The rejected bond of Alpha Marcus

Secret meeting

Marcus POV

This morning, the Alphas and their units had been allowed out of their rooms for breakfast. Well, let out wasn’t the right word. They’d been commanded to come down to the dining hall to eat, but any reason was good enough for him to get out of that tiny room. He had been pleasantly surprised to find Sarah sitting at the head table. She smiled at him when Alastair wasn’t watching, but other than that, she’d ignored him.

She was doing a far better job than him. His eyes involuntarily darted to her table every so often. Marcus clenched his jaw and glared at Alastair as he put on arm over the back of Sarah’s chair. The man was watching her speak to Alexandra, who was in the chair next to her.

“I’m sorry to disappoint you, but you’re not Nora Thunderman, you won’t be able to kill him with laser beams no matter how hard you stare,” Christian mumbled, placing a hand on Marcus’ arm to bring his focus back to the table.

“I just want to punch that smug look right off his face,” Marcus grumbled.

“You’re putting her in danger,” Benjamin added. Marcus knew that he should do better at hiding his feelings for Sarah, but it was hard to watch that slimy lizard stake his claim on his woman. Marcus paused with a piece of toast halfway to his mouth. His woman.

Not that long ago, he would have panicked at a thought like that. Hell, he would have panicked if a woman said anything at all that sounded as if they had some kind of future together… but not with her. With her, the thought of not seeing her each day scared him.

He chanced another glance, against better judgment, and noticed Alastair looking his way. When Marcus locked eyes with him, Alastair smirked. It was a taunting kind of smirk. A smirk that said I’m untouchable.

Marcus heard the scraping of chairs as the men at his table felt his shift in demeanor. He was ready to shift into his wolf and rip out the man’s throat. Alastair made a head gesture to the left of him. Marcus followed his gaze and his eyes landed on a group of warriors stationed at the dining hall entrance. When he looked back to Alastair, his smile had only broadened.

“Calm down, man. You’re going to end up in jail, and where will that leave us? Where will that leave the pack? You’re of no use to Sarah if you’re behind bars,” Noah spoke quietly.

“I’m getting a lot of anger from her,” Benjamin said. The man was using his Gamma charm to focus on Sarah’s emotions. Marcus looked from Benjamin to the beautiful Princess. It was working. He felt himself calming down instantly.

“Oh, she is definitely pissed off,” Benjamin chuckled as they watched Alistair lean into her. Sarah moved away subtly. Even in the face of the unknown, she still acted like a true Princess would in public. He was so proud of her.

Marcus realized he was falling for her, hard.

“I need to get out of here,” Marcus huffed. Alastair was challenging him, trying to get him to lash out and he was succeeding. He wondered why the man had it in for him.

When Marcus stood from the table, clearing off his plate, as usual, an omega walked up to the table.

“Let me get that for you, Alpha,” She took the plate from his hands, touching him a little too much while she did so. Just when Marcus thought she was trying to hit on him, he felt a folded piece of paper being placed into the palm of his hand. The woman winked at him, and took the dish, walking toward the kitchen.

Marcus pretended nothing out of the ordinary had happened and moved to the door like he normally would have.

When he was in the hallway, he made sure no one else was around before he opened the crumbled-up note.

I’ll meet you tonight in your room.

Eight o’clock. We need to talk strategy.

Yours,

S.

A smile formed on Marcus’ face. Yours. Such a simple word, but a word with a heavy meaning nonetheless. He was seeing her again tonight. At least that would get him through the day.

Everyone around him was on edge. Especially the other Alphas. They never knew when the next challenge would pop up, or worse, what it would be. He didn’t know if he could take another one of those awful gladiator trials.

He hoped the next one would be another quiz, but knowing Alastair, the man wasn’t going to stop until they were all dead. But why? And why would he want an Alpha from each team to die? It didn’t make any sense. Marcus’ steps faltered on his way to his room.

Julian had killed two men of his own team. Hadn’t he? But then why did Alastair let them go? Why was he prolonging the trials like this? Why not just kill them and get it over with? Did the man have some kind of sick fetish? Or was there something else going on?

All these thoughts kept replaying in his mind as he counted down the minutes until it was time for their meeting. Christian had promised to sneak away to be present tonight. They needed as many people on their side as possible, but first, they needed a plan on how to get those people on their side.

The rattling of the doorknob had him sitting up in bed. The other men all got up slowly. The depressing atmosphere in the castle had them feeling unmotivated to do anything other than lay around.

Sarah and Alexandra stepped in, quickly shutting the door behind them. Alexander jumped over the beds to reach his mate. He pulled her into his arm and kissed the hell out of her, but when Marcus moved to do the same to Sarah, she held up her hand to stop him.

“I’m sorry, he’s so suspicious at the moment, I can’t risk smelling like you.” She spoke with a pained expression on her face. Marcus nodded. He understood of course he did. But it didn’t make it less painful.

“What did you find out?”