Page 210 of The Alpha's Pen Pal

Sarina lowered her head but kept eye contact with me. She was a fearless thing. I’d give her that.

“I’m telling the truth,” she gritted out.

I gave her a low growl as I turned to look back at the Wainwrights, at the unassuming blonde woman and brunette man who had made my mate’s life less than perfect. Who I suspected had kept us apart after they adopted her.

I would find that out for sure. Why they didn’t send her letters. Why they lied to her and told her I didn’t care about her, told her I wasn’t really her friend. Why they felt the need to manipulate a scared, emotionally scarred nine-year-old girl like that.

“Wes, lighten up. I told you I trust her,” Sebastian mindlinked me.

“That’s something someone who has been getting some from a certain sexy, busty, roguish she-wolf would say,” Reid pointed out.

“I’m not-I’m not getting some. I just trust her. I believe her.” Seb sighed, clenching his fists.

“Just because you do doesn’t mean I have to,” I replied. “It’s too convenient. Too obvious.”

“Wes has a point,” Nolan said, agreeing with me. “Your dad couldn’t find them. Even the council was looking into them further after they spoke with Haven. And some little rogue and her band of merry misfits just happen to see them trying to cross your borders? They just let themselves be caught by her ragtag group and walked nicely onto the pack grounds?”

“I mean, yeah, that is sort of what happened,”Sebastian mumbled.“Look, I know it all seems too easy and too convenient, and like it could be a setup, like Sarina and her friends may be working with them or for them or whatever, but I’ve always trusted my intuition, and my intuition has never failed me.”

“Wesley. Haven.”

My dad’s deep, commanding voice pulled me out of my mindlink conversation with my brother and my friends. We all turned to look at him as he descended the stairs, his steps hurried and his face displaying urgency.

“I’m sorry.” He sighed. “I know you want to question the Wainwrights, want to get to the bottom of this, but the king is here, and he wants to speak with you now.”

“Right now?” I asked in exasperation.

“Yes, right now.” He looked around the room, and his eyes landed on Sarina and her friend. “You too,” he added, pointing at her.

She shrugged, and I sighed but followed my dad out of the cells, hand in hand with my mate, everyone following along behind us.

“Are you all right?” I asked Haven as we walked to the packhouse.

“Mostly,” she replied, squeezing my hand. “What will we tell the king?” she asked, looking up at me with her gorgeous blue eyes.

I swallowed and glanced back towards the others behind us, checking how close Sarina and Riven were. “I still think what I said before. That we shouldn’t tell anyone beyond those who need to know. It’s the easiest way for me to keep you safe.”

She nodded. “I agree, but can’t the king alpha command it out of you? Didn’t you say his command was the most powerful and could override the command of a pack alpha?”

I clenched my jaw, a nerve twinging at how tightly I held it closed. “Let’s just hope he doesn’t,” I gritted out, dropping her hand and wrapping my arm around her shoulder, pulling her into my side as we walked.

We all filed into my dad’s office, where King Malachi Goodrich stood near the window with Frederick. He was a tall and imposing lycan, dressed in a business suit, but I knew from our few visits to the palace as a child that underneath those clothes was an intimidating and powerful male with bulky muscles covered in tattoos.

“Alpha King Malachi,” I greeted him, nodding my head in a low bow as he turned to look at us. “You wished to see us?”

“Wesley,” he said, giving me a curt nod. “The last time I saw you, you had just had your first shift,” he reminisced, looking me over. “And you must be Haven, his future luna?” he said, turning to my mate.

She nodded. “Yes, sir.”

“The ballerina in Peter’s company?” he asked.

“You know Peter?” she queried.

“Everyone knows Peter.” He laughed.

“More like Peter knows everyone,” Frederick corrected. “That’s what happens when you’re an ancient, very wealthy vampire. You make connections.”

“Anyway, congratulations,” King Malachi told her with a smile. “To both of you,” he added, looking back at me.

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