Chapter 16
Celine stayed in the restroom for as long as she could, only leaving when someone else walked in, she didn’t want to have a conversation with anyone else. She didn’t expect to be ambushed right after she stepped out; a large hand clamped around her mouth, hindering her ability to scream as she was pushed into a dark corner.
She saw the face of her assailant then and it was the red-faced drunk Beta from the last group she had a run-in with. Celine was completely sick of being assaulted by drunk men, was there something about her that screamed ‘*easy target’?* She wasn’t going to let it slide the second time, struggling with the much heavier and heavily drunk Beta.
“Don’t be like that now,” He slurred, his breath making her gag and close her eyes tight at his uncomfortable proximity. “I was the first to bid on you, you know.” He whispered like it was a honor, “Why don’t you come with me? I’ll treat you right-”
His last words sounded farther away as his weight was lifted off her, and she opened her eyes to see the very last person she ever thought she would be happy to see.
“What do we have here?” Asher asked the Beta coldly, his voice dripping with dominance. “Do we have a problem?”
Celine shrank backward, needing the wall behind her to keep her upright. She felt tears sting her eyes, *she couldn’t handle any more of this…*
Asher tossed the Beta to the side and pulled her against him and for the first time, she was grateful for that, his scent doing a lot calm her down. Her clutch purse had been abandoned at the first table so her hands were free to tightly hold onto him, a shuddering breath leaving her.
The calm settling over her shattered when Asher pulled out a gun and pointed it at the Beta, “Get the fuck up.” He ordered, seeming to only get madder as he pieced the situation together.
The Beta crawled to his feet, shivering so hard that he fell down several times, finally getting to his feet.
Asher jammed the gun down the throat of the Beta hard enough to dislodge several of his teeth, blood dripping down the sides of his mouth. “You were pretty comfortable touching what’s mine,” He said conversationally but his voice was anything but, his hazel-gold eyes alight with anger.
Celine knew then that Asher intended to pull the trigger, and the Beta knew it well too because he was crying and begging as best as he could with a gun shoved down his throat. She turned away from him when he soiled himself, hiding her face in Asher’s shoulder. *She didn’t want this, she didn’t want any of this…*
Asher was well within his rights to paint the delicate wallpaper behind with the bloody brain of the bastard but Celine trembling hard in his hold made him stop. “Shit,” He cursed under his breath, picking her up and walking off, leaving his gun in the mouth of the shitbag who immediately collapsed to the ground.
Jael had arrived at the scene at that point so he knew that the bastard would end up dead regardless but his thoughts were filled with Celine who still hid her face in his shoulder. He didn’t like the image that she had been left all alone in a party like this that was filled with animals and sleazebags, Jael knew better than that so it meant that his right-hand man had sent her to the party all alone even while knowing that.
It was still too early for him to leave but he didn’t give a shit, if he hadn’t left the private party thrown for the elite present halfway in time to get to Celine… he didn’t want to think about what could have happened.
He had left to check up on her and the very last thing he had been expecting was to find out that she had been thrown into a lion’s den all alone. She didn’t let go of him the entire time and he let her, the tension bleeding out of his muscles when she stopped trembling. He got in his car and had one of his men drive them back to his mansion.
Jael watched his Alpha leave with the Omega, Asher’s bloody gun in his hand. He leaned against one of the pillars outside the house and lit up a cigarette. If it were any other time, he would have immediately tried to stop him but he knew better.
He was at fault this time and maybe he had let his personal bias get in the way of his duty because directing the men to stay back was in no way going to prove that Celine was the spy he suspected she was.
He couldn’t leave though, because he needed to explain to the host that the VVIP of his party just stormed off in a rage because his possession had been handled roughly. Jael had also been informed of the first instance and he couldn’t help but wonder what it was about the Omega that drew danger to her like moths to a flame.
+
Celine was exhausted, too exhausted to feel self-conscious about the fact that Asher still held her although they had gotten in the car. She wanted to apologize for making him leave so early but she also wanted to cry so she just kept quiet and focused on his scent and the warmth of his body instead.
In this manner, she lulled herself to sleep, unaware of when they got back to the mansion.
Asher to her to his bedroom and ordered a maid to get her changed without disturbing her sleep, striding out again. The event was too important to completely ditch it, and he had been trying to protect Celine by not taking her to the private party but she had been put in danger anyway.
He was well aware that he was acting out of character by personally taking her back to the mansion instead of sending her off like he would have done for anyone else, but if she wasn’t different from everyone else, he wouldn’t have bought her.