Page 28 of Fated to the Enemy Alpha

“Really, Stephen, I expected better performance from you,” Magnus continued.

His words felt like a slap. All the warmth of gratitude shattered, replaced with frustration and anger. All I wanted was to hold Lina’s hand again and bask in the relief of knowing she was safe, but I couldn’t in front of Magnus. The walls closed in on me, igniting rage within.

I clenched my jaw, battling the tension while Magnus continued to dissect my failure. The weight of my emotions was in danger of bubbling up, but as usual, I had to bury them. But never had my mask of dutiful son been as hard to maintain as it was now. My hatred burned toward him for intruding on my relief and on my moment with Lina. Lina needed her rest and didn’t need my father’s abrasive words to disturb her.

I suggested, “Let’s go next door into the waiting room outside so that your intended can rest.”

Your intended.

Those words seemed to burn like wolfsbane through me as I tried not to let how much she meant to me show once again. I took the metal dish, tweezers, and antiseptic wipes out with me, feeling as if I’d rather suffer a thousand lacerations with these slivers of glass burrowing in than face the wrath that I knew was coming.

Chapter 11

Lina

The sterile smell of antiseptic swathed the air, yet I found myself quietly relieved to find myself nestled in the scratchy hospital linen sheets. The muted beeping of the monitors and the overly harsh white light surrounding me felt oddly reassuring because the hospital bed was exactly where I’d planned to be.

Over the weekend, I coordinated with Emily and Matthew for a team to target our car on the way to the airport. By sustaining this injury from my very own company, I hoped to deflect Magnus’s suspicion from me.

Matthew had warned me that the wolfsbane would leave my limbs aching, but he had seriously undersold how achy. I felt as if I’d run a marathon or as if my wolf had been sprinting through the forest for hours.

I closed my eyes, briefly letting the warmth of the cover over me ground me in comfort, but the murmur of voices from the adjacent room broke into my reverie. My heart quickened as I strained to listen, tension coiling in my stomach.

“—You should have been able to apprehend them, Stephen!” Magnus’s voice thrummed with a deep, simmering rage, echoing off the stark walls.

“There wasn’t time; the priority was protecting your future mate,” Stephen replied, his tone steady. But something about the steady pacing of his words told me that burning fire I’d sensed so often in him was dangerously close to the surface.

I flinched at Stephen’s words. Future mate. Even though that was the part I’d been playing, those words from his lips made me feel ill. But I reminded myself that my life—and my mother’s freedom—was entwined in maintaining that cover.

My heartbeat had quickened, something which the annoying beep of the heartbeat monitor echoed. With effort, I focused on breathing more deeply, congratulating myself as the beeping slowed.

With conscious breaths, I forced calm over my body, determined to take the opportunity that my being here with Magnus and Stephen in the next room presented.

“This company has been sabotaging us for years. Yet, all three attackers escaped. This was poorly done, Stephen,” Magnus rebuked again.

So, Magnus had already deduced that my shadow company was behind the attack. Yet, even as I knew that I should be thinking about myself and how well this should divert Magnus’s suspicion away from me being involved with the shadow company, my thoughts turned to Stephen. Magnus said that he’d done poorly, but he’d protected me so fiercely that he’d made it almost impossible for my employee to shoot me.

I hadn’t counted on how selfless Stephen would be. He’d grabbed me and pulled me out of the car before I could stop him. Paul had been meant to shoot me through the window, but suddenly, I’d been on the other side of the vehicle, with Stephen shielding me as best as he could. It was only while Stephen had been shooting at one of my employees that I’d been able to angle my body in front of the window so that Paul could shoot me.

Suddenly, Stephen’s stricken face was in my thoughts as I recalled the moment he’d realized I’d been shot. My heart squeezed as I remembered him urging, “Keep the pressure on.” A moment later, he’d been firing at Paul again. I’d heard his shout as he shot him. I hoped he wasn’t too badly injured, but I’d been in no position to intervene as the wolfsbane was already making me feel like I was on fire. The plan had been for them to drive away once they’d shot me, but Stephen’s overzealous, protective instincts had injured two of my guys. Even as I hoped they were okay, I couldn’t find it in me to dislike Stephen’s behavior because it meant that he cared.

Tenderness seared through me as flashes of the drive here to the hospital came back. His voice had reached through the darkness as he’d reassured me. “Hold on, Lina. You’re going to be okay, Darlin’.” I remembered the catch in his voice as if he were struggling to keep his emotions in check. As if… I mattered.

“I’m sorry I failed again to protect your mate, Alpha,” Stephen said.

Again?

What did he mean by that? Besides, he hadn’t failed. He’d gone above and beyond in defending me.

I’d seen the protectiveness stealing through every inch of his powerful body as he took the shots. His body angled over me as he tried to shield me from harm. My wolf surged up, a sudden excitement tripping through her as she thought of the ferocity with which Stephen had protected us and how much she needed him next to her again.

Magnus’s voice sounded again, “Well, there’s other business to talk about—”

The heart rate monitor suddenly increased in a hurried tempo as my wolf’s want pummelled through me.

In the other room, Magnus’s voice trailed off, and a moment later, footsteps brought him into the room. He was closely followed by Stephen.

“Alpha?” I croaked, feigning disorientation and only half pretending that sleep was making me bleary-eyed. The poison was still making my head too heavy. The simple effort of lifting myself up in bed slightly on my arms caused me to groan. “What happened?”

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