I placed a hand on his shoulder and grinned when he snarled at me. “You’ve got other things to do, Sin. This weakling couldn’t win anyway.”
Holden’s gaze flashed to meet mine. “I won’t lose to some omega slut.”
I was pretty sure him breaking eye contact meant Sin had already won whatever dominance contest they were holding.
Loser.
“I’m waiting,” Dominic said.
The crowd parted, revealing the Redgrave pack lead standing near the entrance to the cafeteria, his expression frosty.
CRESCENT
“Breathe.”
Phantom’s command gripped me like a vise, forcing my lungs to intake air. The first few inhales were shaky, thready with panic as I stared at Sin and Holden.
He couldn’t beat him.
Holden was an alpha, and Sin was an omega.
Even with all the alphas in my pack and the ones waiting in the wings… How many would die?
Sin had saved me once, but he didn’t have the same kind of aura that made alphas stronger, faster. Indomitable. Why did he have to put himself in danger? Why was he doing it for me?
Phantom held me back when I tried to dart forward and wrap myself around Sin. I whined low, and the alpha auras making the air thick with tension became stronger.
I couldn’t be so…omega.
Not right now; it would only make things worse.
The weight in the air lightened when a voice rose over everyone else’s.
That alpha—he wanted to talk to Sin.
He looked important—everyone here seemed to respect him; I remembered Sin and Phantom had gone over to talk to him right after Vandle bonded me.
Was he going to protect us, so this didn’t devolve into chaos like when I first stumbled through those doors?
At first I thought Sin wouldn’t go, but Vandle convinced him, and then it was just us. My three alphas and me, with the Emerald pack alphas behind us, facing off against a group of growling alphas twenty strong.
Phantom’s lips brushed my ear. “It’s going to be okay, Princess. We’ll keep you safe, I promise.”
21
SIN
The Redgraves heard everything; saw everything. If Dominic was following through on his promise of protection, Holden wouldn’t have even been able to start this shit. He wouldn’t have enough allies behind him.
But I knew what this was—a fucking threat.
They’d let this happen so I knew I couldn’t run out on the deal.
They’d let thatassholethreaten my mate. Threatenme.
And I couldn’t even accuse them of the truth, because if they didn’t put a stop to this, we could end up corpses on the cafeteria bench seats.
I bared my teeth at Vandle, shoving him off me. “Protect her,” I hissed, knowing it wasn’t necessary.