Crimes of Cupidity (Heart Hassle Book 3)

Sylred and Evert don’t try to tell me it’s okay. They don’t give me false promises, either, and I’m glad for that. Ronak might not ever snap out of the feral state he’s in, and it’s all my fault.

“Okay,” I say, taking a shaky breath. “What do I do?”

“Your presence here should help solidify the bond that’s already present,” Sylred tells me. “We were hoping if we brought you closer, that it might affect him.” The three of us eye Ronak where he’s still hunched in the shadows, watching us. He’s sitting on a pile of fabric, but when I take a closer look, I realize that it’s a bundle of my clothing.

My breath hitches, and Sylred notices the direction of my gaze. “It calms him,” he explains with a tinge of sadness.

That…that kills me a little bit inside. My strong and steady Ronak was reduced to a mindless animal who sleeps on a pile of my clothing. I really messed up when I left them.

“The asshole is more aggressive towards me,” Evert explains. “I’ll let Sylred take the reins here.”

Sylred purses his lips and begins to whistle a low, comforting tune. As soon as he does, the feral animal slowly rises to his feet. His knees are bent, his back hunched slightly, his lips still pulled back into a sneer. He begins to stalk to the left of the room, like a lion wanting to corner his kill.

“Maybe you should back up,” Sylred mumbles, his whistle cutting off.

One second, the alpha is eyeing us with violent disdain, and then lightning-fast, he’s at the bars and swiping his claws across Sylred’s chest. Sylred lets out a painful grunt and jumps away from the bars before Ronak’s second pass can make contact. My mouth drops open at the huge gashes cut into Sylred’s skin, his shirt tattered and stained with the blood that now falls freely from the wounds.

“Fuck!” Evert curses as he comes forward. He places a hand on Sylred’s injury, his power instantly stitching the skin back into place.

With the scent of blood now ripe in the air, the feral alpha starts growling and straining against the bars, gnashing his teeth and swiping his claws at air as he tries to attack Sylred and Evert.

“This isn’t fucking working,” Evert snaps as he jerks away from Ronak’s claws.

“What should we do?” I ask anxiously, watching Evert finish up healing Sylred.

At the sound of my voice, the alpha’s head whips around, and he catches me in his sight. Sylred and Evert forgotten, he moves in front of me. The guys freeze.

“Emelle,” Sylred says, his hands out in a placating gesture and his tone quiet and falsely calm. “Slowly back away from the bars.”

I lift my foot to do just that, but as soon as the alpha sees the movement, he lets out a snarl so fierce that it makes my blood run cold.

Evert curses under his breath and moves to grab me, but Ronak roars in warning, and Sylred stops him. The alpha stares at me, his golden eyes dilated, and he purposely grabs the iron bars between us. I can tell that the iron weakens him, but even so, his fingers clench around the two bars and then he pulls.

With his incredible strength power, even muffled from the weeks in captivity surrounded by iron, the alpha wrenches the two bars of his cell apart large enough for him to grab hold of me and yank me into his cell.

I let out a shriek as I’m tossed against the wall, the back of my head knocking against the wood hard enough to make my teeth jar.

The guys shout and start rushing forward, and the alpha lets out a warning growl, his body poised in front of me, ready to strike.

“Stop!” I shout from behind him. The guys halt just outside of the bars, looking at me incredulously. “Don’t come in here. He’ll attack you.”

“He attacked you,” Evert snaps. “We’re gonna have to put him down before he kills you!”

As if he can somehow still understand what’s being said, the alpha roars again, the noise making the hairs rise on the back of my neck. I’m shaking all over, but I don’t dare voice that fear, because they guys will try to protect me, and that will mean hurting Ronak. I can’t let that happen.

Tentatively, I reach a hand out and touch Ronak’s shoulder, hoping I can comfort him. He whips around faster than I can anticipate, and pins me to the wall with a forearm across my chest and flashing teeth bared at my throat.

I flinch, knowing he’s about to rip out my throat, but then something else happens. His eyes flash black.

“Ronak,” I breathe.

In a blink, his eyes return to being the animal gold, but I saw it. Ronak is still in there. I feel the alpha’s hot breath on my skin as he drags his sharpened teeth over my neck, and his tail wraps around my arm in a possessive move.

When I flick my eyes over Ronak’s shoulder, my stomach plummets when I see that Evert is holding a bow, an arrow already cocked and aimed at Ronak’s back.

“Don’t,” I cry. “He won’t hurt me.”

“Are you fucking kidding me? He’s about two second away from killing you!”

At Evert’s raised voice, Ronak starts growling again, and he looks over his shoulder, baring his teeth at the enemy.

“Evert, you have to trust me. Back away. Both of you.”

Evert’s blue eyes bore into me, fury and fear warring in his expression. “I will not let him kill you. Don’t make me choose him over you, because I’ll choose you. Every fucking time.”

Keeping my voice as calm as I can, I say, “I’m not asking you to choose. I’m telling you, Ronak is still in there, and his animal won’t hurt me. Look at him, Evert. Really look. He’s not trying to hurt me. He’s trying to keep me.”

At my words, I see that Evert’s hold on the bow wavers. He takes in the scene with new eyes, looking at how Ronak is protectively poised in front of me, holding me and ready to defend me from what his animal views as the threat.

I hadn’t even noticed that Sylred was trying to use his calming musical power this entire time, but he stops to say, “Evert, listen to her.”

Evert grinds his teeth together. “Fine,” he grits out. “But I’m keeping the fucking arrow trained on him. If he so much as breathes wrong, I’m putting him down and getting you out.”

I nod and the two of them slowly back away, the alpha watching them out of the corner of his eye. When they’re outside of the cell once again, the alpha spreads out his red wings, blocking me from view. Then he drops his arm from my chest and shoves his hips against mine.

“Oh,” I exclaim in surprise.

The fact that he’s totally nude becomes crudely obvious as his hard erection is shoved against my stomach.