Ciao
Ciao
LINCOLN
Against my better judgement, I released my hold on Thorn’s throat, and stepped away from the temptation of his murder, allowing him to drop to the floor in a heap while he gasped and gagged, hunting for his next breath.
“Listen to me,” I said darkly, crouching down next to where he sat recovering. He blinked at me suspiciously, but as his larynx was still healing, he had nothing at all to say. “You will stay away from Ginger-” he started to shake his head, but I ignored him, casting my eyes in the direction of my office as I continued handing out my final warning “-you will stop writing her notes, you will stop trying to ambush her, and you will stop trying to rescue her from me. She. Is. Mine. And soon, I’m going to make that very, very clear. To more than just you…”
As I stood back up Reuben had finally begun to heal, the mottled handprint bruises around his neck fading away like powder in the breeze
Leaping to his feet, he growled in my direction, ”It will do no such thing! You are no longer her keeper. You have no authority over anything she does or anyone she does.” Wanna bet, Junior? ”Not anymore,” he went on, “and if she wants me-” I couldn’t help it, I dimpled choking back a laugh “-she will have me. And I will have her.”
Yeah? No. Only over my dead and rotted, buzzard pecked, burned, dismembered corpse will you ever have her, you preppy little bitch.
He glared, his chest puffing up to impersonate that of a man’s and Ghost and I laughed quietly, both of us knowing there was no reality in which Reuben Thorn was going to end up with my Strawberry and his life. Not in this universe at least.
Spying Giselle watching us from behind the kitchen door, I lost my smile, stepping forward to speak to Reuben in my most calm and collected voice. I asked him, “Are you ready?”
He frowned. “Ready for what? Ready to speak to-”
I didn’t let him finish. “Reuben Thorn, heir to the Thorn Claw Pack, heed these words as law, as is my order. I, Alpha Lincoln, do hereby rescind your invitation to reside within the borders of Silver Wolf Territory from now until the end of time. You are hereby banned from these lands, my lands, effective immediately and without delay, under penalty of death should you not comply.” His mouth gaped and I granted him just the tip of a smile. “You have twenty minutes to pack up your belongings, gather your people, and get the fuck out of my sight. Ciao.”
“Hey,” Reuben argued, “now wait a minute! Our fathers are friends. They won't be pleased hearing about this. They won’t agreewith-”
”Furthermore,” I stated, hiding my smile when I saw a sort of panic enter Reuben’s gaze. “You failed to fulfill a publicly consummated Mating Contract, a contract that your father brokered and then you broke without good cause and without compensation. Therefore, you will fine yourself the maximum allowable fee, the payout to be delivered to Giselle’s personal accounts as proof that you are making amends and are sincere in your apologies. However…even after this is done, you will remain banned from my territory. Do. You. Understand?”
Reuben’s eyes flashed orange as I grinned down at him, knowing that everything I just said was entirely in accordance with the Common Law Order—something we were made to study backways and sideways and upways and always all ways, when I was at the Academy—and that he was going to have to pay Giselle an allowance every month from this day forward until she either became mated to another, or died, and there was not a goddessdamned thing he could do to stop it besides marry her.
Reuben’s jaw pulsed, his hands fisting and causing me to grin as I allowed myself to hope that he might strike me first, leaving me free to put him through a fucken wall or two.
But…he didn’t.
Still spying from the kitchen, I caught the tail end of a grateful smile as Giselle realized the boon I had just tossed her way and I hoped, for her sake, that she chose to focus on that when my mother asked her why Reuben broke things off.
Because the old goat was sure to be pissed.
“Alpha Lincoln,” came Rafael’s voice from the corridor directly behind me.
Reuben’s face brightened like a jack-o-lantern and I concealed a grimace, meeting Ghost’s eyes as I turned around and nodding him off in the direction of my suite—where he had originally been headed in the first place.
Rafael and his Beta converged on me with slow, measured steps and I felt Thorn’s excitement attempt to crawl up my ass like a splintered staff.
Folding my hands in front of myself as the Thunder Wolf leaders came to a halt, I said pointedly, “Thorn here was hoping to chat with you, Alpha Rafael, despite that I’ve already informed him that his desired topic for discussion is no longer available.” I kept my face impassive, feeling Reuben’s glare on the side of my neck before I turned toward him and added, “Not that it ever was.”
“Ahhh,” Rafael cooed, catching on swiftly. Studying Reuben from head to toe and back again, Rafael granted him an apologetic frown. “Such talks will have to wait, I'm afraid. Getting rid of my niece is the very last thing I want to do when I’ve only just found her.”
Reuben is slightly unsettled, meeting my gaze with the look of a man that assumed too much. “And, let us not forget,” I said to Thorn, my voice drenched in warning, “...you have exactly fifteen minutes to be packed and off my land or else I get to kill you. Legally.”
Reuben stiffened, his body locking in anger, his Alpha blood boiling and causing him to freeze there in challenge of me. Even though he knew how deadly serious I was.
“Fine,” he spat finally. “I’ll take this up with Ginger, then. Right before I leave.”
Ha! Fat chance of that happening.
As he spun around and began to stalk away, I called after him, “Maybe you’d like to join the three of us in my office instead. We’re about to watch the video of Giselle’s birthday party. You remember, don’t you?” Reuben’s back visibly tensed and he paused, meeting my eyes over one defeated shoulder. Flashing him a joyless smile, I said, “I’m sure the Alpha will see all that he needs to of you during within the footage.”