Page 40 of The Beta's Heart

Then the air shifted, and we renewed our efforts, buoyed by the knowledge that the alphas had arrived, and they weren’t alone. The king himself was here, along with his younger brother, Ranger, and two wolves I didn’t recognize.

Alpha Jay had shifted into his big, white wolf, and Quartz didn’t spare a second before he launched into battle and began rippingout throats. Alpha Cole’s wolf, Topaz, immediately darted around the side of the dinner, making me wonder why, but my curiosity was cut short when a Tall Pines wolf lunged at me and I had to focus.

Border patrol’s here!Em’s voice cut through the link, signaling we were about to change our strategy with the arrival of reinforcements.

After that, the tide swiftly turned in our favor, and we fought the intruders until they were all dead or taken captive, bound and gagged and ready for transport to our cells. Once we’d shifted back to fully human, Matthew took over the prisoners, barking out orders and making sure they were secured for questioning later.

Quartz wasn’t so ready for the fight to end and roared his fury as Alpha Mase and a few others tried to calm him down, but I was more focused on the news that Peri and the girls had fled out the back of the diner and across the field towards our border.

My heart clenched with worry for both my luna and Peri, then a thunderous roar brought us all to our knees as the king’s unique triad of royal, moon, and alpha power rumbled around the impromptu battlefield.

“WHERE IS SHE?” King Julian’s voice boomed.

“Forgot to mention the king scented his mate at our place,” Alpha Mase grunted.

When the tension popped as suddenly as a balloon, Crew looked over at me and smirked.

“Looks like he found her, too,” he snickered.

I nodded, but was too jacked up on adrenaline to talk.

“Ash, Wyatt, and Topaz are with Posy,” Alpha Mase called out next, making all of us breathe a sigh of relief before his next words dug into me like razor-edged claws. “She’s unconscious. They think she hit her head.”

We should have protected her better!I berated myself.

Girls not wait like Em told dem to,River disagreed, back to his happy baby self now that the fight was over.Bad girls not listen.

They did what they thought was best to protect luna.

And keen.

Keen?I echoed.

One of the hardest things about sharing headspace with River was his poor communication skills. I’d tried over and over to improve his speech, but none of my lessons or activities made any difference, and I often felt like I was interpreting a foreign language.

Keen,he repeated, bouncing around in my head.King Julie’s mate.

Ohh! Thequeen.I huffed out a chuckle.Yes, I guess we have one now.

Yep-yep, Ty-Ty. Keen Lilah. Pretty, pretty keen for King Julie.

I shook my head as he turned that into a little song and happily sang it to himself.

As soon as Alpha Wyatt came around the side of the diner carrying luna, my beta brothers and I hustled over to his side to see her with our own eyes. Not liking the bloody lump on the side of her head at all, I let out a little growl that blended in with the other betas’ sounds of disapproval.

We followed alpha to the SUV they’d arrived in, and I opened the door for him as Alpha Ash and Topaz bounded over and climbed in, too. Only after our luna was safely on her way out of here did I allow myself to focus elsewhere.

“I’m going to see what’s happening in the back,” I said. “Make sure the other girls are okay.”

“I’ll come with you,” Em told me and waved one hand around the diner’s parking lot, which was full of dead bodies. “The gammas are going to help the pack’s corps of deltas set up an emergency first-aid station, so we’re free of duty for the moment.”

He didn’t have to tell me twice. I was a blur of movement as I hustled off, leaving Beta Beast to eat my dust.

#

The aftermath of the battle still buzzing through me, I rounded the corner of Roger’s Diner, eyes scanning the area for any signs of danger or wounded. The tall, scrubby grasses rustled gently in the breeze, a stark contrast to the chaos we’d just endured.

The border patrol were doing the same thing I was, combing the field for survivors in a grid pattern, so I went to the far side they hadn’t gotten to yet, my nose hard at work as I tried to scent a certain someone.

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