The Alpha Target

Eighteen

It had been less than 24 hours since Lucien had bid Cora goodnight and each passing minute they were separated, he found himself plummeting deeper into a downward spiral of irritation. The more stolen moments they had together, the more antagonising the disconnection was. His wolf was stirring up a frenzy in Lucien’s head, relentlessly clawing at the surface to break free and claim what was his. Theirs. His patience was thinner than a grain of rice, like a grenade bomb with the pin slowly slipping out of the safety clip.

Toying with his little rose had quickly become his favourite pass time and if he didn’t have so much work on his plate, he’d dedicate his days to doing just that. Watching her cheeks flush and her chest heave from the aftermath of an orgasm, feeling her writhed and bucking beneath him, the way she sounded when she moaned and pleaded with him, it was f*****g addictive in every sense of the word and Lucien’s lifeforce had quickly become dependent on it, just as much as a person needed water to survive and plants needed the sun to grow. It was those moments that kept his sanity in check, even if only for a short while, because without them he was destruction waiting to blow.

He needed to get to the bottom of why she couldn’t sense him as her mate. He could easily prove to her that he wasn’t the target the Viper Association should be focusing their attention on, but for now that’s what kept Cora dangling in the web he’d caught her in. Pleading to be rescued, while begging to stay. Besides, he liked being the object of her sole attention. As selfish as that was. Though he’d never been mistaken for a good man. And as much as he knew she was growing exasperated by him and her unanswered questions, he couldn’t find it in him to give a f**k.

Until he knew how to fix the issue that restricted her from sensing who she was to him, he was happy to continue being the villain in her story. But he could sense the internal battle his little rose was struggling with. Her body yearned to surrender to him, while her mind battled with the idea that he was the sick f**k harming all these women. Not that that seemed to stop her from wanting him, and that thought alone brought the ghost of a sinful smirk along his lips.

He could see her internal struggle written across her delicate little heart-shaped face every time she peered up at him through those long, thick lashes. And it brought him immense joy, knowing she knew she shouldn’t want him but did anyway, much to her own displeasure. Though he didn’t want her driving herself crazy, that was his job, after all. So, he offered up a little piece of information to her that would only confuse her as much as it would settle her. She’d tried to press further, like he knew his inquisitive little rose would, but being the mindfuck bastard that Lucien was, he left it at that.

Remembering the way her cool demeanour melted into red-hot aggravation at his evasiveness still brought a mischievous grin to his face. The way she thinned her eyes as she pushed him, being rounding in exasperation when she realised that was all he was going to tell her. But the mystery fed her fire, not oxygen and when Cora was around him, he knew the fire sparked and ignited.

Despite enjoying driving his mate to brink of sanity, Lucien had come to accept that sooner rather than later she’d need more information than what he was letting her have. That was if she hadn’t killed him first. But before any of that could happen, he had decided to pay dickhead Alpha Kai Anderson a visit. The fucker owed him money and used to know Cora, so Lucien figured two birds, one stone and all that s**t. Perhaps the shithead would have some useful information for him, though Lucien doubted it. Kai wasn’t good for anything except raking up debt he couldn’t pay back.

With Emmet and Brody close behind him, Lucien reached the landing to the Pearl Diamond Pack. He strolled through the pack entrance like he owned the place, and considering Kai still owed him a s**t load of money, he technically did. Omegas eyed Lucien and his men cautiously, moving back against the wall as he passed and keeping out of his way, fearing he would punish them the same way their Alpha did if they made the slightest error or looked at him the wrong way. Lucien knew his presence was intimidating, the permanent scowl on his face that only disappeared when he was around Cora didn’t help. Neither did the fact that he, Emmet and Brody were each over six-foot-four and looked large enough to trample the omegas with one step. But they needn’t fear him, his sights were only set on one fucker today.

