Page 15 of Unbonded (Pack’s Companion #3)

While Kate goes upstairs to change, I stew in the grip of a cold, sharp rage.

The house is a pit. Great bones, like all the brownstones in the area, but half the floors have been pulled up and there’s wire and insulation poking out of the walls.

Little to no furniture, which means her fucknut of an ex either took it or she’s had to sell it to pay the bills.

I’m cold, even with my blood boiling, and all the empty space isn’t going to do anything to keep out the chill when winter arrives.

I’ve heard of alphas leaving their mates before – usually because they bonded early and found a better match later in life – but I’ve never witnessed such cold-hearted abandonment as the broken house I’m standing in.

I can only assume the guy is deranged. Why else would he leave someone like Kate?

I looked Lee Morrison up when Dash asked for Kate’s work address.

He’s now part of the LaGrange pack, known around town for their lavish parties and cutthroat deals.

Given his money issues, I’m guessing his boss’ wealth is part of the attraction, along with her estates in Long Island, Aspen, and Santa Barbara.

Suzanna LaGrange’s investment firm might not be in the same league as Corbus’ business interests, but having all of his debts disappear in a puff of smoke must have been near miraculous for a loser like Kate’s ex.

Except they didn’t disappear.

Kate is still paying for them, while he’s off living the high life with his new pack.

And then there’s the matter of Stanley King. A quick search of a couple of databases at my disposal tells me he’s a lowlife, a two-bit hustler who preys on vulnerable people. If Lee had done his homework, he never would have trusted the guy, unless his judgment really is as bad as I think it is.

As far as enemies go, Stanley King is a nobody. A cockroach that’s so deep in the gutter, I could crush him on a slow afternoon. But he’s somebody to Kate , which means by extension, he’s a big target for me.

If Perry doesn’t pick him up for his part in the omega trafficking ring, I’ll happily take care of him myself.

Not violently , since Kate doesn’t need that haunting her, but in a way that plays to my strengths.

I’ll drain his accounts, audit his businesses, and drop his name to a couple of volatile loan sharks.

For each racket he’s got going, I’ll infiltrate it and come up with a way to use it against him.

If he’s got debts of his own, I’ll squeeze them until he’s so deep in the red, he’ll never climb back out.

When I’m done with him, he’ll be a cautionary tale career criminals tell their children, warning them against crossing accountants with a protective streak.

“I’m ready,” Kate says as she comes down the stairs.

They creak alarmingly under her slight weight, and I have to blink away my murderous thoughts.

She’s already looked at me curiously a couple of times, probably wondering why my eyes are glowing like a demon.

Unless she’s crossed paths with an uber alpha before, she won’t recognize it for what it is, and the last thing I want to do is scare her any worse.

Especially when she gazes at me with so much trust in her soft gray eyes.

“Let me carry that.” She has a garment bag over one arm, which I take as I give her an approving glance.

It’s hard not to, when she carries herself with such style.

She’s wearing olive trousers and a light blue sweater, her dark brown hair loose on her shoulders.

I don’t know much about fashion, but this outfit seems to suit her better than the sheer, flowery fabrics that most omegas wear.

As for the barely-there black lace thing King made her wear to the club…

That’s not something I should be thinking about now. “You look great.”

“Oh.” Her lips part, and a soft blush spreads across her face. “Thanks. Do I need to bring anything else?”

“Just whatever you can’t do without for the next couple of days.” Her hesitation is stronger now, and I brace myself for an argument. “You can’t stay here until we do something about your security, Kate.”

I don’t add that King could possibly slip Perry’s net; in which case he could come looking for her, pissed that she didn’t turn up to the club.

I’m tempted to get a driver to collect her so I can lie in wait for the asshole, but I remind my tight gut that I have other ways of destroying him than separating his spine from his body.

“I’ll just grab my purse.”

As Kate gets ready to leave, my shoulders loosen a little.

I enjoy watching her buzz around her place, adding water to a little potted fern on her windowsill and straightening the cushions on her ugly couch.

She has pride, even if her ex did his best to crush it, and I admire that almost as much as I despise him.

