Page 32 of Alpha Chained

“You had no right!” I bark, angry in a way that I can’t quite understand.

She backs away another step. She looks terrified. She should be. I can’t believe she would invade my privacy like that.

“Those are mine. My private things,” I shout.

“I’m so sorry,” she says quickly. “I…I was just…just…” She puts a hand to her throat.

“Just snooping, that’s what!” I have so little in this fucking place…and she just went ahead and delved into it.

But now her eyes are welling with tears.

“I’m really sorry, Riot! I wasn’t thinking.” She stops talking, her throat working. In the silence that follows, I hear the dripping of a faucet behind her.

Yep, definitely tears. One of them tips over her lower lid, hanging from her lashes before tumbling onto her cheek. I watch as it tracks a glistening trail over her skin.

Fuck.

I huff out a breath and sink back onto the edge of the bath. “I apologize,” I say. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“No,” she steps forward and puts a hand on my arm, “I was wrong. I shouldn’t have pried.”

My shoulders lift in a shrug. “It’s not a big deal.” It is a big deal. But not enough to attack her this way. “Just forget about it, okay?”

She runs her eyes over my face as if looking for something. “How? How have you managed to keep them? Where are they from? I mean, Parker doesn’t seem like he’d let you have anything in here.”

I shake my head. “He gives them to me.”

“Gives them to you?” She’s incredulous. “But why?”

“He has his reasons.” My voice is heavy with contempt at the thought of his fucking reasons.

“Who…who is she? The woman?”

I pause, wondering if it’s worth telling her. I’ve never spoken to anyone about this. Fuck, I’ve never spoken to anyone about anything. “Willow. My sister.”

“Your sister?” Raura’s eyes are huge. “You have a sister?”

I nod.

“And he gives you pictures of her?” Her features cloud with confusion. “But why?”

“So that I’ll know,” I say simply.

“Know what?” she presses.

“So that I’ll know that he can get to her. That he can do what he wants with her.” I keep my expression carefully schooled.

“Oh, my God.” She moves to face me, her hands on my shoulders. “My God, Riot. That’s why you do it? Why you fight?”

I nod again. “If I don’t do as he says… If I don’t kill for him… He’ll kill her.”

???

Riot

Something is different between us now. Something unspoken yet profound. When I slide beneath the covers, she joins me without question, sliding an arm over my waist and nuzzling her face into my neck.

“We need to get out of here, Riot,” she whispers almost inaudibly. Her lips move against my skin, and the sensation zings through my flesh.