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He had no hesitation in pressing his lips against mine, making me yelp from the sudden movement, but then his warm, soft lips moved against mine.

I sighed again and moved mine in tandem with his.

The warmth I felt in my belly spread through my body and right between my legs.

His tongue darted out, demanding access inside, and I gladly opened to let him in.

When I felt his tongue brush against mine, a moan reverberated through me from him, making me want to beg for more.

He broke the kiss, and I let out a soft growl. When he chuckled, I think my heart stopped. It was an amazing sound, and I wanted to do whatever it took to make him laugh again.

“Did that feel like a dream?”

I shook my head.

“Good, because it isn’t. Now I’m going to take you upstairs and then deal with the alpha for doing this to you.”

“But—”

“No buts. This needs to happen. If he has done this to you, that means he can do this to someone else.”

I doubted that. My father wasn’t like this with anyone else.

At least, not on the same level as this.

Sure, he screamed and punished them by not allowing them to eat or assigning them disgusting chores, but he didn’t put his hands on them.

That was something he specifically liked to do to me.

Even letting Ivy use that whip on me was something he only allowed her to do to me.

Like I said, the man hated me, and I could never stand against him.

“Well, Kylie, let’s go home.”

Home. I didn’t think I had even called this house my home since it felt more like a prison over the years. Would I finally have a place I could call my home because of Maximus?

When this guy stood, I knew he was well over six feet tall and had the build to weigh over two hundred pounds of pure muscle.

The power that radiated from him as he walked up the stairs made it clear that everyone would get out of his way once we were around the pack.

They couldn’t do a damn thing to me anymore.

When we reached the top of the stairs, I noticed my father had blood trickling down his face.

That’s when I glanced down at Maximus’s hands and saw the redness on his knuckles.

He had already hit Alexander, and I wished I had been there to see that.

Though I would witness what else Maximus planned to do to him.

Alexander seethed with anger as he noticed Maximus holding me. I schooled my face to show no emotion, not wanting to provoke him further. Though I wasn’t sure if there was anything that wouldn’t set him off right now.

“Release her,” Alexander demanded.

Maximus snarled. “Over my dead body.”

Alexander stepped toward Maximus, and I was surprised that he didn’t tighten his hold on me. His heart rate stayed steady—just as it was when my father was glaring at him. Maximus wasn’t afraid at all. From the way his face looked, he hoped my father would dare try to take me from his grasp.

“She is mine ,” my father snarled. “She is the only omega in this house who can clean correctly, and I will not allow her to be taken from me.”

That was it? That was all I was worth to this man I was supposed to call my father? He couldn’t even say it was because I was his daughter; he wanted Maximus to make a deal with him over my future. Some alphas demanded a bounty to trade off their females, and I thought that’s what would happen now.

Nope. Instead, I got a man who didn’t want me to leave because I could clean his toilet just right.

Maximus straightened his back, making him tower over Alexander as he leaned in toward him. “Say that again, and I will rip your fucking head from your shoulders. She is mine . My mate. Mine to protect. Mine to take from an abusive home to one that will show her what love is supposed to feel like.”

A snarl escaped him, and I trembled in his arms. I was used to snarls like that being directed at me. Maximus must have known what I was thinking because he leaned down to place a kiss on my forehead to calm me. I sighed and rolled my head to rest my cheek against his chest.

“So, either move out of my way, or I’ll make good on that threat to slaughter this pack.”

My father was too proud a man to let anyone, including our king, order him around.

He stood firm on letting us leave, and I felt Maximus lower me onto the ground.

It shocked me how I could stand after being down in the dungeon for so long, and I didn’t know how it was happening.

But that shock faded as, like a bolt of lightning, Maximus moved quickly and struck my father with a crack of his fist against my father’s jaw.

The thunderous sound of the impact echoed throughout the hall.

Alexander went to the ground, and Maximus didn’t stop there.

I heard the pounding of his fist hitting him over and over, turning into sickening wet smacks, and then I screamed.

My body trembled as Maximus’s anger barreled into me.

Seeing and feeling his rage manifest in my father being a bloody pulp on the ground should have brought me some kind of joy, but feeling Maximus’s anger was too much for me.

I didn’t want to be around anger anymore.

He was supposed to be my place of calm. Even worse, I didn’t want him to continue down this path and kill those who didn’t deserve it.

“Max, stop!”

In the next second, Maximus’s arms were around me, and my face was against his chest. I heard him whispering, “It’s okay,” as he stroked my hair, and I felt my heart calm down, knowing his anger had subsided.

He picked me up again and cradled me against him as we walked down the hall.

A tall, lean man with black hair and gray eyes had Amara tucked in at his side.

Eli. It was Eli beside her, the one person my best friend wanted who was now hers.

I was so thrilled that my best friend had found a mate that I felt like crying again.

Maybe I would get to take the best thing from this pack with me as we left this wretched place.

“Let’s go home,” Maximus said to us.

Home. Yes. I finally had a home.