Chapter 3

Ozias' Point of View

You couldn't miss the terror within Alvara when the head master had smiled at her. Or the vulgar look he gave her in return. Maverick had taken a step closer to her, to try and set her mind at ease. She had stiffened, but forced that fake smile to her lips. Savanah incarnate.

I couldn't trust that Maverick wouldn't do something stupid. Couldn't trust that he had some self control. I barely had any control and that was before we had seen Alvara yesterday for the first time. Even Ciaran had paused long enough to take her in. Then last night we had heard Eugene preaching to her, telling her how dangerous we could be, then promptly gave her a list of things she shouldn't do around us. Dressing modestly was never mentioned, so I assumed that she always had to dress like she was in a convent.

As I had predicted, Maverick couldn't contain himself. I had ushered the head master on, trying my best to distract him so that he didn't notice Alvara's absence. The sentinels would have to be bribed to keep their mouths shut if there was any hope for this trade. We had worked too hard and come too far to let everything fall through our fingers now. Lust had filled me the moment I saw him pressing against her, the same lust I had so often felt when watching him and Savanah, but I had to stifle it. Suffocate it before it grew to be too large. We had a job to do.

"Have you lost all reason? They will notice her absence and you will pay dearly for touching her. Ciaran can only clean up so many of your messes." I growled, trying hard not to let my excitement show within my pants.

"She is driving me insane. You can't say you haven't noticed the resemblance. She is temptation incarnate." Maverick hissed and I understood where he was coming from. I could feel the same urge throbbing through me, but we had our orders. Scout, report back.

"I don't care. We can't jeopardize this trade. Now keep it in your pants."

"Tell me, do you honestly think that Ciaran sent us here out of the goodness of his heart? No. We both know that he sees it as well. He just can't take what he wants." His words struck true and for a moment I was too dumbstruck to say anything back. Maverick noticed this and tugged his lips up into a smirk. Bastard.

"I don't know what is going on here, but get off of me. I won't tell Eugene if you simply don't do it again." Alvara mumbled, her words half muted by Maverick pressing so close to her. I narrowed my eyes at her, but tugged my chin to the door. Maverick rolled his eyes in response, yet pushed away from her.

"I do apologize for his behavior. He hasn't been leash trained yet." I mused and extended a hand towards her. Alvara eyed my extended hand warily, then took it and stepped from the dank closet. Her skin was soft, warm and inviting. I bit back my retort and let her pass by me. Her scent hit me straight in my gut as she passed. Warm vanilla, with notes of amber. Savanah's scent down to the last note.

Even as she rounded the corner, I still kept staring after her. Maverick cleared his throat and I twisted towards him. Our eyes met and I could see the wheels turn within his mind. Flipping him off, I trudged after her. It took a minute before we fully caught up to the head master again. His face was blotched with red when he spoke to Alvara. He also lusted after the Luna like a lost puppy. That simply wouldn't do.

"I am terribly sorry for keeping you waiting, we were stopped by a student and I simply couldn't deny him the honor of speaking with the Luna." I lied and smiled coyly at the head master.

"Don't think anything of it, Alvara already explained that the young man wanted her to come read again. Thank you for keeping an eye on this little trouble maker." The head master replied, touching Alvara's arm gently. She recoiled, but sent her glare my way. So, we had the exact same lie. Fools never differ, it seems.

"We can proceed to the auditorium, if you like." Maverick offered and shoved his hands into his pockets, the image of casualness. I nodded in response and followed behind the head master and Alvara this time. Her ass was perfectly round, bouncing a bit with every step.

Maverick hastened his pace until he was next to me. "Bloody fucking shame we are going to war with them. Alvara might be caught in the cross fire." He whispered close to my ear. Glancing towards him and then back at her, I shook my head.

"Ciaran always gets what he wants and this pack's mineral resources are limitless. We need the ore from the mines, but we also need her."

"What are you saying?"

"I am saying that in the end, the four of us always get what we want. And we want her more than we want the fucking mines."

"Ciaran won't trade her for the mining rights, nor stop this war for her. He is too power hungry to be so stupid."

"I know, but we have until then to get her on our side. Why do you think he sent the two of us with her and not Dargan? He knows very well that we are capable of stealing her away." I replied and picked up my pace, falling just beside the head master. I smiled towards Alvara but she averted her gaze. Her walls were back. Fine. Game on.

The car ride back gave me enough time to contemplate what we were going to do. Ciaran hadn't bargained on wanting something from this pack other than the mines. Hadn't bargained on the fact that their Luna was a carbon copy of the mate we had all lost. Savanah was a sore that none of us had allowed to fully heal. A soft spot in the thick armor that was Eiecrunt. Ciaran and Dargan had seen her and also felt their souls stirring.

There was no denying that Eugene was mistreating her in some way. That her life had been hardship for so long. From what I had gathered, her mother was dead, yet she hadn't mentioned a father. Maybe he was a deadbeat or her was just as dead as her mother. This gave us an edge. Nothing tied her to this place. Nothing except her mate, who was a complete cunt. Ciaran wanted to invade before the year was up, which meant we had nine months to figure out what we were going to do with her.

The car came to a lurching stop in front of the pack house, ripping me from my thoughts. Without a word, Alvara jumped from the car and walked up the steps towards the house. Maverick got out next, silently following her inside. Ciaran needed to be informed of what had happened and hopefully the sentinels could be bribed into silence.

Dargan lingered close to the edge of the house, only tipping his chin towards me in summons. I climbed from the car and wordlessly followed him into the woods. Ciaran stood close to the tree line, his face clouded in shadows, hands tucked into his jacket pocket. There was a faint smile on his lips.

"She will cost us everything-" I started but Dargan flashed his eyes towards me. Rolling my own, I inched closer to Ciaran.

"Oh, but she will be worth it. To have her back is the biggest blessing we could have." Dargan murmured, his eyes glazing over with thoughts.

"She isn't Savanah. She will never be. We cannot replace our mate." I argued back and Ciaran held up a hand, silencing me.

"I understand what you are saying. But I also saw the way you looked at her, Ozias. You see the potential. We all do. Maverick-" Ciaran spoke but I interrupted.

"Maverick forced himself on her because he couldn't cope with seeing someone like her again. We need to bribe the sentinels so that they don't report back to Eugene about what had happened. This could cost us the entire plan." I explained calmly and crossed my arms over my chest, eyeing my Alpha up and down. Ciaran smiled, the corners of his mouth curling up, almost making him look cruel.

"Are you losing your nerve, Ozias?" Ciaran mused, tilting his head to the side. He was a predator watching his prey squirm in his hold. My own smile ripped my face in half. Cruel, cunning and absolutely devastating, that's what my smile had been called.

"No, I just want to make sure we are all on the same page."

Dargan bit out a laugh at my reply. They expected nothing less from their fearless Beta. To others, I was a political cut throat, to them, I was just cut throat. When Eiecrunt was founded, we were runts. Rogues banding together to create a place of our own. Now we were one of, if not the most, wealthiest packs around.

We took what we wanted and we showed no mercy.