Violet Ashes: The Blood Ridge Alpha - Chapter 74: Chapter 74

Alpha Barnes glares at my Bentley when I pull into his garage. His men are all over it. I should probably get rid of the car. All it did was piss me off more than I already was. He doesn't say anything as I walk past everyone to head into his office without saying a word.
"Drink?" he asks. I nod and sit down. His scent fills the room, and it's calming the trembling I feel in my bones. He sets the drink down beside me and crouches in front of me. "You look like hell, Moonlight. All you have to do is tell me who to kill and I'll do it."
I cup his face, needing the skin-to-skin contact. I pull away and reach for the drink. He did that to his own son. Whatever love was left for him is now gone. That man is not my father. He is officially another obstacle in my way. I toss back the whiskey in a single drink and let it burn down to my stomach. I feel like hitting something.
Beverly is pacing. She hasn't stopped since those words left my brother's lips. I can still see that scar every time I close my eyes. I tried my best not to let it ruin our reconciliation, but fuck. How could he do that? He's such a coward. A stain on our family.
"I-"
Before I can get a word out, Arsenial grabs a fistful of my hair and pulls my head back. His lips crash hard against mine. I don't question it. The pull of our mating has been demanding more from the moment we met.
When he tries to pull away, I wrap my arms around him to keep him close. He smiles, lifting me out of the chair. I hear some stuff fall as he sits me on his desk. One of his massive hands slips under my blouse in the back while the other holds us up.
I can easily say that I've never been kissed like this before. Kissing has never been one of my favorite things to do physically. It felt too intimate, even when I thought I was in love. It never caught my attention, but this... this is making me wish I had more practice. His taste, how rough and desperate he is. The feeling is mutual for the first time in my life, and I want more.
"Oop,"
I pull away at the sound of someone's voice. He growls lowly and turns to see who the idiot is that just walked in.
"What the fuck. Do you want?" he asks angrily.
"We have a problem, sir," the guy says, clearing his throat. I push him back a bit so I can fix my clothes.
"Go, I can wait," I reassure him. He pinches my chin, making me look up at him. His pupils are huge as he looks me over.
"Don't leave," he leans in, brushing his lips against mine. "Please."
I nod, and he reluctantly pulls away to follow after his guy. I clear my throat and hop off the desk. I start picking up everything he pushed off. I don't mean to, but I end up being nosy. I dig around his drawers to find some sticky notes.
I note down how I think he should handle some of this information, organizing it by date and prioritizing what I consider most important. When he comes in, maybe an hour later, I look up at him and set the pen I found down. I press my lips together as he locks the door behind him this time.
"You're behind four days on pack work," I remind him. "I helped."
"You helped?" he asks. He lifts me off his chair so he can sit and pulls me onto his lap. He reviews some of the things I wrote down while I sit back, trying not to think about today and more about that kiss.
"You're really good at this," he says, wrapping his arms around my waist. He inhales deeply a few times. "I've missed you, Moonlight."
"You saw me this morning," I laugh. He growls lowly and sits back, running his hands down my body to get me to rest on him.
"Do you want to talk about your day?"
"Not particularly. It all went downhill as soon as I left the LT Tower."
"Anything I can help you with?" he asks, sliding his hand under my blouse again. My body is responding to his touch.
"Your mother comes from a pack that specializes in blood bonds, right?" I ask.
"Mhm," he hums when he pulls my bra up to get to my breasts.
"Do you think you can help me find information on how to break a bond between two alphas?" I ask. He stops and pulls his hands out from under my shirt. I groan because I didn't want him to stop.
"What the fuck do you want to know that for?" he asks, pushing me off him. I reach for my bra, not sure why he's getting upset.
"Why are you mad?" I ask him.
"Why do you want to know how to break a bond between two alphas?" he demands.
It hits me why he's so upset all of a sudden, and I sigh, getting myself back together. It's starting to feel like there is going to be a whole lot of miscommunication issues between us until I stop being such a fucking coward, but I'm not ready to share this information with everyone yet. It's selfish, but I want to have him to myself for a bit.
"Arsen-"
"What are you doing here?" he asks.
"You sent me your location. I thought I was invited. Can you calm the fuck down for a moment? This is important. I need your help. If you don't want to help me, say so. I can look somewhere else." I reach for my phone. He snatches it before I can get to it. I look up at him, annoyed that he doesn't seem to learn that literally everything I own is replaceable. "Okay?"
"Why do you want to know if a bond between two alphas can be broken? We're not even mated yet, and you're what? Looking for a contingency plan?"
"I'm going to let this one go, because your reaction is mainly my fault," I push my hair out of my face. "I told you from the start that I have no intention of rejecting you. You belong to me. There is no one else and there will never be anyone else."
"Then what the fuck do you need that information for?" he wraps his hand around my throat and pulls me to him. "Hmm?"
I place my hands on his arm. I can't believe I'm going to tell him this because I'm not only betraying my brother, but myself. Honestly, I really have no one to talk to about this, and maybe this will soften him up on the whole wanting to kill my brother, his mate. They have to make up eventually.
"Hey," he removes his hand to flatten it against my chest. "Tell me what's wrong."
"It's Vince," I whisper. He reaches down to grab my thighs and lifts me effortlessly to make me straddle him. "My fvck-tard of a father marked him with a blood oath. If we kill him, my brother dies with him.
"I know you hate him, but he doesn't deserve this. His whole life, he's been manipulated and abused by this animal. I want to free him. He's a good person trapped in a fucked situation. I am going to kill my father, but I need to break that blood oath.
"I see the struggle in him. I can feel it. He's drowning, and the closer that man gets to becoming feral, the more Vince is going down with him. I'm sorry that I'm constantly fucking this up," I cup his face so he knows I mean it. "Messing things up is kind of a superpower of mine. I have to do things the hard way or I'll die of boredom."