The Alpha's Gamble - Chapter 23: Chapter 23
You are reading The Alpha's Gamble, Chapter 23: Chapter 23. Read more chapters of The Alpha's Gamble.
MADELINE
Hot, bothered, flustered, and fucked. That about sums up my state of mind right now.
Two maids came to clear the table, and Jack stood, pulling out my mother’s chair, and she wrapped her hand around his bicep. My back stiffened when my mother sent me a warning glare before strutting into the house with Jack on her side. Did she know that she was like his fifth girl? Women had come and gone from the mansion like bad staff; they always the pack after Jack ended things with them, all but one who was now married with two kids and living her best life on the corner of the Obsidian pack.
I peeked in through the doors to see if Noah was in there, and then I shamefully tapped into the pack bond to sense him, but it was blocked. All I could tell was that he was in the house.
Another scent brushed through the hallway and out on the terrace. It shook my spine and turned my stomach into a rumbling racket, but I stood firm.
His face appeared from around the corner, and Landon stopped mid-step, turned around, and locked eyes with me. A dark and playful glint danced in his eyes, the tussles on the carpet flattened under his feet as he strode toward me, and he pulled his hand out of his pockets.
“It’s been a while. Glad to see you’re up on your feet again.” I admit it took me by surprise when Landon stopped a few steps away. I don’t know what I expected, but some obscene comment or overly touchy approach was on the list.
His foot shifted like he was keeping himself back, and he fell another step.
But whatever it was that was keeping him at bay did not reach his eyes- he was still watching me like a predator and there was a nasty pride across his face, twisting his features- and I knew exactly what it was. He was playing the sex tape in his head, hearing my moans and watching my ass he fucked me against the wall, the dickface was probably getting turned on by the thought of releasing it to everyone.
My legs turned stiff when he walked closer, one slow step followed by another until there was little air between us.
“We’ve known each other for a long time. I don’t want things to be weird between us. Can I have a hug?” he reached out his arms, and I swallowed past the lump of anxiety in my throat while keeping the death glare.
“What am I saying?” he chuckled and closed the distance between us. “Of course I can.” he lifted my arms around and wrapped his around my waist, bending down until my nose brushed his shoulder, and I inhaled a familiar scent. Not his. I relaxed against him, my thin crust of confidence withering away with each breath, and I turned my head, pressed my nose against his neck, and inhaled. You know when you smell something, perfume or a flower, or even a candle, and it invokes a memory? Well, that memory started playing when I smelled the female fragrance on his skin; every time Tilly and I would go to a party or pack event, that was the perfume she wore. She said it was like catnip to men- that some had even tried to lick it off her. Landon unhooked his arms and stepped back; he looked like how I imagined the devil would when he greeted me in hell. That same grin and soulless apathy, the joy over the torture about to be inflicted, knowing I couldn’t run.
“Is something wrong, love?”
That posh accent makes me envy the deaf is what my dad would always say. I didn’t mind it, in fact, it made me melt every time Landon spoke, and it was a big part of why I always went back to him every time we broke up. He would do horrendous things, but then he would speak, the words would fall from his tongue like a sexy, loving poem, and I would melt into a puddle at his feet.
But those were just memories, not to say I still didn’t find his accent charming, but luckily, now I could see the person that the accent belonged to, and it didn’t do anything for me anymore.
“No, everything is great,” I lied and smiled.
There was a passing moment of doubt in his eyes, but then he saw something on my face that made my words fall into the lie they were.
“I’m glad. Come,” he said and gestured to the house. “I want to show you something.”
Oh no, I’m not walking anywhere with that hellhound.
I stepped inside but immediately deterred down the hallway that led to the stairs.
A throbbing pain pounded in my arm, and I looked at Landon’s fingers digging into my skin.
“Wrong way, princess.” He said darkly. I had to swallow the rush of my stomach content when he pinched my chin and stared into my eyes. The flush in my face wasn’t from heat, it was the anger with which I wanted to grab a kitchen knife and jam it into his neck.
