Penance (Dark Alpha #5) by Alisa Woods Read Free Book Online Page B

took a deep breath. “Very well.”
    But Sarra was already crossing the dozen feet of concrete floor between them, fists clenched at her side. Circe waved her hand over the tangle of his and Arianna’s hair in her palm. It slowly began to smoke, and Jak could feel it tugging on him, deep inside, bonding him to Arianna. He edged closer to her, taking her hand once more.
    Sarra had stopped just behind the witch, hovering there with a murderous look on her face, like she was ready to shift and stop Jak that way. But Sarra couldn’t shift—that had been the problem all along between them, but really, only on her side. Plus her stubborn conviction that he deserved someone better than her, someone just like Arianna, for a mate. And maybe she was right in the end: he was right here, right now, doing the thing he was always meant to do. He could feel that in his bones.
    And at this point, nothing could stop him, not even Sarra. She could try, but she wasn’t capable of stopping him physically. And he would just have to ignore her words.
    “Jak,” Sarra hissed. “Can I have a word with you?”
    “Little busy at the moment.” He avoided looking at her.
    The smoking ball of hair in Circe’s palm had transformed into a tiny grayish cloud that hung just above it. She lifted her hand up to Arianna’s face, holding her other hand above it, as if cupping the cloud with both hands, while in reality touching neither. It was a ball of spell, and Circe was whispering incantations into it. Small lightning strikes appeared within the ball, sparking and crackling the air with magic.
    Sarra shoved past the witch to stand right in front of Jak. She stared angrily up into his face. “I need to talk to you about this… now.”
    “Sarra, please,” Jak begged her. “If you’ve ever loved me…” If he ordered her away, would she go? He just needed another minute to make this happen. With each snap of lightning in Circe’s spell, he could feel that twinge inside growing stronger, binding him closer to Arianna. He could already sense the two wolves within her: her own and Mace’s. He needed to focus, to draw Mace out when the time was right.
    And Sarra needed to leave him alone. But she was still in his face.
    “If I ever loved you?” She was spitting angry now. “I love you now, Jak Roberts.” She threw a pinched look to Arianna. “Not in the way she loves you. Or the way you love her. I don’t mean like that. I love you like a friend… one who wants to know what the hell you think you’re doing here!”
    Jak didn’t say anything, just ignored Sarra and turned to look at Arianna. The bond between them was intensifying. He met her gaze, and there were fine lines forming at the corners of her eyes as she squinted with it, too. It wasn’t so much pain as… discomfort. Like Circe said. He hoped that was all it would be for Arianna in the end.
    “Jak!” Sarra grabbed hold of his arm, forcing his attention back to her. She searched his face. He wasn’t sure what she wanted to see there.
    Marco had come up behind her. He gave a nod to Jak then laid a hand on Sarra’s shoulder. It was a gentle touch, but she jumped from the contact, then threw suspicious looks back and forth between Jak and Marco.
    “Oh my god,” she said, almost a whisper. “You’re in on this together.”
    She knew.
    Jak closed his eyes briefly, then opened them to stare Sarra in the face.
    “You stop this right now,” she said, lips trembling.
    “Jak?” Arianna’s worried voice punched him in the gut.
    He squeezed her hand and threw her a soft look. “It’s going to be all right, Arianna. I promise.” Then he turned back to Sarra. “You always knew this was how it would go, in the end, Sarrabear. You even said it yourself. I was meant for someone else.”
    Her eyes were wide, and her head shook back and forth in tiny movements.
    He put his free hand, the one not holding Arianna’s hand, on Sarra’s shoulder. “This is the single best thing