Page 188 of Ruled By The Alpha

I tighten my grip on her, imploring her with my touch to stay calm. “I’ve already spoken to Maddox about it, Eve. I... I told him where they are.” Her head snaps, eyes wide with panic. I rush on. “We can’t go back to the slums, and we can’t leave them there alone. They know the guards hung you, Eve. They know you’re aligned with the rebels.” I shake my head and squeeze her. “You can’t go back, or they’ll hurt you again. Kill you.” My voice cracks, and my eyes water at the thought of losing her.

She hangs her head, forehead resting on my shoulder. Eve’s shaking, and I send a panicked look to the alpha—our alpha—even though I don’t quite know what I’m asking of him.

He moves closer, somehow managing to wrap both of us in his arms, leaning back until we’re lying on our sides, pinned to his chest. Once that soft rumbling sound starts to rattle from him, I relax.

He can soothe her. He can soothe Eve with his purr. He’s her alpha too, and there’s supposedly no greater comfort to an omega in distress.

I don’t know how long we lie there with his deep purr settling into our bones, but Eve eventually calms.

“I... I know I can’t go back,” she whispers. “But it’s our home, Wes.”

“I know,” I reply. “At least we have each other, and soon Avery and Leah will be here too. We’ll protect them like we always have.”

“And I’ll protect you,” she promises, her voice threaded with steel, the way it always is when it comes to our safety.

“It’s my job to do the protecting, little mates.” Maddox doesn’t sound angry. Rather, he sounds amused, as if he finds our actions cute. For all I know, he does.

Not for the first time, I wonder just how different this alpha is from the other beasts we’ve heard about. He’s been nothing but kind and caring. He allowed me a shower with hot water, something I’ve never enjoyed unless I spent the time heating the water myself. Maddox even patiently cleaned Eve, and never once did his hands wander or grope. Now here we are, two distressed omegas glued together, and all this male does is offer us his purr rather than demand us to calm.

Maybe... maybe not all the alphas in Whitshell are terrible. Maybe the horror stories Eve and I heard growing up were about the ferals outside our walls, not the ones locked in with us. I mean there was that feral alpha who scaled the barrier and made it into the zones once, but the high zone alphas hunted them down and killed them, though not before it tore through the slums.

But that feral’s brutality had been mindless, random, not coordinated and perfected. Not like some of the stories we’ve heard floating around where the attacks from alphas were both smart and cruel.

I only hope that Maddox isn’t like the alphas in those stories.

*

I’m slow to wake, more comfortable than I have been in a long time. For once I feel well-rested, suffering none of the aches or pains that come from sleeping on the floor, or on a thin mattress that pokes you with its springs. It’s like I’m lying on a cloud, and I never want to move again, but I know it can’t last. There’s too much to worry about. I can’t afford to laze around, not when Eve and the twins need me.

I sit up with a small stretch, my eyes immediately finding Eve and Maddox, the former of whom is still sleeping beside me. The latter is sitting against the wall, watching me with a soft smile.

“You’re awake,” he says.

I give him a sheepish look. “I didn’t mean to fall asleep. I’d just been thinking of...”

“Thinking of what, my little mate?” His words aren’t demanding, I could easily not answer him, but part of me wants to see his reaction. To hear his defense.

“I was just wondering what kind of alpha you were. The stories...” I swallow thickly. “The stories we’re told in the slums say that alphas from the high zone are brutal and dangerous. That you kill for fun and take what you want, regardless of the consequences.”

I brace myself for his anger, but it never comes. Maddox just continues to stare at me with a thoughtful sort of look. “Alphas are brutal and dangerous,” he says eventually, “they do take what they want without consequence and kill as they please. But,” he smiles softly, “not all of them are like that. My father is a cruel man, and he doesn’t enforce enough rules on the others residing in the high zone, so that leaves the alphas with far too much time on their hands and too much aggression to cope with. There are some who protect rather than harm, and some who provide what they can for those with much less.”

“And which one are you?” Eve’s question startles me and I jolt, not having realized she was awake. She sits up with her blanket wrapped around her like armor.

He looks at her, a frown pulling down his brows. “A bit of both, unfortunately. My father demanded my compliance, and if I didn’t give it, either I was beaten or the innocents around me were. It was easier to do as he commanded, and now that I’veearned,” he spits out the word, “more freedom from him, I help where I can. I’ve occasionally looked the other way when itcomes to the rebels and their plans, because I don’t agree with how things are run in Whitshell. Things needs to change, but I’m not in a position to do much until my father passes control to me. It’s a matter of—”

A faint knock on the door interrupts whatever else the alpha was going to say. He climbs to his feet with a sigh, a blanket now wrapped around his waist, and says, “Stay here. It’s just my beta, but I don’t want you to leave the safety of the den, just in case.”

Without another glance, he exits the nest and closes the door behind him, leaving me and Eve alone for the first time since this all started.

Chapter 9

Evelyn

“I don’t blame you.” My words seem to startle Wes, and he eyes me as if he doesn’t believe me. “I don’t. You saved my life, and I’ll never forget that.”

“I…” He swallows thickly. “I just couldn’t let you die, even if you hated me for forcing a bond on you.”

I scoot closer and pull him into my arms. “All I could think about when I was hanging there was how I’d let you and my sisters down. I’ve never felt as powerless as I did then. I thought I’d never see you again.”

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