“Or have you forgotten that I own you?” he whispered huskily. Calmly. Too calmly.
Forgotten? How the fuck could I ever forget that my ass was tied to his. My reputation was never polished or something to brag about, but despite everything I’d done and things that had been done to me, it was never tarnished because I had a goal that required me to keep my hands clean.
But right now I’m contemplating throwing that all away and living as a rogue after the pack banishes me for murder on this asshole.
“Fine,” I spat and walked after him.
Landon let go of my arm first when we were standing outside the house, rounding the corner to a cut downfield by the east border where the warriors would train combat. Then Timber Pack would loan us their best warriors for educational purposes, and walking down the asphalted path, I could smell them, the testosterone and musky filth of the pack I burned.
A tension in my leg had me stopping along the way. The leg was almost completely healed now, and I could feel the last few nerves mending together and the crack of the bones moving against each other to stick back into place.
Taking the lead through the crowd of sweaty warriors, Landon pushed past them, and eventually, they all stepped aside to let us pass. I had worked out with them several times, it was by far the best feeling in the world when the sweat built up and a burning heat consumed my body from exhaustion as I dodged a hit and blood spilled with another.
The agility and ferocity with which these warriors trained were remarkable, but the best one was Freya Dom- after two years in the Auburn Academy, she returned and immediately took the role of an Elite, training and leading the others into battle.
I was too preoccupied watching her teach the techniques in close combat that I missed that first whiff of a familiar scent, but when the warriors shifted in their spots, all of them standing in formation and straightening their backs in unison, the scent wafted toward me again, and this time I caught it. The walls around my throat contracted, a lump formed preventing the air from passing through, and a stabbing pain etched itself onto my chest like the thorns of a rose puncturing my heart.
The aura of power that always surrounded him when he was among the pack members choked me in an instant, and he greeted everyone with a smile and a handshake. A parted crowd suddenly showed his face, and he turned his head, his eyes locked on mine, and I fell back a step and felt the last shard of my bones locking in place.
“Dad,” I gasped.
Hot, bothered, flustered, and fucked. That about sums up my state of mind right now.
Two maids came to clear the table, and Jack stood, pulling out my mother’s chair, and she wrapped her hand around his bicep. My back stiffened when my mother sent me a warning glare before strutting into the house with Jack on her side. Did she know that she was like his fifth girl? Women had come and gone from the mansion like bad staff; they always the pack after Jack ended things with them, all but one who was now married with two kids and living her best life on the corner of the Obsidian pack.
I peeked in through the doors to see if Noah was in there, and then I shamefully tapped into the pack bond to sense him, but it was blocked. All I could tell was that he was in the house.
Another scent brushed through the hallway and out on the terrace. It shook my spine and turned my stomach into a rumbling racket, but I stood firm.
His face appeared from around the corner, and Landon stopped mid-step, turned around, and locked eyes with me. A dark and playful glint danced in his eyes, the tussles on the carpet flattened under his feet as he strode toward me, and he pulled his hand out of his pockets.
“It’s been a while. Glad to see you’re up on your feet again.” I admit it took me by surprise when Landon stopped a few steps away. I don’t know what I expected, but some obscene comment or overly touchy approach was on the list.
His foot shifted like he was keeping himself back, and he fell another step.
But whatever it was that was keeping him at bay did not reach his eyes- he was still watching me like a predator and there was a nasty pride across his face, twisting his features- and I knew exactly what it was. He was playing the sex tape in his head, hearing my moans and watching my ass he fucked me against the wall, the dickface was probably getting turned on by the thought of releasing it to everyone.
My legs turned stiff when he walked closer, one slow step followed by another until there was little air between us.
“We’ve known each other for a long time. I don’t want things to be weird between us. Can I have a hug?” he reached out his arms, and I swallowed past the lump of anxiety in my throat while keeping the death glare.
