Page 17 of Marked By the Alphas

My brows shot up in confusion. When had they had time to meet?

Why is she here? Rhys asked through the mind link, and I scoffed.

“Trust me, I’m not particularly happy about this either,” I responded out loud grudgingly as I walked past him.

The walk to the conference room where the meeting was supposed to take place seemed even longer than the drive here.Elara walked a step ahead of me with Rowan leading us all through the corridors. Her presence was a constant reminder of the raging desires warring within me.

The moment we stepped into the room, the atmosphere shifted. Gasps rippled through the air, and all the officials gathered there turned in surprise. Several of them locked gazes with me, a silent question in the air. I could see the way their scrutiny caused Elara to move closer to Rowan. I knew that they disapproved of Elara’s presence, but their focus on us was unsettling.

I cleared my throat as we settled into our seats before speaking. “We have some very important matters to discuss today…”

“So why did you bring the Omega here? You know we’ll be discussing important matters,” Daniel, one of the officials interrupted me, and I looked at him disapprovingly.

“You would know that by now if you hadn’t interrupted me,” I said, my voice calm but cold enough to send a clear message. Daniel muttered a quick apology, and I sighed before speaking again.

“A week ago, an Omega was found lying just by our borders. She was injured and unconscious. We nursed her back to health and upon questioning her, found out she had been traveling north when she stumbled into the wrong territory and was chased until she collapsed. Her name is Elara, and we’ve decided to keep her with us in this pack for her safety,” I finished. A collective murmur went up in the air.

“Alpha Kai, we suggest that you three think more about this before you make this decision. This Omega…” Freya paused, her gaze flitting to Elara as she spoke, “…her presence is a significant threat to the pack’s well-being.”

“Threat? Look at her, Freya. She’s half the size of everybody in this room. Who exactly does she threaten?” Rowan said. Another murmur went up in the air.

A part of me was already prepared for this hostile reaction. We were a close-knit pack that had gone through some rough years and change was something the majority of people here didn’t do well with. They hated and feared the unknown. It was almost like a disease. I knew that none of them had any personal hatred toward Elara, they merely feared the change her presence would bring.

“She’s an anomaly here. Keeping her here with such a potent scent around different Alphas who haven’t experienced an Omega in generations is just asking for trouble. We have no responsibility to her. She just happens to be a traveling Omega girl that sought out refuge in our borders. We’ve done well enough for her, nursed her back to health. Let her be on her way and continue her journey. You could send a warrior or two to lead her safely until she’s out of our territory and that’s it. No need to disrupt the flow of things within the pack,” another official said. A look passed between Rhys, Rowan, and myself.

“Well, that’s where you’re wrong. She’s not just some traveling Omega girl. She bears the mark of the prophecy,” Rhys revealed, and a collective gasp went up in the air.

“And she’s mated to all three of us,” I added, and a commotion erupted at our revelation.

“This is madness!”

“She’s going to be nothing but trouble.”

I’d had enough. I was hoping it would be a civil enough conversation that didn’t have to escalate, but it was obvious I had to reschedule the meeting to give them all a moment to process the information they had just learned. Maybe then they would be more accepting, or at least less reactive. I stood up from my position to restore the room back to order, but from the corner of my eye, I watched as Daniel moved from his seat to pull Elara off hers.

“She doesn’t belong here. She’s going to be our doom. Let her go back to where she’s from. Mark of the prophecy or not, she can’t stay here!” he shouted as he pulled Elara with him. The girl struggled against him, but Daniel was much bigger than she was.

It happened so fast. I watched as Rhys and Rowan approach to stop him, but seeing his arms wrap around Elara and tug so aggressively made me see red. In the next moment before I could think through the action, I lunged out of my chair and in his direction, my fist connecting with his jaw. The sickening crack of bones breaking echoed through the hall, stunning everybody into silence.

Chapter 10

Rhys

Get her out. We’ll handle the situation here and join you at home. Rowan’s voice filtered through our mind link as Kai tossed me the keys to the car, which I caught mid-air. I immediately held onto Elara, who Daniel had thankfully let go of after Kai’s attack.

“Come on. Let’s get out of here,” I said to her, and she nodded rapidly, taking the hand that I offered and following me out of the hall that had now erupted into complete commotion.

She looked back to Kai and Rowan, hesitating when she got to the door, but I tugged on her carefully, urging her to leave the room.

Once we were outside, I headed toward Kai’s car which had been parked in the corner. I ushered her in, noting the way she frowned as she entered the car.

“What about Rowan and Kai? Don’t we have to wait for them?” she asked, looking out of the window like she was expecting them to walk out of the building.

“They’ll be fine,” I assured her as I pulled the car out of the parking lot and into the street.

We rode in silence for a bit, and I noticed how she kept fiddling with her fingers. She looked sad, and the defeated set to her shoulders was very unlike the way she usually held herself. I felt guilty about the ordeal she had just been put through.

“You seem shaken,” I said carefully, and she let out a small sigh, tracing an invisible pattern on the door panel.

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