Their Thief

Twenty-six

Alec King

I watch as Jace carries a tear faced Damaris down the hall. My heart lurches remembering how her face morphed when Rosalia asked when we would kill her. It's clear that she thinks that we actually will.

"Let go into my office," Rosalia says drawing my attention away from the door.

I nod stiffly as I make eye contact with a cold faced Luca. I turn and enter the office with Rosalia desperately clinging to my arm as Luca trails behind us. I can feel the anger radiating off of him. I'm surprised he's able to keep himself in check and not rip out Rosalia's throat, but he knows how important this meeting is.

I take a seat on one of the armchairs that flank the coffee table in her office, while a love seat takes up one side against the wall which is where Luca sits. I suppress the threatening growl that builds in my throat when Rosalia seats herself on my lap. The only one who's supposed to be on my lap is Damaris, not this whore.

Just remembering the pained expression on Damaris' face when she saw Rosalia kiss me and Jace broke my heart. I promised her I wouldn't hurt her, but I did.

It takes everything in me not to break all of Rosalia's fingers when she trails them down the buttons of my black dress shirt while slipping her other hand under my suit jacket. I want to kill this bitch so badly. She thinks she's worthy enough to touch what belongs to my kitten.

I'm still shocked at how intense my emotions regarding Damaris are. I was adamant about not getting attached to her from the start. I wanted to be rid of her when I had no use for 'him' and just regarded 'him' as a threat to myself and my brothers. I didn't want someone that worked for our enemies and could be so easily used against us around. I was too blinded by fear to realize how stupid I was. I was too overtaken by my rage in meeting our mate in an act of betrayal against us to think rationally. I can't handle betrayal. It's what our parents did to their own blood when they abandoned us. It's what the women of the council did after earning our trust as young children. I can try to deny it, but I wanted to make her pay for betraying her mates just like everyone else, to punish her for not being able to give me what I wanted, all the while my wolf snarling in my head at how weak 'he' was only served to further my anger.

When I discovered 'he' was a girl I regretted what I did, but still wanted to keep my distance emotionally. I just wanted to leave the emotional shit to Luca and Jace in hopes that they would convince her to mate with us and have children in the future. I didn't want her to have an effect on me, but then she did something that nearly broke me.

She tried to kill herself.

Finding her motionless, blood-covered body snapped something in me. It was like a barrier was broken and I couldn't stop feeling things I've never felt before. I couldn't bear the thought of an existence without her. I couldn't care less about what I wanted from her at the moment because all I wanted was her.

I was devastated when she said that she can't give me children, that she's infertile, but I learned the day that I almost lost her that it doesn't matter. All I want is her and her love.

But I don't know how to make her love me.

I don't know what I'm supposed to do, and everything that I do do is wrong. I've never had to work to get someone's attention. Women throw themselves at me and keep coming back no matter how bad I treat them, but she's different. She's terrified of me, of us. Everything that works on those other women just increases her fear.

"Rosalia," I say, trying to keep the anger and irritation out of my voice. "We need to discuss business."

She lets out an annoying huff and pouts her lips. "Let's have some fun first. I haven't seen you in years," she said smiling seductively. "We can do so much more than what you can with that fragile little pet," she says while she reaches down and starts to unbuckle my belt.