a pack in this bond would only end in flames.
It was irrelevant how I kept thinking about the sounds Ambrose had forced out of Leighton. The begging. The moans. I wanted to know what she’d looked like in those moments, and a part of me wanted to see if he could make me cry out with the same intensity.
“Do you mean, like, illegal means?” I asked.
“Hacking isn’t legal,” Ambrose confirmed.
I nibbled on my bottom lip.
My family did illegal things all the time. I hadn’t been exposed to much of it. I wasn’t allowed to leave the confines of the house, except on rare and wonderful occasions.
One time, I’d been to the beach. Another, Mother and I had gone on a short walk through a park. Both times had been after I’d shown success in one of my tasks. I’d played piano flawlessly in front of Father’s business associates. I’d aced an etiquette test my tutor had given me.
Even then, I’d known I was being rewarded with scraps.
But it was all I had.
Considering the dark bond situation, I was aware not all of my world views were accurate. My father had wanted me to believe what he believed, and there were some things I’d thought couldn’t possibly be false. Like dangerous omegas getting dark bonded.
I wasn’t sure how to feel about Dash doing something illegal.
Then again, stabbing was illegal and I’d done that.
A sharp laugh came from Leighton’s office, followed by the chair rolling across the floor and footsteps. Dash appeared in the doorway, a tooth-baring grin on his face. “I fucking found it,” he said.
Everyone stared at him.
