Page 41 of The Alpha King's Curse: Part One

He walked into the room, and the chatter died down immediately. The boys and girls in the room were gossiping in groups or gaming in front of the TV. They were all still very young; they had not gone through their first shifts yet. If they’d had their wolves, they would have sensed him before he stopped outside the room. Their wolves would have warned them of the danger.

His gaze landed on Cassie and saw the coy smile on her lips before she lowered her eyes. The girl was annoying and had been infatuated with him for a while. Her father was the head warrior, so he usually ignored her out of respect, but she always found another way to get under his feet. She was like the younger version of the human supervisor at the hotel. His gut told him she had gone to Layla’s room with a purpose.

“Cassandra, a word. Bring your two friends.”

He walked out and crossed the hall to an unused office. When he leaned on the desk and crossed his arms, the three girls walked in with their gazes lowered and lined up in front of him.

“What happened?” he growled.

“I was injured, Alpha,” Cassie pouted. “The human had a knife and stabbed me.”

“Why were you in her room? I asked the Omegas in the kitchen to take her food.”

“I was curious, Alpha.”

He looked at the two girls on either side of her. Their heartbeats had spiked, but Cassie remained calm. She was always calm because she had an overinflated sense of her importance.

“About what?”

“We just wanted to see what she was like,” Cassie said.

“So all three of you went to her room, and she attacked you unprovoked?”

“Yes, Alpha,” Cassie answered. “We tried to catch her, but she ran down the stairs. Beta Dylan brought her back up.”

Lies. He could sense the lies even without the gaping holes in their story. A human wouldn’t have gone past wolves trained since they could walk. The knife wouldn’t have slowed them down at all.

Had they all forgotten who he was? Did they think he’d gone soft just because Dylan was running things?

He rose to his full height, and the girls’ heartbeats hammered faster. The smaller of them whimpered and took a step back. The weak link. If he pressed a little harder, she would crack wide open.

“I’m going to ask you one more time,” he growled, stepping closer to the small girl. “And I want the truth this time. What happened?”

The door opened, and Dylan walked in, diverting his attention. His Beta, his friend. The one he was supposed to be able to trust with everything. He didn’t look surprised to see the girls in front of him, and if he were to guess, he’d say Dylan had purposely chosen that moment to walk in.

“What’s going on?” Dylan asked as he walked to stand beside him.

“You tell me.”

Dylan looked at him briefly before he spoke to the girls.

“Go and do your homework or find out if they need help with dinner,” Dylan said.

The girls rushed out without another word, leaving him unsatisfied with his interrogation. He sensed their relief, especially the one he had singled out. But they weren’t safe yet. He would get to the bottom of this.

“That wasn’t your call to make,” he said quietly.

“They’re kids, Jax. They’re not going to understand until you explain—”

He turned on Dylan before he finished speaking, his anger boiling over as he put his face an inch from his friend’s.

“I am your fucking Alpha. I don’t have to explain anything,” he hissed. “I brought her here, so she’s my guest. That’s all anybody needs to know to leave her the fuck alone.”

Dylan kept his gaze lowered and stepped back until he hit the desk behind him.

“I know. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that,” Dylan said. “They were just messing around and wanted to see what the fuss was about. They don’t know why she’s here, but we all know how dangerous that is for us. Maybe if they understand—”

“I know how dangerous it is for her to be here! I know the rules, Dylan. Why are you acting as if I haven’t thought this through?”

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