ALPHA BIKER WHO CLAIMED HIS BROTHER'S MATE

34

MAYA’S POV

I backed away from the mangled mess on the floor, my hands trembling so hard I had to tuck them into my armpits. The copper scent of blood was still thick in the air, but now it made my stomach turn instead of growl. I began to pace the narrow strip of carpet between the broken bed and the window, my heels clicking against the floorboards.

Delinda leaned over Jalen, her hands glowing with a soft, pulsating violet light as she began to knit the shredded muscle of his chest back together. She didn't look up, but I could feel her eyes on me.

"You’re pacing around like you’re tensed," she said, her voice flat and laced with a judgment she wasn't trying to hide.

“Because I am tensed,” I fired back.

“Why?” she asked. I stopped, glaring at her with a raised brow. She looked at me. "You’re pacing around this room like a woman who is still very much in love with the man dying on the floor."

A chuckle left my throat as I stared at her in disbelief. "Really? Delinda, this is not the time. Look at the room! Look at him! I’m trying to keep my heart from jumping out of my chest."

"Then when is the time?" she snapped, stopping what she was doing.

“Can you just focus on bringing the man back to life? This conversation can wait. We can have it on our way back home.”

Her judging eyes pierced right through my shaky exterior. "You are about to get married to Rafe—a man who actually treats you like you exist—but you’re over here having a meltdown because this worm might stop breathing. If it doesn’t mean you’re in love with him, then what the f**k is it?"

I let out a scoff, resuming my frantic pacing. "Jalen is the f*****g Alpha King, Delinda! If he dies here, in this room, with us? It will be huge. It will be blown completely out of proportion. The packs will go to war, the council will come for our heads—"

"Yes, it would be huge," Delinda interrupted, her glow intensifying as she sutured a deep vein. "It would also give Rafe a chance to finally take over. He could actually bring something good to the Iron Fang MC. We could stop living like lowlifes in the shadows. His death would be a mercy for everyone else. Everyone including you. This man treats you like a commodity and like you are worth nothing. We both know whatever you have going on in your soul can kill him in the snap of a finger. That is why we are in this in the first place."

"How selfish can you be?" I whispered, horrified at what she was insinuating. "You're talking about a life like it's a chess piece."

"And how selfish were you being when he almost killed us five minutes ago?" she countered, her voice rising. "Do you think he thought about your life when he was pointing a gun at my head? Or when he was dragging you toward that bed? He was going to f*****g r**e you."

I groaned, rubbing my temples. "You are impossible. Seriously." I turned to her, a new realization hitting me through the haze of my panic. "Matter of fact, I think I get it now. This isn't about me or Jalen. I think you are in love with Rafe, and that’s what this is really about."

Delinda’s hands faltered for a split second. She stopped attending to Jalen and stood up.

“All done.” She stood up straight, her face flushing with a mix of rage and shock. "And you are crazy."

"Oh, now I’m crazy?" I threw my hands up. "You’ve been obsessing over the fact that I’m about to marry him. You keep acting like I'm going to destroy him, like I'm some villain in his story. I have not even lifted a finger and he has been treating me like property, too."

"Because I am his f*****g best friend!" Delinda yelled, her voice echoing off the scorched walls. "I’ve watched him give everything for people who don’t deserve it. If you cannot tell, the man is in love with you and he has been in love with you since we were kids. Do you know how worked up he was when Jalen proposed to you?" Her veins popped out as she yelled. “No matter how much he tries, he can—”

CRASH!

The motel door exploded off its hinges before she could finish, splintering into the room. A massive silhouette stood in the doorway.

"Jalen Cross, you fucker!" Rafe yelled, rushing into the room with a gun in his hands.

Delinda and I stood frozen, glaring at him. The moment he got a better view of what had happened in the room, he tucked his gun away.

“What the f**k happened here?” he asked, his eyes taking in more of the ruins.

On the other hand, I was f*****g pissed at Delinda. “You called him?” I asked, glaring at her.

“No,” she said, but it sounded like a lie.

I huffed and rolled my eyes. “You are f*****g unbelievable,” I said to her. Then I walked to the desk where the flash drive was still sitting. I grabbed it and turned to Rafe. “You know, Rafe, maybe you should consider marrying Delinda. She is clearly in love with you, since she can tell you my business. I do not think I should be caught up in this. You both are—”

“Delinda didn't call me!” Rafe interrupted, yelling at me.

My mouth hung open instantly and I shut it, my eyes finding Delinda’s. “Then how did you—”

“I am observant, Maya. If I pledge to care for someone, then I am going to do just that. So, no, she did not call me. I knew you were going to pull a move like this. That was why I suggested you go out with her after I overheard you on the phone last night with Jalen.”

I swallowed hard. “You knew about the flash drive?”

“Yes,” he answered, and I let out a deep, shaky breath. “Why didn't you—”

“No! No! You do not get to flip this on me. It was your duty as my fiancée to ask me for help when you were in danger. I waited the entire morning. You never granted me that chance. You had to go to Delinda. Do you know how insulting that is?”

“Hey, I held some things down,” Delinda countered. I glared at her. Even with how horrible I had been to her, she understood immediately and changed her words. “I mean, I took care of everything before you came here.”

My heart was relieved because I did not want Rafe to know what the monster inside me had done.

“Not now, Delinda!” He hushed her, and she pressed her lips into a hard line. “I am disappointed. Just imagine if you had gotten hurt.”

“I am sorry,” I muttered, but he didn't reply. He just turned around and left the room.

Delinda swiped her hand and rearranged everything, including fixing the bed. “I wiped his memory, so we are good to go,” she said as I gave Jalen one last glance.