“What am I saying?” he chuckled and closed the distance between us. “Of course I can.” he lifted my arms around and wrapped his around my waist, bending down until my nose brushed his shoulder, and I inhaled a familiar scent. Not his. I relaxed against him, my thin crust of confidence withering away with each breath, and I turned my head, pressed my nose against his neck, and inhaled. You know when you smell something, perfume or a flower, or even a candle, and it invokes a memory? Well, that memory started playing when I smelled the female fragrance on his skin; every time Tilly and I would go to a party or pack event, that was the perfume she wore. She said it was like catnip to men- that some had even tried to lick it off her. Landon unhooked his arms and stepped back; he looked like how I imagined the devil would when he greeted me in hell. That same grin and soulless apathy, the joy over the torture about to be inflicted, knowing I couldn’t run.
“Is something wrong, love?”
That posh accent makes me envy the deaf is what my dad would always say. I didn’t mind it, in fact, it made me melt every time Landon spoke, and it was a big part of why I always went back to him every time we broke up. He would do horrendous things, but then he would speak, the words would fall from his tongue like a sexy, loving poem, and I would melt into a puddle at his feet.
But those were just memories, not to say I still didn’t find his accent charming, but luckily, now I could see the person that the accent belonged to, and it didn’t do anything for me anymore.
“No, everything is great,” I lied and smiled.
There was a passing moment of doubt in his eyes, but then he saw something on my face that made my words fall into the lie they were.
“I’m glad. Come,” he said and gestured to the house. “I want to show you something.”
Oh no, I’m not walking anywhere with that hellhound.
I stepped inside but immediately deterred down the hallway that led to the stairs.
A throbbing pain pounded in my arm, and I looked at Landon’s fingers digging into my skin.
“Wrong way, princess.” He said darkly. I had to swallow the rush of my stomach content when he pinched my chin and stared into my eyes. The flush in my face wasn’t from heat, it was the anger with which I wanted to grab a kitchen knife and jam it into his neck.
“Or have you forgotten that I own you?” he whispered huskily. Calmly. Too calmly.
Forgotten? How the fuck could I ever forget that my ass was tied to his. My reputation was never polished or something to brag about, but despite everything I’d done and things that had been done to me, it was never tarnished because I had a goal that required me to keep my hands clean.
But right now I’m contemplating throwing that all away and living as a rogue after the pack banishes me for murder on this asshole.
“Fine,” I spat and walked after him.
Landon let go of my arm first when we were standing outside the house, rounding the corner to a cut downfield by the east border where the warriors would train combat. Then Timber Pack would loan us their best warriors for educational purposes, and walking down the asphalted path, I could smell them, the testosterone and musky filth of the pack I burned.
A tension in my leg had me stopping along the way. The leg was almost completely healed now, and I could feel the last few nerves mending together and the crack of the bones moving against each other to stick back into place.
Taking the lead through the crowd of sweaty warriors, Landon pushed past them, and eventually, they all stepped aside to let us pass. I had worked out with them several times, it was by far the best feeling in the world when the sweat built up and a burning heat consumed my body from exhaustion as I dodged a hit and blood spilled with another.
The agility and ferocity with which these warriors trained were remarkable, but the best one was Freya Dom- after two years in the Auburn Academy, she returned and immediately took the role of an Elite, training and leading the others into battle.
I was too preoccupied watching her teach the techniques in close combat that I missed that first whiff of a familiar scent, but when the warriors shifted in their spots, all of them standing in formation and straightening their backs in unison, the scent wafted toward me again, and this time I caught it. The walls around my throat contracted, a lump formed preventing the air from passing through, and a stabbing pain etched itself onto my chest like the thorns of a rose puncturing my heart.
The aura of power that always surrounded him when he was among the pack members choked me in an instant, and he greeted everyone with a smile and a handshake. A parted crowd suddenly showed his face, and he turned his head, his eyes locked on mine, and I fell back a step and felt the last shard of my bones locking in place.
“Dad,” I gasped.
End of The Alpha's Gamble Chapter 23. Continue reading Chapter 24 or return to The Alpha's Gamble book page.