Owned By The Alphas: Part Two Read Online Free PDF

of this! You guys, your ways! They’re a mystery to me. Please don’t give me credit. I mean, I’m glad you’re happy, but it was not because of me.”
    Lucin captured her gaze again with a bend of his torso, waiting until he was sure she was paying attention. His warm smile soothed her, and she stared at him as he gently said, “You will understand us soon enough. It will take time. Give yourself time!” He walked past her to the passageway. Before the shadows consumed him, he turned. “He did it to impress you. It is what a wolf does for the one he has chosen. He must win her esteem. You will see. Calt will make you very happy. It will be his life’s mission.”
    Ali’s lips parted, but he disappeared before she had a chance to respond. The words danced on the air before her, not able to be absorbed just yet. That a man’s mission in life was to make her happy, she couldn’t believe. She didn’t believe in fairy tales, but then again, up until yesterday, she hadn’t believed in werewolves either.
    “Oh my God! What is happening?” she moaned, burying her face in her hands.
    Then she remembered something that hadn’t registered when he said it. Now it came flying back to her. It’s not the same as being sent to improve relations with our rival pack. Improve relations? But Calt had said they might have to kill the other pack! Was it a set-up? Was Jared in danger? She ran out into the passageway to catch Lucin. But he was not the werewolf waiting for her there.
    “It is because of you!” Tawny hissed, jabbing Ali in the chest with her finger.
    Grabbing the bruised space, Ali cried out, “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean for him to send Lucin! I’m hanging on by a string here!” She saw the hatred in Tawny’s eyes, and gasped, “Is it really that big of a deal? Go with them! Stop looking at me like that!!” Tawny backed her up all the way to the fireplace. If the heat hadn’t warned her to stop, Ali would have fallen into it. She braced herself as Tawny intimidated her with her stance and closeness, her face only inches away.
    “You are nothing , human! I do not see what he sees in you.”
    The word had a deep impact, and rage took over as she shouted, “I am not nothing! You said you found me interesting earlier, so don’t change your tune now just because you’re pissed.”
    A mean smirk tugged at Tawny’s mouth. “Well now. So you’re done pretending to be the innocent little victim?”
    Ali’s jaw ticked and she stood up straighter, her face inches from the she-wolf’s as she got closer. “I’m not pretending anything! I just wasn’t raised in this my whole life like you have. If I stuck you in San Francisco and took you to a job interview, or brought you to a cocktail party or told you to go find a date who wouldn’t tremble with terror at your strength, you’d freak right the fuck out, too.”
    Tawny got very still. A chord had been struck. “You think you know me? You know nothing, Nothing .”
    “Don’t fucking call me that! You know what I know, Tawny? I know that you’re hurting in there somewhere, and that you’re taking it out on me! You’re putting on this big act because deep down you’re just a pile of goosh who wants to be loved–just like the rest of us!”
    Ali watched the she-wolf’s eyelashes flutter as if she’d been struck. Tawny backed away, her gaze dropping to focus on the stone ground as the distance grew between them. Wordlessly, she turned and her fingers touched the arched doorway and lingered there. Ali wasn’t breathing as she watched and waited. But after a few seconds, Tawny left without another word.
    It was a while before Ali moved. She replayed the confrontation again and again, searching herself for where that strength had come from. Tawny had hit the truth a little too closely when she’d accused her of playing the victim. Had she not played the victim all her life? Acted like the world had stolen her choices as she’d drifted through it?