On the drive into Manhattan, Kate is quiet, her gaze fixed on the window. I wonder if she’s nervous about spending the night in a strange house, until she turns to me and says, “You know I’m unbonded, right?”

Her hand is drifting towards the Band-Aid on her neck, and I catch it before I think about it. “It’s not an issue.” Her fingers tremble in my grasp, and I reluctantly let them go. “I mean, it’s not something you have to talk about if you don’t want to.”

“But you deserve an explanation. Especially because it probably relates to what happened earlier.”

It takes me a moment to realize she’s talking about when she climbed into my lap, and I nod. I wasn’t kidding when I said it was the best thing to happen to me today, and I’m curious why she thinks it’s connected to her status.

“I was with Lee for six years, most of that time as a bonded couple. But since that ended, I’ve struggled with some hormonal changes.

My doctor ran some tests, and she warned me that if I’m triggered by an alpha’s scent, I might not be able to control myself.

Might not …” She gives a sharp laugh and rubs her chest bone. “Guess I’ve cleared that up.”

She avoids my gaze, but her discomfort is written all over her face. I want to put my arm around her and pull her tight, but since that’s where we started before, I hold myself back. “Lose control how?” I ask carefully. “Like go into heat?”

“Maybe.” Her gaze dips down to my lap, and I wonder if she’s also remembering how it felt when she straddled me.

Her eyes were shut as she climbed over the console, but her movements had been smooth, determined.

She’d radiated need, but she’d also seemed in control, and it felt perfectly natural to tilt my head back so she could latch onto my scent gland.

The only surprise had been when she drew a purr out of me that I didn’t even know I possessed.

“My heat is still a couple of months off. But I hope to have something in place for that.”

There’s a hint of fear in her voice, and I jerk my head up.

What does that mean? Sedation? Some omegas resort to drugs for painful heats.

Or is she going to ask her ex? My lip curls at the thought of him getting his hands on her again, but would that be any worse than one of those heat facilitation services?

Nothing sits right with me, the skin on my nape tingling as I imagine her with some faceless pack.

I want to ask for more details, but I can tell she's at her limit – plus, it’s not really any of my business, anyway.

Then make it your business, my less patient side argues.

“Control is something I know a lot about,” I tell her, watching closely for her reaction. “It’s part of who I am.”

“Because you work in security?”

“I'm actually an accountant.” I smile at her raised eyebrows. While I safeguard all of Corbus’ interests, physical protection isn’t really my calling.

I do that because I care, while numbers are my trade.

I like them because they’re efficient, disciplined, and logical.

For a man who has the ability to level a room with a command, I’ve always tried to keep my work environment as emotion-free as possible.

“I mean my nature, not what I do for work. Have you heard of uber alphas before?”

She blinks. “Like the super soldiers in comics?”

I’m relieved to see she’s more bemused than afraid. “I guess some of us are like that. We have enhanced senses and are usually more dominant than other alphas, so the military is a good fit. But I don’t use it like that.”

“ It . You mean, your control?”

I nod, since control is a better word than beast. “I don’t know what you’re going through exactly, but one of my mom’s packmates was unbonded. He joined our family a long time after it happened, but he’d lean on me now and then, when he was feeling shaky.”

“Lean on you.” She thinks about that for a moment, and I can hear the relief creeping into her voice. “Like I did earlier?”

Not like that at all. But I don’t have the heart to say that her reaction to me was more about primal attraction than comfort. I also don’t mention how I can still feel her curves clinging to my lap, and that my scent gland is still tingling from the way she worshiped it with her mouth.

She gives her head a little shake, making her hair brush her pink cheeks. “I don’t know anything about uber alphas, but I really like your scent. It reminds me of reading an old book in a cozy chair. Ink and leather, right?”

“Mmm.” That’s how Dash describes it, usually when his tongue is writing love notes on my skin. I suddenly picture Kate’s lips pressed to other parts of my body, and I grip the wheel tighter to stop myself from squirming. Where’s that famous control now, Webber? “And what about your scent?”

She bites her lip, that pretty glow fading from her face. “I don’t really have one any more. I’m guessing you can smell the suppressants… They have a chalky, vanilla scent. It’s not the best, but if I wasn’t using them, you’d probably want to roll the windows down.”