Fated To the Alpha by Jessica Hall
Chapter 214
“You better not be wanking; what is taking you so long-” he stops suddenly, a look of shock on his face as Jonah tugs me toward his friend.
Kyan had on a tailored navy suit, yet it did nothing to hide the bulk of muscle beneath his clothes. His suit jacket was open, the top two b*ttons of his white shirt were undone, and I could make out the dark tattoos beneath the white b*tton-up shirt, some swirling design pattern that moved up the side of his neck.
He stops looking at Jonah, and his jaw clenches; I hadn’t seen him in years, and he had put on more weight, was just as tall as Jonah but built sturd*ier, more muscular. His dark hair cropped short on the sides and longer on top, he had a five o’clock shadow whereas Jonah was clean shaved, Kyan’s eyes are a deep grey almost black, lined with thick lashes; he looked like a woman’s equivalent of a w*t dream until his face morphed into a snarl when he notices me.
His eyes dart to Jonah’s, and his l!ps press in a harsh line. We stop in front of him, and I start slipping on my gloves to cover my hands, anything to distract myself from the look he was giving me.
“She isn’t eighteen, Jonah; she can’t be in a Casino by herself, “
“Good thing she isn’t by herself then,” Jonah says, stepping past him and reaching for the door. Kyan steps away from me.
“You know that isn’t what I meant,” Kyan growls at him.
“She is with us, so it will be fine; you said I could bring someone, “
“So you chose a twelve-year-old,” His words stung. No, they more than stung; the way he said it made my stomach plunge somewhere cold and deep within me.
“She is sixteen, and geez, Kyan, what has got into you? It’s Marabella, for god sake.”
“That’s exactly my point; she is underage and shouldn’t be in a f*uc*king Casino, “
“Fine, go by yourself then; I will take her bowling or something, ” Jonah tells him with a sigh; bowling sounded better than spending the night next to someone who clearly hates my guts. Kyan pinches the bridge of his nose and exhales.
“We lose our liquor license because of her,”
“She won’t be drinking or in any of the gambling areas, and she is with us; no one would say sh*t, ” Jonah cuts him off. Kyan’s eyes darted to mine.
” She remains with you; I am not babysitting her,” Kyan snaps before opening the door and stepping out.
“I will just wait here, ” I tell Jonah, suddenly feeling unwelcome. You would think by now I would be used to that feeling, but I did not want to cause conflict between him and his best friend; it would be better if I just rang dad to come to get me. This was a terrible idea; I just wanted to go home.
“Marabella, hurry up; we are already late. We can’t leave you in here by yourself,” Kyan snaps from outside the hallway.
Jonah squeezes my hand, and Kyan growls, Kyan not missing the action as his eyes dart down to glare at Jonah’s hand. Jonah lets me go gripping my elbow, and Kyan walks off in a manner that makes me not want to follow; one day Marabella, one day and we will be free, I remind myself.
Jonah tugged me along beside him, or more dragged me with these stupid heels. Glancing over his shoulder, he sneers at us before Kyan presses the b*tton on the elevator before looking at my hands.
“Remove them; they don’t go with your dress,”
Kyan says, glaring at my hands. I look up at Jonah. It was one thing not having them on when with Jonah or mum, even Eziah; besides showering, I always wore them.
“But If I touch, “
“You won’t be touching anyone; remove them, “
Kyan snaps at me.
“Bro, chill. Leave her be,” Kyan ignores him, his intense aggressive gaze holding mine.
“All these years, and you still can’t control it, remove them, Marabella. I won’t be seen with you while you wear those ridiculous gloves,” Jonah growls at him, and Kyan rolls his eyes, grabbing my gloved hand and tugging the glove off by the fingers, he then reaches for the other and tugs it off before pocketing them.
I clench my hands into fists, rubbing my fingers over my palm when the doors open, having my hands on display for the world to see made me feel n@ked.
Hopping in the elevator, Kyan does up his suit jacket before fiddling with his cufflinks he pulls from his pocket, his jaw clenched as he glared at his wrists trying to put the cufflinks on before dropping one. I bend down picking it up.
“Here let me help, “ Jonah tells him.
“It’s fine,” Kyan snaps at him and Jonah puts up his hands.
“f*uc*k man, just trying to help, no need to bite my head off,” Jonah says stepping away from him. Kyan sighs looking over at him before reaching for the cufflink in my hand.
“I’m sor-” He stops short of what he was saying when I grip his wrist, turning his hand palm up and poking the cufflink through. I straighten his cuff and look up to find him staring at me. His face is set in stone and indecipherable. I j*rk my hand away at the cold look he gives me. I shouldn’t have touched him, why would I do that?
His jaw clenches before he swallows. Holding out his other wrist and cufflink. My hands shook as I pinched the cufflink between my fingers before fixing the other one when I felt his hand brush against the back of mine, his thumb stroking over the back of it, sparks rushed up my arms and my l!ps part as I quickly did the cuff link up and step away.
“See, she isn’t so bad. Little fingers come in handy sometimes,” Jonah laughs, nudging him. Kyan nods but doesn’t say anything, turning to stare at the elevator doors. His hands fist at his sides and I look at Jonah who shrugs before gripping my elbow.
My feet were K*lling, all night Jonah had been dragging me from one place to another, I swear I walked the entire Casino twenty times, Kyan always with us but he barely acknowledged my presence except when I went to wander off to use the bathroom, only for him to snap at me and say to stay close.
We now seemed to be in some event room, the strobing lights were giving me a headache, and I desperately needed to pee still.
The water bottle in my hand was now empty and I looked around for a bathroom when a man approached Jonah about some tech issue with the security cameras.
