Page 5 of The Delta’s Rogue (Crescent Lake #4)
“Thanks.” I smirk as I grab my jacket from the barstool, throw it over my shoulder, and head around the counter.
My hand on Sarina’s shoulder slides down her arm to entwine our fingers together. I shove through the swinging door, disappearing behind it with Sarina in tow, and take an immediate right to head up the stairs to the offices.
We’re halfway up when I spin to face her, one hand on each wall to brace myself as I stare at her. She pauses on the step right below me, her face angled up to mine, our noses almost touching—much like on the dance floor.
“I know you want to help”—my eyes scan her face and avoid gazing lower, where her chest heaves from our sensual dancing—“but this male is from my pack, so I need you to leave the questioning to me.”
She narrows her eyes but says nothing in response.
“Can you do that?”
Sarina licks her lips and swallows, and although there is a spark of rebellion in her deep brown eyes, she says, “Yes, sir.”
My throat tightens, breath hitching in my chest, and my cock twitches in my pants. I flick my eyes down to her lips, which are shiny and plump like a fruit ripe for the taking .
Ideas flash through my mind, a carousel of images of her using those two simple words in various situations. No image lasts longer than half a second and no image sticks out more than another, but they’re all sexy as sin and tempting as hell.
And none of them can happen right now. Or ever.
I whip around and stomp up the rest of the stairs, yanking the door to Lou’s office open and letting myself in, my little rogue right behind me.
“Lou!” I plaster on an excited, welcoming smile. “How are things?” Plopping down in a leather chair opposite his desk, I avoid his offered hand.
“Business is thriving.” He wipes his hand surreptitiously on his navy slacks. “One of our best nights this month, actually,” he adds, tapping the desk with the fingers of his other hand.
Sarina arches a brow but keeps her mouth shut like a good girl. I’ll need to praise her for that later.
“Even with the power going out?” I cock my head to the side.
His already pale skin turns even lighter, his heart stuttering in his chest. “I didn’t—”
“Realize I knew about that?” I finish for him then click my tongue a few times, scolding him.
“There are a lot of things I know, Lou.” I examine my fingernails as I list what I’ve discovered.
“The power went out, and the backup generators didn’t turn on like they should have.
Someone tampered with the security footage, and I’m assuming they tampered with the power and the generators as well, causing the blackout.
And I know who did all those things. The only thing I don’t know is why you let him. ”
Sweat beads on his shaved head as his throat bobs, the stuttering of his heart turning to a steady gallop in his chest. “He said he wanted to play a prank on his friends. He had money. I didn’t think—”
“Exactly.” I huff out a humorless laugh and shake my head. “You didn’t think .”
I stand and press my fingers onto the desk’s smooth surface, leaning over it to glare down at him.
My nostrils flare, and my aura pulses out of me.
I can’t give an alpha command, like my dad.
I can’t force anyone into submission. But I’m still a lycan.
Still the second-born son of the strongest member of our pack, and my power is enough to have Lou quivering in fear, his eyes downcast and his neck bared.
Even Sarina shifts in her seat.
I focus my aura on Lou. “How did he pay you? ”
He clears his throat and nods at the box on the desk. “Cash.”
“Smart,” Sarina mutters. “He knows we can’t track cash.”
I growl and crack my neck, gritting my teeth to force my claws to stay retracted. “Do you want to know what your lack of thinking caused? What this ‘prank’ he planned was?” I stalk around the desk, my fingertips still glued onto the surface and my aura still pressing on him.
Lou cowers more but doesn’t back away from me as I approach.
My predator’s stare locks on the pulse on his neck. “He cornered his ex-girlfriend in the alley, shifted into his lycan, and attacked her. Nearly tore her throat out with his teeth. She would have died if I hadn’t been here to help her.”
His eyes widen and water. “He was a lycan?”
I feel no sympathy for him. I saw the terror in Haven’s eyes, the blood staining her neck—the blood that ruined my shirt when I pressed it to her wounds to stem the bleeding. Lennox may have done the damage, but Lou presented him with the opportunity. Lou—sniveling, weak Lou—betrayed our pack.
“He was,” I confirm. “And the girl he attacked? She’s Wesley’s mate.”
All the air leaves his body, and his fingertips turn white with how hard he grips the arms of his chair.
“That’s right. She’s your future luna, and you’re an accomplice to her attempted murder.”
His eyes dart to Sarina but mine stay locked on him, on that racing pulse beneath his skin. It’s tempting in an entirely different way than Sarina’s gorgeous body, calling to me and imploring me to make it slow until it ceases beating.
When he returns his attention to me, his eyes are filled with remorse, but it’s too little too late. He should have thought of the potential harm of his decisions before he made them, not after.
“Are you going to tell Wesley?” His voice is shaking and barely above a whisper.
“Oh, you simple male.” I chuckle darkly. “Wesley isn’t the one you should be frightened of.”
A brief look of confusion passes over his features.
I lean forward, place my hands over his on the chair, and smirk at him as I get right in his face. “I am. ”
Realization hits him, but it’s too late.
My hands brace his head. With one quick twist, I snap his neck and end his life.