Words of Power (Alice Gray Book 3)

4

Down to three, the room was slightly less cramped, but still far too smelly. We'd lost the only other woman and with two large men in close quarters and no air con, the room was getting ripe.

Lucas, Evan and I were a unit now. We needed to be together for our own peace of mind. The threat against my life made the bond kick in full force. We had no choice. Being apart was a constant irritation, an itch that got under the skin and every time you tried to scratch it, it got hotter and hotter until your head was full of it, and nothing else mattered.

It would be better if we had Emily too. Then the pack would be complete. But it would be too suspicious if the magistrate was spending all her time with the defendant, and we really couldn't afford for Emily to be replaced. I needed every advantage I could get.

So here we were, three quarters of the pack, and while I tried to act pissed off, the company was actually comforting. One advantage of the bond, I belonged with these guys. But that didn't stop the cabin fever setting in.

"Ugh, can't we go out somewhere?" I said, pacing the room while trying not to inhale through my nose. "Maybe if we get out, biker dude might come in and do the housekeeping."

"Yeah, let's go out," Evan joined in. "Make use of Alice's freedom while we can."

I shot my leg out to trip Evan. He hopped over it at the last minute.

"Hey, what was that for?" He asked, a fake hurt expression crumpling his face.

"No need to keep bringing it up," I sniped back.

"Children, quiet and behave," Lucas said, his deep voice rumbling with a hint of command.
I felt the pull of his wolf at the same time as Evan and we stilled instantly, turning as one.

"I'm not technically on house arrest," I squeaked out painfully, defying his command despite the overwhelming urge to keep my mouth shut as he'd directed.

"It's dangerous," Lucas said, with a finality that should have ended it.

I might only have two days of freedom left. I'd be damned if I was spending it holed up in a stinky, peach coloured box of frills.

"What...could...happen...together," I ground out, each word quieter than the last, my breath refusing to come under the pressure of defying the Alpha command.

"For Christ's sake Alice. Give it a rest, can't you?"

The pressure lifted, oxygen reaching my head in a dizzying blast. Evan caught me before I fell, his grin telling me what I already knew.
I'd won.

"Who the hell is Alpha around here anyway?" Lucas muttered to himself, totally ignoring the wide grins stretching out his pack members' faces. "And why did I have to choose witches."

"Cheer up big guy," I said, as we jumped onto the bed either side of him.

"You know you should treat your pack-witches right," Evan supplied, as we both looked up at him adoringly.

"Pack-witches," he tutted, pushing us away with enough force that we both fell onto the floor.

His laughter washed away the anxiety that always lingered after I challenged his orders. Refusing to submit was like climbing a mountain in a blizzard with no safety equipment. It felt dangerous and wrong. But there was no way that I was taking orders for the rest of my life, it might only be forty-eight hours more.

I looked over my shoulder and blew Lucas a kiss as I scurried into the bathroom to shower. I wasn't losing the hot water to these guys.

One towel wrapped around my body, another round my head, I re-entered the room to find both men clean and fresh smelling, and suited up.

"How?" I asked, totally confused as I was just using our one and only shower.

"That isn't the only bathroom in the place you know," Evan smirked.

"Well if that's the case, why don't you guys use them more often," I retorted, earning myself a swat to the back of the head.

The towel that I'd wrapped around my hair slipped. My hand shot up to catch it just as my body towel dropped. Abandoning the head towel, I caught the one that protected my modesty, what little of it I had left after living with these two for weeks.

"Give it up," Lucas chuckled. "We've seen it all before."

Spearing him with what I hoped was a forbidding look, I gathered my worn jeans and hoodie off the floor and turned back into the bathroom.

"Uh, uh, uh," Lucas said, "we've got all dressed up for you, you're not wearing those."

"It's all I have," I snarked, "unless you think a towel would be better."

"Anne left her stuff, she said you could borrow this," Evan smirked, throwing me something black and silky.

I caught the scrap of material and looked at the tiny piece of fabric wondering how it would stretch to cover enough of me to be decent.

Looking up questioningly at Lucas and Evan, they both smiled at me like the super handsome, sharp suited, annoyingly buff, bastards that they were.

"You want to go out, Alice? This is how it's going down."

Well she did insist 🤣. But something tells me this is not a good idea...