Page 4 of Fall of the Alpha

“Just don’t ruin your diet,” Kenet reminded her in a patronizing tone that made Alek bristle. “Remember, you wanted to slim down before the party.” Bella ducked her head and nodded, falling silent again, which made Alek want to punchKenet in the mouth. Maybe Bella wanted Kenet to help keep her from overeating.

Though why it should matter to her that she slimmed down before a party was a mystery to Alek. Especially because he thought she looked just fine as she was. More than fine.

Not that he spent a lot of time noticing her since he had a girlfriend, but he’d have to be blind not to see that she was highly attractive.

It reminded him of why he hadn’t been thrilled when Liana said she wanted to take a couples trip with Kenet. The other male was not one of his favorite people to spend time with, though he normally didn’t grate on Alek’s nerves the way he was right now. Maybe there was something in the air. Or maybe he’d thought Kenet would drop the pretentiousness once they were out of the zones.

“So, what do you want to do after eating?” Liana asked, looking around at the people moving through the streets. “There’s supposed to be an amazing market not far from our dwelling. Or we could just walk around and see if we spot any Alphas or something interesting to do. Did you see the fliers about the fight night tomorrow?”

“No, what fliers?” Alek frowned. Then again, he’d been watching the other Betas more than he’d been looking at anything else. He’d been looking out for Alphas or danger, not paying attention to advertisements.

“There was a whole wall covered with them. How did you miss it?” Liana shook her head, waving her hand back the way they’d come to the eatery.

“I saw them,” Kenet said eagerly. “We should definitely go. I bet there are Alphas fighting. Do you think they use Omegas as the prize for the winner?”

“I hope not. That would be awful!” Bella appeared as appalled and shocked at Kenet’s statement as Alek felt. Her headjerked up, brown eyes wide as she stared at her boyfriend. Kenet shrugged.

“That’s how it is here, right?” His tone was more than a little dismissive. “They chose to live here instead of coming to the zones and taking suppressors, so they could be part of a civilized society.”

“You know we can’t take everyone into the Zones. They wouldn’t all fit,” Alek said sternly. Bella looked upset at Kenet’s attitude about the poor theoretical Omegas. “So no, not all of them can move to the Zones.”

“We could expand the Zones if more of them were interested.” Kenet sneered.

“Beyond the wall?” That didn’t make any sense. Not that it seemed to matter to Kenet, who was frowning back at him as ifhewas the illogical one. Did he really think the Territories would welcome the Zones’ influence moving beyond the wall?

Granted, Kenet had a point that many of them weren’t interested in changing how they lived, but logistically, it was impossible.

“Ugh, let’s not talk about boring stuff,” Liana interjected, cutting off what was likely about to turn into a heated debate. Pressing his lips together, Alek sat back in his seat, bowing to her request. “We don’t know what the prizes are. Maybe they fight for money. But it sounds exciting, and we don’t have anything like it in Zone One. I want to go to a fight night.”

That didn’t sound particularly interesting to Alek, but this trip was to celebrate Liana’s birthing day, and what she wanted she was going to get. He was sure his father would question him about how the trip went as soon as they returned. Alek needed to make Liana happy because she was very likely going to be his mate if his father had anything to say about it. It wasn’t a bad fate, and she’d make a good mate, even if their interests didn’talways align. Neither did his parents’, and they got along well enough.

Look at Kenet and Bella. They seemed even more opposite than Alek and Liana, yet they were together.

“Sure. A fight night. Let’s go check out the fliers after this,” he said, holding back his sigh. Both Kenet and Liana brightened and started chattering about what a fight night might be like. Bella picked at her food, apparently no longer interested in eating. Alek did sigh now that no one was paying attention to him, leaning back in his chair and looking around.

Something prickled along the back of his neck, like a warning that someone was watching them, but when he turned to look, he didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. He turned back and watched a very tall woman striding across the street toward the eatery. She wasn’t looking at him either, but he got the sense she was somehow seeing everything and everyone as she walked. There was supreme confidence in her gait, as if she expected everyone to move out of her way—and they did without seemingly realizing it.

He knew there was no such thing as female Alphas, but if there was, that’s how he would picture one.

She went into the eatery, walking by him and the others without a second glance. The prickle remained on the back of his neck, and he glanced over his shoulder again.

Nothing.

Maybe he was becoming as paranoid as his father.

4

TAKEN

Bella

What is happening to me?

They’d been walking back to their stayplace when a sudden wave of dizziness hit Bella. It was nothing like she’d ever felt before. Her feet were still moving, but she could barely breathe. She certainly could not focus.

Beside her, she could feel Kenet listing to the side as well, an unstable place to lean.

They were so close to the stayplace, nearly to the walkway. She blinked. Weren’t they? One moment it looked close, and the next moment, it looked so far away.

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