Page 84 of Rejected By the Alpha King

“You couldn’t even knock?” Maeve complained. She still had fury in her eyes as she looked at London.

“Is it Emerson?”

“No, there has been so sign of him. My contacts have gotten back to me about that other thing.”

Shit. “And?”

“Your mate,” Jenson said without his usual snarl, “is in danger.”

38

Anna

“Why is Maeve Frost so interested in you anyway?” Amelia asked Finn as she sat cross-legged on the new bar that had just been installed early this morning.

Finn, tenser than ever, didn’t like that I wasn’t in the office. The bar had its own door and far too many windows, not to mention, it had a separate entry into the kitchen. Despite the extra manpower watching me, Finn still thought I was too exposed in the bar.

I understood. I really did, but I’d just spent three hours in my small, cramped office listening to the others complain outside. Bridget was third in the pack. She hated bodyguard duty, even if we’d sort of become friends. Amelia was fine with it but antsy, and she seemed to get off on poking at Finn. The other three guards who rotated between outside and inside were not quiet about their own annoyance for guarding the fake mate.

Fake mate. I couldn’t even complain about it. It was how I felt about myself, wasn’t it?

But a girl can only take so much, so I was spending some time touring the new upgrades.

It was amazing how much work had been done in so little time. All I needed was staffing, a menu, and a distribution order.

“Who knows,” Finn said tersely. “Maybe I had a run in with one of her guards when I was a rogue.”

Opening the step stool, I climbed on top and started counting the liquor bottles on the wall. Everything that had been broken was replaced, and Jax had apparently a few others to stock. He’d refused to send me the order form, so he was planning on paying for it out of pocket.

That meant it would have to be entered into the system manually.

“Oh, come on. There has to be something you’re not telling us because it pisses you off.

Did you sleep with her when you were a rogue? She’s a little too old for you, but I hear she likes to have a new wolf in her bed every night. I bet she just ate you up,” Amelia cackled.

“She isn’t the problem,” I said without turning around.

Bridget snorted. “You haven’t been part of a pack long enough to know that all the alphas are a problem. Not just Emerson.”

“Speaking of, why are we so on guard with Emerson? Your daddy killed someone he was close to?”

“The opposite actually.” There was no point in keeping it a secret. “Emerson was close to my father.”

My response was met with utter silence, and I glanced over my shoulder. “What? You thought my father got away with all of his atrocious crimes for so long because he was smart? He had friends in high places. Until Jax came along, they protected him.”

“Shit, really?” Amelia’s snarled. “Did he lay a hand on Cora?”

“No. I didn’t see him all that often, but he wasn’t there when Dirk took Cora. To my knowledge, he didn’t actually kill anyone. He just liked to hang out with my father.”

“And you?” She asked softly. “If he touched you, you have to tell Jax.”

Climbing down from the step stool, I moved it over to the other side. “Why do you think there are so many of you guarding me? And Jax can’t do anything to him. We weren’t mates then. He didn’t even know about me then.”

“Wait a minute, this is too much of a coincidence. Emerson is friends with your father, and now, just when you’re mated to Jax, he finds the excuse to come here?”

“It’s not a sudden coincidence,” Bridget chimed in. “Anna has been Jax’s mate for years, and it hasn’t been a secret. He’s coming because of the witches, although he probably will try and take advantage of the situation. We need to be careful.”

Her phone buzzed, and she pulled it out of her pocket. “I need to take this. Assume a two-man guard until I get back,” she said before she exited the restaurant.

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