Without even a mere warning, Lucien forced open the door to Kai’s office with a single push. Sat on the office chair was Kai with his legs spread and a shewolf bouncing up and down on his lap while his head kicked back with his eyes closed. Lucien arched a brow, unimpressed with how low the woman had to bounce. His little rose would never have that issue.

The sound of the door banging against its hinges pulls Kai out of his lustful trance. Lucien tsked. “What would your mate say?” Immediately, upon seeing a seething Lucien leaning against the doorframe, he pushes the poor girl off him and yanks his trousers back up to his waist. The pleasure written across his face barely seconds ago dissipates as terror replaces it, the Alpha’s eyes flickering intensely between Lucien, his beta and gamma. “My mate is dead,” Kai gritted through his teeth, watching the three of them carefully.

“You know, for someone as hated as you are, Anderson, you’re a cocky son of a b***h for not having your own damn guards stationed outside your office.” Lucien laughs, the poor girl he’d interrupted running out of the room as she covered herself with the clothes she hadn’t had chance to put back on.

Kai sniffs with annoyance, only causing Lucien to smile wider. “What do you want?”

Lucien trots over to the desk, taking a seat opposite him and sighing as if he’d just sat on a beach chair on a private island with Cora sprawled across him. He manspreads his legs, getting comfortable, pulling the knife he’d swiped from Cora’s room and twiddling it between his fingers as Kai’s nervousness worsens. He didn’t need Cora’s knife, he had plenty. He just liked that it was hers. Strangely, it calmed him. “Does it freak you out that I just seem to pop up out of nowhere and you never know if that’s the time I’ll decide to end your life?”

A bead of sweat drips down Kai’s forehead as he gulps, reluctantly taking a seat back in his chair. His eyes round at the edges slightly. “I’ll have the money, man. I just need a bit more time.”

“Here’s the thing, Kai,” Lucien cuts in. “I don’t really like liars and I really don’t f*****g like you. You make me kinda twitchy actually. Do you want me getting twitchy with the gun tucked into the waistband of my trousers?”

Kai’s lips tighten into a hard line. “My beta, Cameron. He’s working on it, he just needs a few more weeks.”

Lucien tsked. “Getting other people to clean up your mess, same old pathetic excuse for an Alpha.” He shook his head, leaning forward to glare at Kai. “You know, I liked your father. Good man, even better Alpha. Decent, too. Shame he had a fuckward like you for a son, messing up his legacy.”

Lucien nods towards Emmet, signalling for him to come forward. Emmet reached into his pocket, before slamming the contract Kai’s father signed on his desk, growling lowly at the Alpha like a feral wolf. Lucien arched his brow at Emmet, before smirking at Kai. “Apologies, he has a thing about rats.”

Parting his lips to respond, Lucien lifted up his hand, warning Kai to be quiet. And Kai complied. As much as Kai was an Alpha and strong enough to take other Alphas on, even he wasn’t stupid enough to try it with Lucien.

“Anyway, as you can see, if you fail to comply with the Pearl Diamond Pack’s contractual obligation, then I’m entitled to remedy that breach of yours, by taking Pearl Diamond as my own. Frankly, Anderson, I hate paperwork so I’d rather not have to deal with sorting out your crap, not that I think anyone here would mind. But I don’t hate it enough to let your insolence slide. You know who I am, you know what I’m capable of. You have a month to get what you owe me. Failing that, I’ll take this pack from you, but not before I show you what I really like to do fuckers like you who seem insistent on testing my patience. Spoiler alert: it will hurt like a f*****g b***h. Are we clear?”

Kai’s eyes narrowed into slits, glaring at Lucien heatedly. But it was the equivalent to throwing a bunny at him. “Clear,” he muttered.

Lucien beamed, slipping the knife back into his suit jacket. “Excellent,” he leaned back against his chair, his gaze still pinned on Kai. “Now, Cora Harland. Name ring a bell?”

“Never hear-”

Lucien’s eyes darkened, a deathly warning rumbled from his chest. Kai grits his teeth, his chest heaving with fury. Lucien smiles as he watches Kai tremble. “Try again.”

