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protect you from Jeffery when he comes
here? We both know that he’s going to. He doesn’t like to lose, either.”
    She knew her sister was right, but she didn’t
have the energy to talk to her tonight. She certainly didn’t have the strength
to explain to her that he didn’t want her as much as she didn’t want him. And
the pain around her heart had nothing to do with him or his rejection of her.

Chapter 4
     
    Blair sat at his desk for over an hour,
trying not to think of Sapphire. He’d never been more frustrated with a woman
in his life. Actually, he’d never been more frustrated with anyone in his life
as he was with her. She’d run from him, and he was still trying to figure out
how the hell she’d done it and why he gave a shit. His phone ringing made him glare
at it.
    “There’s a Miss Erickson here to see
you.” His heart took a strange leap before Justine clarified. “Diamond Erickson.”
    He wanted to tell her to tell the woman
to fuck off, but needed…no, that wasn’t right. He was curious to know where
Sapphire was. When he told Justine to send her in, he stood up and came around
to the front of his desk to greet her.
    “Good morning, Diamond. And to what do I
owe this pleasure—?”
    “Don’t fuck with me and I won’t you.” He
started to snap at her, but he simply nodded and sat down. “I’m here about my
sister. She’s hurt, did you know that?”
    “I hurt her yesterday when I moved her
away from….” Diamond was shaking her head. “Then I don’t understand. How else
was she hurt? If you’re talking about the wound on her back, I didn’t cause
that one.”
    “Jeffery Benetton did that and a great
deal more to her. And yesterday trying to get away from you, she hurt herself
even more. She had a broken rib and a gash on her left hip that I had to put
fifteen stitches in after she went to sleep.” Diamond sat down across from him
as she continued. “Did you know that she gave up everything to keep us safe
from men like you?”
    “I’m nothing like Benetton, and I resent
you coupling my name with his.” She only stared at him, and he shifted on his
seat. “Why are you here?”
    “I came to see what kind of man you are.
I’m not impressed.” She stood up, and he thought she was going to leave, but
she only started pacing. “Jeffery put us up for auction. He had us pulled from our
beds and chained together like animals. We couldn’t shift or the chains around our
necks would have killed us. Then he cut our clothes from us and paraded us
around the pack meeting place to show our wears, as he called them. Sapphire
was the only one not with us. She…she’d been taken away so he could do it.”
    “But she came back.” Diamond nodded. “What
happened to her that had her sent away?”
    “She’d been shot. Three times and taken
away from us. We thought he’d killed her, but he’d only pissed her off.” She
turned to him then. “You’ve never seen her pissed. Her wolf is nothing like
you’ve ever seen before, and when they’re both there….” She shivered.
    “Is this the night that they fought?” She
nodded again. “Why didn’t anyone help you? It’s against pack law for him to
treat single females like that. Especially ones in a pack where there are few
women and little in the way of new pack coming to them.”
    “Do you really think he gave a shit what
the laws are? He was pissed off at Sapphire because she wouldn’t have him in
her bed, and he was going to make us all pay.” She took an envelope from her
shirt and handed it to him. “The decree he had us all sign before any of this
happened. He had us all tied up in neat little bows, and we couldn’t do a
damned thing about it.”
    He read over the first page before
looking up at her. “It says here that he can break in any female he wishes
before she goes to her mate. No matter what the age.”
    “He said it was his right as alpha. If
you look at the signatures, you’ll see that none of us signed