Chapter 17

Jael stood at the pillar, relieved when the familiar car drove back in shy of an hour later, even better was the fact that he hadn’t been approached by the host of the event yet about his Mafia King’s whereabouts.

In the time he spent waiting for Asher’s return, he had smoked through an entire pack of cigarettes, hoping that Alpha Asher’s first words to him would be a bullet. The fact that Alpha Asher had been quick to drop everything he was doing to attend to the Omega said a lot about how much his safety was at risk.

He knew that the Mafia King had seen him the moment he stepped out of the car that brought him back but he didn’t move, strangely calm as Alpha Asher prowled over to him.

Jael winced when he was slammed against the pillar, Alpha Asher’s hand around his neck, his hard-cut rings digging into his skin hard enough to bleed.

“If you start saying the right words, I might change my mind about making your death long and drawn out.”

Jael didn’t let this approval to speak freely slide, forcing his word out of his constricted throat, the veins in his head popping from a lack of oxygen. “Celine is the Luna of Moonstone.”

That was enough to get Alpha Asher to loosen his grip, a frown on his previously outraged face. “What?”

“I did some research on her background.” Jael kept talking, knowing that his chances of surviving were still very slim. “The auctioneers admitted she was kidnapped to be sold off but further research showed her to be the Luna of Moonstone Pack, and with Mafia King Nolan’s strange interest in her, I had my suspicions.”

Asher let him go now, a deviant light in his eyes. “And what did you find?”

Jael leaned heavily on the pillar, gagging and choking as quietly as possible. “That her very unlikely story is true.”

Asher cracked up at that much to his surprise, his laughter tapering up abruptly. “Do something like this again and I’ll skin you alive with a pocket knife.”

Jael wasn’t going to take this pardon lightly, not doubting his Alpha’s words. Alpha Asher had always been a bit of an oddball, Jael couldn’t tell if it was pure instincts but the Mafia King never second-guessed himself, and always did the most unhinged things so he had to quickly learn to be at the top of his game for damage control.

“Do you want me to find out more about her old Pack?” He tentatively asked, well aware that they were still on a sensitive topic.

“No.” Alpha Asher dismissed, starting off for the private party. “I’ll ask her myself.”

Jael followed after him, that had been Alpha Asher’s exact reaction the first time he tried to warn him about the suspicious Omega and what had pushed him to take such drastic measures. He had concluded that either Celine was a crazy good actress or her story was true, he didn’t know which option had him more on edge.

+

Celine didn’t wake up till it was morning, groggy for a moment as she tried to figure out where she was. Her last memory was of her being in the car with Asher so she must have somehow slept off then if she was on his bed now.

She noted that she had been changed out of the dress that she wore the night before into a pretty nightdress, and she hoped that it had been a maid who had done it. She was wide awake but she laid back in bed, decompressing from what had happened the night before.

Every time she thought about it, she was stunned at what her life had become and it hadn’t even been a week since she left Moonstone. Her life at her former Pack had been less than stellar but getting tripped and pinched couldn’t possibly compare to actual crimes.

Being Mafia King Asher’s property was dangerous but not as dangerous as he was. It was why although she wanted nothing more than to be released so that she could start a new life somewhere very far from here, she didn’t make any efforts towards that end.

It was also hard not to notice how well Asher treated her. For someone who hadn’t hesitated to blow a stranger’s brains out for the misfortune of touching her, the fact that he had been the one to bring her back to the mansion was a big deal.

She let out a deep sigh that didn’t dispel the heaviness in her, sitting up only to notice something on the side dresser, it was a neatly folded note. Celine already picked up the note before her thoughts caught up to her actions, and she considered that maybe the note wasn’t for her.

Her name scrawled on the note quickly chased that thought away, her heart doing a strange little flip at the thought of Asher taking the time to write her a note when he could just give the message to a maid. Her excitement soured after she read through the note, learning that she would be going for a hotel launch with him that after.

It wasn’t that she wasn’t flattered that he wanted to take her along to every event he had to show up at but that her first outing with him left a bad taste in her mouth. *Why had Mafia King Asher bought her?* It definitely couldn’t be so that she could accompany him to events and parties, because there were a legion of women that would agree to that in a heartbeat. *So why…*

He had made no moves on her too and although Celine knew it was a little insane of her to think that way, she couldn’t help but wonder if she was just unappealing. After all, she had been mated for two years and her mate couldn’t even be bothered to kiss her.

Celine chased all of her pesky thoughts away, neatly refolding the note and getting out of bed. Maybe all she needed was a warm bath and a filling breakfast and her prospects would look better.