Kai curses under his breath, his fingers fidgeting on the desk, before his gaze finally met Lucien’s again. Lucien arches a brow, daring Kai to lie to him again. “Why? What do you want with her?” his voice was packed with anger, only intriguing Lucien further. What about Cora had Kai so blatantly disgruntled?

Lucien flashes a wide smile. “None of your business. Now,” Lucien pulls the gun from the waistband of his trousers and slams it on Kai’s desk, causing him to visibly jump and his eyes to widen. “Cora f*****g Harland.”

Kai shifts, twisting his mouth as he paused for a moment. Lucien could practically see his mind working in overdrive, deciding what to share. “She left three years ago. Haven’t heard from her since.”

Lucien tilted his head to his shoulder, surveying Kai over. He was lying. “Is that so?” Lucien hummed, deciding to let Kai spout whatever bullshit he wanted, hoping he’d trip himself up.

Kai’s brows twitched. “The night she turned eighteen, she ran. Some say it was because she was demoted to an omega once her parents died, some say it was because her mate rejected her.” Kai’s voice was laced with reluctance, as though discussing Cora physically pained him.

Her mate? Back the f**k up a goddamn minute. Lucien was her mate. He’d kill whoever else thought they had a claim over his little rose in a f*****g second. Her mate. The words rang incessantly in Lucien’s ears, bleeding into his brain, burning his skin like someone had got a seething hot branding iron and scorched his skin.

“Mate?” Lucien spat out, focusing on keeping his tone as placid as possible when in reality his teeth would soon dissipate into ash if he ground them any harder.

Kai nodded, albeit hesitantly. “She met her mate the night of her eighteen birthday. He rejected her, but rather than accepting his rejection, she ran.” Lucien frowned, that didn’t sound like his Cora at all. His Cora ran into the flames, not away from them.

“And who is this… mate?” The word tasted bitter on his tongue.

Kai shuffled in his seat, clearly not wanting to divulge any further information. Though under Lucien’s intense glare, he was a mouse caught in Lucien’s personal trap. Even sat down, Lucien’s shadow swallowed Kai whole. “I don’t know, he wasn’t from this pack.”

He was lying. Lucien knew it. Emmet and Brody knew it. Even Kai knew they knew it. “You don’t know?” Lucien’s brow arched, not falling for Kai’s deceit. “Interesting. I’m told you and Cora were best friends.” He mocked, hating the alpha in front of him more with every passing second. It took all of Lucien’s restraint to not reach over the desk and strangle the fucker. Oh, how Lucien would love to see the life slowly drain from Kai’s eyes. Unfortunately, he needed Kai alive for a little while longer.

Kai frowned, obviously uncertain as to how Lucien had obtained that information. “She left before she could tell me his name,” he’d clearly just pulled that straight out of his ass. “Have you seen her? Cora? How is she?” there was a depth of sadness to his tone that Lucien hadn’t missed, but he wasn’t naïve enough to believe the sadness came from him simply missing his old friend. Emmet had told Lucien stories of how Kai had treated Cora leading up to her birthday. Once he’d claimed Cora, he was going to offer Kai’s head to her on a platter. Along with whoever the f**k this mate was.

Lucien sighed, standing straight. “She’s fine,” a glint of mischief flickered in his eyes. Kai pulled a pained expression, recognising the hidden meaning. Lucien leaned forward, his hands resting on the desk as he glared at Kai with murderous heat, fury simmered in his veins. Kai’s face paled, his knuckles whitening as he tightly gripped his desk chair under Lucien’s scrutiny. “And if you value your life, you’ll stay the f**k away from her. Contact her and I’ll burn you, your home and your f*****g pack to the ground. Understand?”

Beads of sweat formulated on Kai’s hairline. Lucien could practically hear the fear and resentment in his labouring breaths. “Understood.”

And then, Lucien saw himself and his men out, laughing from the look of Kai’s paling face.