Page 49 of Manix
Row after row of Mexican marigolds had been planted along the fire road that formed the edges of Manix territory. It would have taken all day to plant these, and that level of dedication to causing someone terror? That spoke of a psychopath, an obsessive one at that. Seven hadn’t stopped growling since Merrick and Murphy had called us down here to look at it. I understood—it made my Beast claw at my chest with the urge to shift.
“Are we going to tell her?” my Beta asked, and I shook my head immediately. She was finally happy, secure in our situation and our growing feelings for her. This display? It would send her running as far and as fast as she could. That was unacceptable to both sides of me.
Murphy came over, his eyes on the area outside our wards. I could feel that fucker's eyes on me too. Seven said he couldn’t smell him on the wind, but I could sense it. He was out there.
So I gave the mountains the finger, and hoped he could see it. Then I turned and walked back to my ATV, Murphy and Merrick beside me.
Seven continued to growl at those fucking flowers, plucking one out of the ground and throwing it in the river that ran along the other side of the road. “Fuck you! She’s ours now, you fucking psycho,” he yelled to seemingly no one, then stomped back toward me.
I looked back at Merrick and Murphy. “We might have to get the witches in to strengthen our wards, just in case. This shit? It’s unhinged. It makes me sick to contemplate what he might do to the Omega if he gets his hands on her. You need to make doubly sure that anyone leaving Maxton is vigilant as well.”
Merrick nodded. “I suggest we take this fight to him, Gatlin. Sitting around is just giving him time to find our weaknesses.”
I shrugged. Our numbers were so limited that the loss of even one Manix would be a blow to our future. But Merrick was right—we were sitting ducks out here unless we took some proactive measures. I was going to have to go and see my father, and that idea grated along my skin. I hated that fucker.
There’d been a time I’d idolised him, before I came into my full Alpha power. He’d changed then, showing me the cold, heartless, methodical man he was. He wasn’t a bad leader—he had the good of the Manix at heart; it was all he thought about. But the man had been a shitty father, especially considering he’d left me for so long with my mother before she’d died. Sometimes I wondered what would have happened if she’d lived, if he’d have just let me stay with her forever. I would have been as oblivious about my heritage as Naja had been. Maybe I would have had a happier childhood, but I wouldn’t give up my Pack for anything.
I gritted my teeth. “I’ll talk to the Alpha General, see what we can convince him to do.”
Murphy slapped my back. “We’ll see what we can do from our end too. She’s worth it, even if she wasn’t the last Omega female. She’s one of us and we don’t leave our own to die.” He looked over at Merrick. I was pretty sure that if they ever quit the Legion Force, they’d form a Pack together. They were both Alpha, definitely lovers, and they’d make good Packmates. “Besides, god knows what this psycho fuck was doing down there with all those kids he bred off that poor woman. Hell, maybe there are more Omega females down there. It's worth checking out, right?”
We’d shared Naja’s history with them, because they couldn’t adequately protect her if they didn’t know the truth. Naja didn’t seem overly worried about it. She didn’t take any of the responsibility for her shitty past, didn’t feel any guilt over anything but those kids. But she’d saved Luisa, and that would have been hard for a girl stuck in a world of violence and pain. She was so fucking brave.
Murphy made a good point, and I was interested to know what had happened to those kids too, even if they were buried in that fucking sociopath’s backyard. If they had died, they deserved a proper burial. I nodded my agreement, and climbed back onto my ATV with Seven. I wanted to be home with my Pack now, and wanted to show them how much they meant to me. Instead, I was heading to Maxton to see my father.
Seven was silent, but I could see his simmering rage in the tension of his muscles.
“We will get him, Beta, and we will end him.”
Seven nodded once, but that was the only indication he’d heard me. We drove into Maxton, and without Raiden and Naja, we were less of a spectacle for the townspeople. But I could still see people staring and whispering. Obviously word of Naja’s designation had gotten around the town, and I put on my scariest Alphafuck offface so no one came up to ask questions.
I pulled into the parking lot of the Legion building this time, and Seven stood with me, just a step behind like we’d been taught since childhood. Alphas at the front, Betas to the rear. I didn’t ascribe to any of that elitist bullshit, but sometimes we fell back into old habits.
I stopped at the top of the stairs. “Go pick up Ellar’s stuff from the commissary, so we can get the hell out of here as soon as possible.”
Seven frowned. “You need someone at your back.”
One side of my mouth pulled up in a smile. “I’m pretty sure I’ll be fine. But I promise not to piss him off, Beta.”
Seven grumbled something about bringing Ellar, but I slapped him on the back and handed him the keys to the ATV. It was better to do this alone; my father and I understood each other better if he didn’t have to worry about losing face in front of the people who were meant to respect him above all else. I could have told him that my Pack already thought he was a douche-canoe, but it hardly seemed conducive to a civil conversation. No, diplomacy was needed, so that he’d give me the resources I’d require to catch the bastard who threatened my Pack.
Seven gave me a pointed look but skipped back down the stairs toward the ATV. I strode through the hallways of the office to the double doors of the Alpha General’s office.
Radic looked up and raised a brow. “Twice in as many weeks? This has to be a record, Gatlin.”
I gave him a polite smile—or hell, maybe I bared my teeth, I don’t know—but I didn’t enter into pleasantries. Radic was nice enough, and I knew my Pack liked him, but he worked too close to my father for me to truly like him.
“I need to see the Alpha General.”
Radic looked skeptical, searching behind me, probably for the rest of my Pack. He sighed. “I’m a Beta, Gatlin.”
Now it was my turn to frown. “Yeah, I’m aware.”
“If you make me wade into that office to break up a fight, I’m doing it with a taser set to ‘crispy balls,’ and I swear, I’ll zap you until your pubes catch on fire. Got it?”
This time I really did smile. “Got it.”
He lifted the phone and called my father’s office. “Sir, I have Gatlin here to see you. I’m unsure, Sir, but I imagine it has something to do with his Omegas considering he avoids you like the plague otherwise. Yes, Sir.” Radic hung up the phone and tilted his head toward the doors. “Go in. Remember though, fire crotch,” he said sternly, waving a taser at me.
