Or maybe Macky had stopped using his gift on her, pulling back for the moment. That was more likely.
Benzy, however, was glaring at her now, his light gray eyes sharp with anger. “Do you even know who our pack is allied with? Who we’re at war with? Who our enemies are?” he demanded, his voice edged with frustration. “How could you be so stupid as to entertain offers from other packs?”
Bella’s own glare matched his. Stupid? The word ignited her fury. Of course, she understood the risks—to herself and to her pups. She and Tyler had weighed those risks over and over again. But what choice did they have? Her Alpha had dragged her back once before, showing no regard for the injuries she’d sustained. His furious, unrelenting gaze haunted her even now.
If it hadn’t been for the FEDs, she knew she’d likely be dead—or worse, rotting in some dungeon deep within pack territory. Fortunately, her life in the human world had given her allies who noticed her absence and took action on her behalf. She owed her survival to their intervention.
“You think I should just roll over and comply with the Alpha?” she snapped, her voice sharp and biting. “After what he did to me?”
Bella yanked open her desk drawer and pulled out a stack of photographs, throwing them onto the desk in front of Benzy and Macky. Each photo told a story of brutality: her bruised and bloodied body, the dark marks from being strangled, the raw wounds from silver handcuffs biting into her wrists, the puncture wound from the needle that had forcibly injected wolfsbane into her system. Her voice shook with suppressed emotion as she spat, “Is this what compliance looks like to you?”
Macky picked up the photos, his brow furrowing as he flipped through them. She could see the tension in his jaw, the way his eyes scanned every injury with growing unease. He hadn’t been there when Benzy and the others had captured her; he’d only joined after she’d been subdued. Maybe he hadn’t fully realized the extent of her injuries until now. Benzy, on the other hand, had seen it all firsthand.
“It wasn’t like that,” Benzy said, running a rough hand through his hair, his tone defensive. “The men I sent were under strict orders not to harm you.”
“Do I look unharmed to you, Benzy?” Bella yelled, her anger boiling over. “Take a good, hard look at those photos. Is this what unharmed looks like?”
Benzy’s jaw tightened, but he didn’t look away. “You started the fight in the back of the van,” he said, his voice clipped. “If you hadn’t fought back, none of those injuries would’ve happened. I assure you.”
Bella’s laugh was bitter, her green eyes blazing. “So I was supposed to just let some strange wolves drag me off? To beat me? To—what—romance me, Benzy? Multiple times before being handed over to my Alpha for whatever he had planned? Of course I fought back! Any wolf would.”
“No harm was ever going to come to you,” Benzy repeated, his voice firm but strained, as though he was trying to convince himself as much as her.
She slammed her hands down on the desk, leaning toward him. “No harm? Are you blind? Look at those photos again, Benzy. Look me in the eye and tell me that wasn’t harm.” Her voice dropped to a deadly calm. “It was one slap. Six years ago. She hit me first. And for that, I got kidnapped, drugged, separated from my children, and nearly killed.”
Macky finally spoke, his voice quiet but tense. “Bella, we didn’t know it would go that far. None of us did.”
Bella turned her glare to him, her voice sharp. “And yet it did. Don’t sit there and tell me no harm was going to come to me. It already did. So don’t you dare act like this is all my fault.”
Bella’s voice cut through the air, dripping with venom. “But I didn’t know that, did I? Worst of the worst. That means the ones sent for me could do whatever they pleased—no limits, no consequences. As long as I was technically alive, it didn’t matter what state I was in. Isn’t that correct?”
Her words were sharp, each syllable laced with fury. She didn’t need him to answer—she knew she was right, and she could see in his face that he knew it too.
Benzy sighed, frustration evident in his tone. “He was angry, Bella. Angry that you defied his request to come home. The moment he found out you called, he regretted it—he rescinded the order. But he wouldn’t pick up the phone to explain or reassure you. You need to take some responsibility here too.”
Bella froze, her eyes narrowing dangerously. Her voice dropped, deadly calm. “I need to take responsibility? Are you f*****g insane?” Her voice rose with every word, Tyler surging forward in her mind, ready to strike. “I was coming in! I’d made the arrangements! But did he care? No, he didn’t. I am not f*****g responsible for this! GET. OUT!”
Her anger boiled over, her claws extending as her hands gripped the desk, the wood splintering beneath her grip. Tyler was right there, her wolf’s growl low and threatening in her throat, daring Benzy to make one wrong move.
Benzy stood slowly, his hands raised in a placating gesture. “Calm down,” he said softly, his tone careful.
“I won’t,” she growled, her voice guttural, Tyler fully visible in her glare.
Benzy backed down, his voice uncertain now. “Okay, maybe I was wrong.” He stepped back, clearly trying to de-escalate.
Macky rose from his seat, dropping the photos onto the desk. He stepped between them, his voice quiet but firm. “Out,” he said to Benzy. “I’ll talk to her.”
Benzy hesitated but then pushed something into Macky’s hand. “Make sure she knows,” he said before turning and walking out of the office, closing the door behind him.
The moment Benzy was gone, Bella turned her attention to Macky, but she could already feel the calming waves of his Gamma aura settling over her. Damn him. She had been ready to tear into Benzy, but now her anger was ebbing, slipping through her fingers despite her best efforts to hold onto it. All thoughts of teasing and flirtation were gone—there was nothing but frustration and the lingering heat of her rage.
