Page 38 of Alpha's Baby Girl
Kato blasted a hole through the ceiling, but no injured noise or thud came from.
“Your precious mate has been working with me this whole time, an insider in your own pack. Your mate no less.” I knew it, but hearing it confirmed only turned my blood cold. “A year and a half ago, a pathetic drenched she-wolf came to me and begged for something to take her heartbreak away.” Kato petted through Thalia’s hair almost tenderly. I snarled at him. I would break his fingers slowly and carefully the minute she was out of his range and grasp. “I think she was looking for some miracle cure but what I gave her instead was a purpose. I gave her the thought of revenge. Revenge against the man who hurt her, humiliated her, broke her heart. She was so, so hurt, Fenrys, all because of an immature alpha who couldn’t handle his own biology.
“So, I gave her an option. She could go home, continue to lick her wounds, and try to forget about the mate who had rejected her—and you must know howawfulthat would hurt—or she could work for me, and I would make her stronger both as a wolf and a woman, and when the time came, I would get her into the Mating Games to meet you again.”
“Fenrys—it didn’t happen the way he’s saying,” Thalia protested, but I figuredyesit was. I had broken her heart. I had seen her heartache and hatred, her anger that had burned like a spark during that first banquet. I had seen her hurt in the lake, pulling away from me during the first trial.
“Isn’t it, Thalia?” Kato asked. He leveled a look at me. “Tell him about the bracelet.”
I cocked my head at her, a silent question.
“It was your mating gift, Fenrys.”
Thalia only looked at me, her eyes wide and afraid, shaking her head. “I promise I changed my mind,” she protested. Her voice was ragged from screaming, and it cut right through me. “Yes—he’s right, partially. But he’s telling it wrong. Fenrys, I was so hurt—”
“It was a silver bracelet, Fenrys.”
I even reared back from that. As a wolf she would know the pain that could cause. But that would have been the point. She would have rendered me all but paralyzed.
“It started this way,” Thalia said, tears smearing her pretty makeup. She was curled up, her hands clasping her stomach so protectively. “I can’t deny that, and I won’t ever stop making it up to you. I wanted to hurt you the way you had hurt me. Fenrys, it wasexcruciatingwhat you did.
“But the Games changed it all for me. I wanted to tell you it all. I didn’t want to betray you. Fenrys, I’ve fallen in love with you. Years ago, even weeks ago, I thought I could hate you forever. I didn’t expect to fall for you.
“All I want is to be with you and our baby. Our very own cub, Fenrys.” She tried to smile, sobbing through it. “I wanted to stop this order from Kato. I didn’t want to cause you any pain once I got to know you. And I’m sorry that I ever intended to.”
Once again, the gun cocked. “How sweet,” Kato drawled. “Except this fairytale ending won’t be happening.”
Once again the muzzle of the gun was at Thalia’s head, and I roared.
Upstairs, more crashes sounded, distracting Kato for longer. For a split second, he was distracted. I launched for Kato and threw him to the floor. His gun went off, and Thalia screamed. Her scream was all it took for Kato to throw me off and shift.
I faced down a dark gray wolf taller than me, even. His muzzle pulled back, exposing sharp canines. He growled at me, and I met it, circling him. My tail flicked threateningly. Thalia scrambled away. At the back of the room, more figures emerged, wolves and humans alike slinking out from the shadows.
I didn’t look away from Kato long enough to figure out who was part of my pack and who wasn’t. But when the snapping teeth and whines filled the basement, I knew they were fighting for me. For me, my mate, and my unborn child that Thalia carried. I could only hope they got her to relative safety until I could.
We lunged for each other at the same moment in a clash of snapping jaws and swiping claws. I bit his shoulder, and the sound of bone crunching was satisfying. I roared in protection of Thalia and used my whole body weight to slam Kato against the wall and pin him.
His dark eyes held no fear.
He exposed his teeth at me again as he swiped his claws over my flank. I yelped and slunk back at the pain lancing along my muscle. He bucked me off but I pounced again, vicious and angry. We were a mess of snapping and growls as we rolled over each other, landing in the middle of the floor. Around us, my pack fought. Blood spilled, wolves tore humans apart, and I saw someone grapple for Kato’s discarded gun just as I got Kato pinned beneath me again.
I let my weight crush him, grappling as he tried to pull free.
The gun went off.
A burst of pain went through my ribs.
With a cry of pain and a surge of adrenaline, I bit into Kato’s throat, killing him.
Only when his whines and struggle ceased did I take stock of the fact that someone had shot me.
I looked down at the blood spilling on the floor. My eyes found my mate seconds before the gunshot wound’s pain rushed me. My vision swam, and I let out a whine as I collapsed.
Chapter 21 - Thalia
While he was unconscious, Fenrys shifted from the pain, his human body working overtime to heal itself even as blood spilled from the wound.
Behind him, Kato’s lifeless body slumped, his throat a savage brutal mess.
