Page 83 of Rejected By the Alpha King

“She asked about the Darkwyn coven. London Elwes seems nice.”

“By the time this alpha meeting is over with, he’ll probably offer you a place in his pack.”

“That’s sweet. Oh, you’re doing the jealous mate thing again. So two alphas down, and one to go.”

Yes, Emerson Triggs. I had come up with a number of ways for him to have an accident while he was here, but really, I wanted to do the murder myself. Publicly. Tortuously.

“You don’t have to stay here and wait. In fact, I’m not sure I want you to wait for him at all. I talked to Finn. He’s willing to meet with Maeve, but not until tonight. Why don’t you and he work at The Fanged Smile, and I’ll come get you for dinner.”

“Thank you. I’m getting jittery waiting around here,” she sighed. “Now I’m going to be jittery waiting around the restaurant.”

“Is there anything I can do to make you less jittery?”

“Sure.” Raising her head, she smiled at me. “You can tell me what you’re thinking when you look at me with such annoyance.”

“I’ll see you tonight.”

Another car pulled up, and Anna rolled her eyes. “There’s my ride. If there’s a dress code for this dinner tonight, you’ll have to give me some time to change.”

Bridget and Amelia climbed out of the car and scowled at me. They both made it clear this morning that they didn’t want to babysit the mate while the other alphas were here.

Anna could clearly tell. “Well, this should be fun. I’ll see you for dinner tonight so we can play the happy couple.”

With a sour note, she waltzed away, and I blew out my breath. I wanted to keep Anna close with Emerson coming, but she didn’t need to see him. Maybe I was an idiot for even making her see him at dinner, but I wanted him to know that she was under my protection.

For the rest of her life. Even if she wasn’t here.

Hours later, Emerson still hadn’t shown. London, Maeve, and I sat around my conference table and argued without him, although there was nothing that we could do without a vote of all the alphas.

“Are we not putting too much trust in the Darkwyn coven?” London growled. “Would it not be best to kick them out to the mountains?”

“And how do you propose we do that?” Jax asked dryly. “We don’t own the whole mountains, and I imagine that might upset our own witches. Besides, they’re the ones warning us that something is brewing.”

“Or sending us on a wild goose chase,” London argued. “One witch is dead and another was terrorized. Maybe they are behind it. Amassing more power to take the mountains for themselves.”

Maeve raised an eyebrow. “Does this have anything to do with the week you spent at the coven den?”

“Excuse me?” London glared at her. “And how do you know that?”

“I have my sources.” Maeve inspected the ring on her hand and frowned. “All of this is pointless. We can’t make a decision without Emerson. Just where the hell is he?”

Jax had the same damn question. There was an unsettled feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Emerson did nothing without a reason, so if he was late, he had something up his sleeve.

“Call him again,” London insisted. “Maybe there was an incident.”

“Like what, they ran out of gas?” Jax tried not to growl. None of them trusted each other, so they all knew that Emerson was up to something.

“He has a history with your mate, doesn’t he?” Maeve asked with an innocence that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Do you think that would be a problem?”

“Maeve, you do hear the most interesting things, don’t you?” I tried to keep the fury out of my voice. “Perhaps you’d like to expand on what you’ve heard or explain where you heard it from?”

“Just whispers in the wind.” She waved her hand. “It’s nothing to worry about. Many wolves have enjoyed themselves before they found their mates.”

My wolf rushed to the surface, but London cleared his throat before I could launch across the table and snap Maeve’s neck. “And here, I thought your focus would be on Finn,” London said neutrally. “He is here, isn’t he? I’m certain you’ve missed him.”

She hissed, but before she could do anything, the door opened, and Jenson raced in. “Alphas. Sorry for the interruption.”

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