a Primal Pursuit

thirty six

Asra was frozen at his desk, eyes flickering between the two of us with surprise.

Oh, I was keeping him on his toes today.

"You're back?"

I smirked, forcing Arabella beside me as the door slammed shut behind us. Crossing my arms, I nodded with triumph.

"Yep, sure am."

"Both of you?" He quirked an eyebrow.

"We will not be leaving until we get what we want." I deadpanned.

The other eyebrow also rose before they settled into a mischievous smirk. "Oh yeah? What's that?"

"An apology."

He blinked, unfazed. "What for?"

"You are a clever man. Work it out." I glared.

Asra grumbled, shifting uncomfortably in his seat. I held my expression even as he dropped his gaze to look at my sister with uncertainty. Eventually, he sighed and rose to his feet.

"Arabella, I am sorry."

"For..." I gestured for him to continue.

Blue eyes snapped to mine with irritation, jaw grinding as I forced him to say sorry like a child.

"For imprisoning you."

"Falsely, imprisoning."

He grumbled. "Fully intentional."

I glared back, leaning forward on his desk. "Now say it all together."

The growl deepened before he straightened his spine. Smoothing out his shirt, he held my sister's gaze, and she inhaled sharply at the attention. A sly smirk rose on my cheeks as I leaned on the desk and glanced between the two of them.

"Arabella Thorne, I apologise for imprisoning you when I do not have sufficient evidence you are working against us to take down my pack."

My smirk dropped, my mouth dropping with shock. "Asra!"

He snorted, sitting back down. "I apologise for locking her up, but I do not apologise for what I think. We have spoken about this, Tulip, and I see your ways and you do mine."

"It's okay, thank you, Alpha." Arabella murmured, dropping her eyes.

I sighed, standing upright. "I suppose that is good enough."

"Great, now please, go shower. Your guard will be there shortly."

"Guard?" Arabella wondered.

"You have not told her?" Asra's lips twitched with amusement.

I sneered at him. "Not had the chance to."

"Tell me what?"

I fidgeted by the door, frowning. "You are free to roam and live freely under the eye of a guard."

Her brown eyes narrowed. "A guard? Like I am a child?"

I gave Asra an I-told-you-so look, but he just shrugged and got back to work.

Sighing, I looked at my sister. "Only for a few weeks. It is not your fault, just the circumstances. It's just to make sure you are not secretly plotting to kill me."

She pursed her lips but shrugged. "Okay, I can understand that."

"You can?" My eyes widened.

"Yes, now can we please go shower? I feel gross." She grunted.

I laughed, pulling her into my side. "Thank you."

"Yeah, yeah." She shoved me away. "But they better not watch me get dressed!"