When He's Ruthless (The Olympus Pride 4)

At this point, all I can think is that you haven’t yet come to me because you need me to be the one who makes all the moves. You want me to take control. Is that it? I can do that. I can prove how much you mean to me. I’m simply sad that it’s come to this. I always assumed we wouldn’t need to play any such games.

Maybe it’s my fault. Maybe I shouldn’t have waited until you aged before I secured my claim to you. Are you angry with me for that? Is that why you let the cat near you?

I saw how he touched you at the cabin. As if he owned you. You didn’t push him away like you should have and, honestly, it’s hard not to doubt that you’re still pure. I’d like to think you wouldn’t betray me that way, but a lot of things you’ve done lately have surprised me.

Not that I mean to walk away from you. That I would never do. All I want is to love you. That’s all. But we will be having a long conversation about this once you’re home.

You best be rid of the cat by the time I come for you. I mean it, Blair. I warned him to back off. He didn’t. And believe me, I will fucking kill him if you continue to stay with him. His blood will stain my hands, yes, but every single drop of it will be on yours.

A sudden chill in her blood, Blair rubbed at the prickling skin of her arms. “Oh my God. It’s official, he’s freaking insane. His thought patterns are just wow. Every sentence creeps me out.”

She licked her lips, her stomach rolling and churning. Her inner female was going berserk, wanting to rip apart this person who thought to threaten her mate. “He said he warned you. He means the hit and run, doesn’t he?”

“Yes,” Luke replied, his jaw tight as he replaced the lid on the box. “That was never really about causing me harm. It was merely a message. Back then, he saw me as relatively inconsequential.”

“That’s clearly changed. He threatened to kill you.” Her chest tightened and her breathing went to hell.

Luke pulled her close and squeezed her shoulders. “It’s going to be okay, Blair. It’s a threat he won’t be able to follow through on. He also won’t be taking you, no matter what he might think. I get that this letter is worthy of a major freak out, but remember: He wants to scare you. Don’t let him. Don’t let him get in your head. Don’t give him that control over you.”

Easier said than goddamn done.

“I know you hoped he’d at some point get the message that you’re mine and then leave you alone. But people like him … that’s not how their minds work.”

“Yeah, I see that.” She let out a long, loud sigh. “What do we do now?”

“Report this to Tate and Havana. There’s no point in us asking River if he can do a DNA search using the semen or any fingerprints he might find. No shifter is ever arrested, so their records wouldn’t be in a database.”

Blair’s insides jumped at the knock on the door. Her little female stiffened, her gut in knots, her anger still hot.

“That’s probably James,” said Luke.

Her mate turned out to be right. James stalked inside wearing a frustrated expression.

“No one saw the gift being left on the bench,” Luke guessed.

James gave a slow shake of the head. “Not a soul. Nor does anyone seem to have noticed any strangers lurking.” His gaze flicked to the box. “What’s inside it?”

Blair plopped her butt onto the armchair. “You don’t want to know.”

“Have you notified Tate and Havana yet?” asked James.

“No, I’m about to do that now,” Luke told him.

The Alphas showed up mere minutes after he reported it. Havana—her temper as precarious as that of any devil shifter—went on an epic rant that Blair might have found entertaining if she wasn’t both freaked and pissed.

Once Tate had calmed his mate down, he turned to Luke. “I suppose we should have expected that he’d do something like this in response to Blair still failing to return to the pack even after making peace with her parents.”

“I figured he’d do something,” said Luke. “Just not so soon.”

“He was apparently feeling motivated to get his point across fast.” Havana folded her arms. “It would seem he’s done waiting for Blair to fall in line. The limp-dick motherfucker should have known better than to think she would.”

“But as that letter illustrates,” began Blair, “he doesn’t see me. Not the real me. And now that you’ve scanned the contents of the box, I want all that crap out of here.” She slid her gaze to Luke. “I don’t care what you do with it, I just don’t want it here. I don’t want any part of him in our home.”