Page 13 of The Alpha King's Mate

A long pause. “He took something that didn’t belong to him. Something that is mine. I don’t care if the omega’s wearing his Easter best and begging you pretty, pretty please on his fucking knees, I want him gone. All of them. An order is an order.”

“Your order was to kill the alpha.”

“When did I say that? I said end the thief. Kill everyone in the house and burn it down. You’re good at that, aren’t you?”

Fuck.

“I’ll take care of it.”

The asshole fucking chuckled. “See that you do.”

The line went dead, but I already had in mind what I wanted to do.

“Talk to me, King.” Hammer answered on the first ring.

“I can’t do this. Put me on speaker. We need to move on a rescue like five minutes ago.”

“What happened?” he asked, but I could hear his hurried footsteps heading toward wherever the others were.

“I found him—the one who stole from our bosses, but…”

“But what?” Tyrus got in on the conversation.

“There’s an omega and three little ones. That’s who they want me to kill. I might be a monster, but I’m not murdering an omega and his kids. I’m not doing it. We have to get in here and get them all out. I can’t.” My voice broke with the last two words.

“Send us your location by GPS. Quick meeting and then we’ll get to you. Hold tight.”

My mission changed in the blink of an eye. Thieves, I didn’t mind taking out, but the omega had to have a reason to steal from them.

Maybe he fled with his children.

Hell, I didn’t understand it yet, but there was one thing I did know—it would be a cold day in hell before I killed a father and his kids.

The bosses could cram that fact up their asses and sing it a song if they wanted to.

Until then, I would wait to keep them secure. Make sure the bosses didn’t send another hit man to see if I did the job.

My brothers would be here soon. Then we would get to the bottom of all this.

Chapter Eleven

Ryan

It was my night for a perimeter run, and I was glad for it. It would give my bear something to do that wasn’t thinking about King and his mission. He didn’t share what it was with me and I didn’t think he was allowed to. The alphas tended to meet in private, with few omegas by their sides, those omegas being their mates. I wasn’t privy to what they spoke about.

Until now, I didn’t care about that. Why should I? My job was to help the house run, to keep the children feeling safe, and to do what was needed. It wasn’t to be part of every single meeting they had.

But now that I understood that those meetings discussed the safety of not only them but specifically my mate? Now I beyond cared. I didn’t like being left in the dark even though I understood all the reasons I had to be.

This run was going to be good for me. When my beast took over, I could fall back and just be. He took the job seriously, and he’d keep me down as he scented the air and the ground, making sure no one who shouldn’t be on our grounds was. It forced me away from my worries.

Running the perimeter was fairly new for me. It had taken a while for me to convince everyone that I was up for the job. They saw me as a kid when I got here. And in a way, I had been—barely eighteen, not quite a man—but also, not a child. And really, I’d lived so many lifetimes in those eighteen years that, in a lot of ways, I was well into adulthood. I’d lost loved ones, fended for myself, faced unthinkable abuse at the hands of both loved ones and strangers, and helped get six precious cubs to safety. That was far from your typical kid stuff.

Thankfully, they didn’t see me that way for long. As I got older and the kids settled in, they gave me more and more responsibilities. At first, they apologized, like they were asking too much of me. I assured them that I not only wanted to help but needed to and slowly but surely, they added more and more to my duties under the condition that I didn’t skip my counseling, which I never did. I understood how easily the darkness could slip back in all too well. You can’t go through what I had without it leaving a mark.

Eventually they agreed to the runs, first letting me go with someone, and now on my own. As omegas, we took turns taking care of the kids—not that they needed anything this time of night. They were sound asleep, but someone would be there if they woke up. That was important to all of us. We refused for them ever to feel alone again.

As I entered the lobby, the energy there was off. It felt like something was happening but nothing I could pinpoint directly. Still, something.

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