Page 97 of The Alpha King's Fate

Samuel didn’t visit his lover. He’d taken Irvine’s phone, but it didn’t ring. No one even went to borrow a cup of sugar. Fucking no one.

Either Irvine fed him bullshit, or he wasn’t as important as he’d thought.

His phone vibrated again but he didn’t bother looking at it. Dylan called him what felt like every minute since that morning.

It was his fault. The pack deserved better than him. He should have officially made his friend the Alpha before he’d left, but hehadn’t been thinking straight. He still wasn't. His rage hadn’t abated since he found out they had taken his mate.

After what felt like forever, he caught movement from someone other than human. He turned back and stiffened. This had to be it. Someone had to come and lead him to Layla before he lost his mind.

The person’s steps were light. It was someone experienced, someone who knew how to stalk and hunt. He tilted his head in the direction they were coming from and sniffed the air. They were downwind, he couldn’t catch their scent, but he sensed the danger around them.

He lowered to his haunches and waited. He wouldn’t kill this one. He’d follow him and hope he led him in the right direction.

It took forever for the Hunter to come close enough to him, but when he did, his scent drifted towards him. It was familiar and unwelcome.

His fists clenched as he turned his attention back to Irvine’s house. His next step would be to involve the human police. If they started a murder investigation, the news would reach the Hunters. They hated messes like this as much as wolves did.

‘Alpha?’

‘Go back home.’

‘I’ve come to keep watch while you go and deal with The Circle.’

He turned around to his Gamma, the red bleeding into his vision even though Gavin had his head lowered.

‘You should be at home helping Dylan deal with them. It’s your job as my Gamma!’

‘Beta Dylan can’t deal with this, Alpha. Things are...’

He turned back to the house without responding. The fact that they thought he could even worry about anything else showed how little they knew about what he was going through. Gavin had a mate, but she was his chosen one. He didn’t know what atrue bond was. He didn’t know what it meant for his mate to be the only reason he lived.

He didn’t know he would let the pack burn to save Layla.

Layla came first, no matter how possessive he and Cain were of the pack.

He was no good for them.

‘We have a plan, Alpha.’

‘I have a plan. Go home. You can’t do anything here.’

‘I will keep watch. And when the Hunters come, I’ll call you.’

“And what will you do when they take you, too?” he growled aloud, turning back to his Gamma.

“Then I will let them take me.”

His angry words died on his lips as his Gamma lifted his head.

“I know why you haven’t been able to look at me this past year,” Gavin said softly. “Micah was my friend, too.”

He turned away from his Gamma and looked back at the house. Micah had been more than a friend, and the last thing he wanted to do was talk about him with Gavin.

“You trusted me with the Queen’s life when you hid her. I spent months with her, ready to give up my life for her. I want to get her back, too. Let me do this for you, Alpha.”

“So how will that help her? You think everyone who got caught can’t fight? They took some of our best warriors already. We have no idea what they’re doing to them!” he hissed.

‘I had a tracker implanted in my tooth,’ Gavin said in the mind link. ‘I want them to take me.’

---