“Ah, hang on. I will come have a look, watch Mara for me,” he says, patting Kyan’s shoulder before walking off and not giving him time to answer. Kyan glares at him before turning to look at me before he turns back to the person he was talking to.
I watch people, feeling out of place and even more out of place standing next Kyan. I glance around the large open room. Noticing a sign with an arrow stating ‘bathrooms’ were down the corridor. I hastily make my way over to it before slipping into the hall.
Relief floods me when I step into the empty corridor, finally quiet, I thought, and I could see the lad*ies bathroom up ahead. I walk down the red- carpeted and gold trimmed corridor. It was dimly lit, the walls grey with small dome lamps hanging off the walls. I quickly use the bathroom before tugging my dress down and flattening it. Stepping out, I walk into a man.
He stunk of Liquor, and he grips my arms. “Sorry, love,” He slurs, leaning half on me. The man face was partially slack as the alcohol weeded it way through his system, his hands clammy and burps before chuckling and staggering forward again.
“That’s alright,” I tell him, stepping out of reach and moving to step around him. He steps in my way, and I try to step the other side of him, but he again steps directly in my path. A chuckle leaves him.
“Excuse me,” I murmur, trying to awkwardly move around him.
“How about I buy you a drink?” He purrs gripping my arms, I could tell he was human and I use my wrists to push on his chest as he steps closer to me.
“Move please, “ I ask politely, knowing it best not to aggravate a drunk man. My heart thumps erratically in my ch3st, fear snaking around me tightly when his grip gets tighter. My mind screamed at me to make him let go but I didn’t have my gloves touching him, I would K*ll him.
“I said let go,” I tell him, as his face moves toward mine. His breath smells heavily of beer and I have to hold myself back from gagging at the stench.
“Ella!” Kyan’s demanding voice bellows and I jolt, the man freezes looking over his shoulder before stepping away from me. Oh thank god, I never thought I would be excited to be glared at before in my life, but I was only seconds from throwing
myself at him just to escape this man’s clutches. Kyan was walking down the corridor toward us, a look on his face that sent a chill down my spine, his hands in his pockets and he commanded attention, he never looked more intimidating and I was unsure if I wanted to run to him or from him suddenly. Kyan stopped next to the man, who swayed slightly.
”Ella come here,” Kyan says, pulling his hand from his pocket and holding it out to me. I grabbed it.
Anything to get away from the drunk man. Kyan yanks me over to him and I stumble in the heels, my other hand grabbing his suit jacket and the b*ttons unpop. Kyan stead*ies me, his eyes still on the man who was muttering about being interrupted and something else that makes Kyan growl before turning to look at me.
”Go wait outside the doors,” He says, his breath caressing over my neck as he leans closer to whisper to me, I shiver. His whisper is more of an angry growl, something I thought impossible to do. I went to walk off when Kyan gripped my elbow, sparks rushed up my arm and his hand burned into my skin.
”That means wait, don’t wander off, you won’t like it if I have to hunt you down again” Kyan tells me. The man bristles and Kyan nudges me toward the exit and I hastily rush off. Stepping out, I glance back behind me.
”Now, Ella,” Kyan says and I nod my head, slipping out the door and closing it behind me. The music was louder and I glanced around looking for Jonah but not daring to move. I could tell Kyan was angry at me and fear of him made me remain where I was when all I wanted to do was run back to the penthouse and hide away. People stared at me and I had to look out of place standing off next to the doors by myself.
After a few minutes the door beside me opens up and Kyan steps out. He pulls a set of keys from his pocket and locks the doors before grabbing the phone out of his back pocket. His jaw is clenched and I see his knuckles coated in blood as he sends a text before turning around to face me.
Blood spots were on his white shirt and he went to turn toward the rest of the room when I stepped in front of him, tugging his suit jacket
closed and doing up the b*ttons before someone could see.
“Is he?” I stopped not knowing what I was asking. “Dead? Yes, you were told not to leave our sides, “ “I just wanted to use the restroom,”
“And now one of my patrons is dead,”
“I never asked you to K*ll him, “ I squeak out, guilt smashing me. Bile rises in my throat and nausea washes over me.
“He shouldn’t have touched you,” “He was drunk, “
“He still touched you,”
“Why do you care, you hate me anyway,” I tell him, stepping away from him.
“I don’t hate you Marabella, I just don’t like you, “ I scoff.
“Same thing,”
“You know nothing, now enough we are leaving, “ He says, gripping my elbow and tugging me after him.
“Wait, what about Jonah?” I ask, trying to pull away from his grip. He growls ignoring me and pulling me toward the elevator’s.
“Kyan slow down, I have heels on” I shriek as I stumble after him. He stops abruptly and I walk into his back. He growled menacingly before kneeling and lifting the bottom of my dress and fiddling with my heel. I grip his shoulder glancing around and ignoring the growl he let out when I touched him.
He slips one heel off before grabbing my other ankle and tingles rush up the inside of m y leg and thigh making me gasp. He removes it before standing.
“Better?” He says, before grabbing my elbow again, my heels clutched in his other hand as he led me toward the elevator. He presses the b*tton when I hear Jonah’s voice from behind us.
“There you both are,” Jonah sighs, making me look at him. Relief floods me, and the elevator doors open.
“Get her back to the penthouse,” Kyan snaps at him before pushing me into the elevator. Jonah looks between us, clearly confused.
“What’s going on?” He asks, concerned.
“Don’t bring her back here again,” Kyan snaps at him before shoving my heels into his ch3st.
“Kyan?” Jonah snaps but he just walks off. Jonah runs a hand through his hair before stepping in the elevator looking at me. “What happened?” He asks and I shrug. Kyan would probably tell him later and I just hoped I wasn’t still with Jonah when he did.