Arianna swore mentally when her eyes fell on Elijah coming in her direction, with a woman by his side whom she surmised to be Marcel’s cousin.
When Marcel told her his cousin and the mysterious guest were coming over, she never heard the name “Elijah” being mentioned, so what then was he doing there?
It was a good thing that Arianna was smart and was able to figure out that Elijah was working undercover in Marcel’s gang. Hence, she quickly masked her expression knowing that Marcel doesn’t trust her anymore and currently has his observant eyes on her.
Showing shock was a straight giveaway to Elijah’s identity and all of her efforts to protect him would be nothing because Marcel would end him right there and now.
For once, Arianna was thankful she had been around her dramatic cousin Claudia and was able to pick on a lot of acting skills – yep, the girl was cray cray.
Just like her, Marcel was busy scrutinizing Elijah and she gulped slightly, hoping to God that he had not found out something suspicious.
Arianna stood up and went over to him, saying, “Such a handsome lad,” She made a show of admiring him, “At least, if you’re keeping him around, I won’t be so bored with you giving me the cold shoulders.”
While Marcel is deep in concentration and close to making a breakthrough, the best way to distract him was with the use of jealousy and it was an effective method because he turned to Arianna with a stern look.
.....
“Don’t keep your hope high because he’s not staying,” Marcel said with a note of finality. The issue was not up for argument.
“Of course,” Arianna drawled, placing her hand on Marcel’s chest and raking a finger down his hard bicep, and he watched her every move, his breathing changing slightly.
Of course, she knew her effect on him, but right now, Arianna was being aloof on purpose. She needed a strong distraction and since Marcel was giving her attitude, being a bitch should do the trick.
She said to him, “Of course, that’s already decided. You’re the boss, who can challenge that even that, if it means
denying a great talent the opportunity of a lifetime?”
Arianna didn’t mean that, not that Marcel needed to know at the moment. She didn’t want Elijah close to the base where he could keep his eyes on her and make good of his threat of taking her away from here.
Sure, she and Marcel were having problems now, but Arianna was confident about patching up later and Elijah would only be a hindrance to that. The idiot doesn’t even care that she was jeopardizing her relationship to save his life.
“Perhaps we should come back at a later time?”
Arianna heard a voice say behind her and she knew without looking that it was Adele, his cousin. She must have noticed the animosity between her and Marcel and it was uncomfortable.
She turned back with a smile, “Of course, not silly!” Arianna put out her hand, “I’m Arianna,”
“Adele,”
The woman enveloped her hand in a warm handshake and Arianna made her gaze intentionally rest on Elijah, knowing that Marcel had his hot stare on her, so it seems as if it was their face time meeting – when it wasn’t.
“And you must be....?” She raised a brow, fishing for the fake name he was using in his undercover game. Arianna hadn’t exactly been paying attention when Marcel called his name earlier.
“Aziz,” Elijah said formally, making sure his gaze didn’t linger too much on her. He had done his research before coming and found out that Marcel was extremely possessive of Arianna and any unlucky man who dared to look at her the wrong way paid the price.
As thrilling as it was to challenge Marcel, this was unfortunately not the time and place. Elijah came here to gain Marcel’s trust and he would not lose it because the bastard was fucking insecure.
Elijah and Marcel were both alphas in their own territory and having both of them together in one place would have been explosive if it wasn’t for the fact Elijah intentionally hid his aura. Right now, he was Aziz, the young ambitious soldier who wanted to climb up the hierarchy by making a good impression on the boss.
So when Marcel ordered,
“Don’t dare to shake her hand,”
He did as he commanded, even lowering his gaze to the ground in submission.
Arianna rolled her eyes towards heaven, “You know, you’re being such a party pooper right now.” She said to Marcel, yet turned to Adele,
“Don’t worry about his stony-face, we are kind of currently experiencing a mini-crisis in our relationship, however, I’m sure we’d settle that with rough sex later. Angry sex does the magic, don’t you think so,”
While Marcel growled a warning, Adele chuckled into her palm. She liked Arianna. It took a lot of guts for a woman to get such a rise out of Marcel. Guess the news that the great Marcel has completely fallen for a woman wasn’t too far stretched.
“God, I am so hungry,” Arianna turned dramatically towards Marcel and shrugged, “Are we eating or what before the food turns cold?”
But Marcel ignored her and strode over to Elijah instead. Each step that he took made Arianna’s heart thud loudly in her chest. Let this be for good, she prayed.
Standing in front of Elijah, Marcel stretched out his hand to everyone’s surprise,
“Marcel,” He introduced himself, standing to his full height and showing off his dominance.
Elijah smiled, taking his hand with both hands instead, his eyes filled with doting adoration,
“Aziz, boss.” He introduced himself, “It’s quite an honor to finally make your acquaintance. You don’t know how much I’ve longed to -”
“Cut the crap,” Marcel cut him off all of a sudden, stunning everyone. Even Elijah himself was speechless.
“What?” He swallowed.
Marcel growled, “Don’t say you admire me when I know quite well that you’re a pretender.”
Oh no.
Arianna felt her soul leave her body at that moment.