Page 50 of Manix
Yeah, okay, maybe he was alright.
I straightened my shoulders and pushed open the door to my father’s office. He was facing the window that looked down over the main street of Maxton. “What can I do for you, Gatlin?”
I ground my molars as my silence sat heavily in the room. “The psycho after my Omega is getting bolder, making a statement around the edges of Manix territory.”
Father titled his head. “Making a statement, how?”
“Planting flowers.”
My father raised an eyebrow and let out a mirthless laugh. “Well, what a monster. Planting flowers. Someone send out the assassins.”
I was pretty sure he could hear the scrape of me grinding my teeth to dust now. “They are funeral flowers. The kind you put on someone's grave. Part of her culture.”
Father grunted and turned from the window. “Then I suggest you protect your Omega. I already have the Legion Force doing extra patrols. If you can’t keep your Omega safe within a ward, with an elite force at your beck and call, and your ragtag Pack watching over her, then I suggest you hand her over to a Pack that can.”
I curled my fists, trying to remember my promise to Radic. I liked my balls, and he didn’t seem like the kind of Manix prone to empty threats.
“I can protect her just fine. Someone getting so close to the border with a malicious intent is a problem for us all, andthatis your job. Protect your fucking people.”
The power in the room ratcheted up a notch as we held each other's eyes. It was something we did everytime we were alone together, like my Beast wanted to remind him that I could take this all from him. He was getting older, and I was in my prime. Despite being a half-breed, I could take him, and he hated it. It would be bloody, and there was a chance that neither of us would survive, but still, it was impossible to ignore.
He growled. “You brought the threat to this town. You don’t get to lecture me on protecting my people.”
“I brought them hope.”
He snorted. “Hope for yourself and your Pack maybe. Don’t think your girl is going to agree to be a broodmare for the entire town, do you?”
I should have known better than to try and reason with this dick. “Do what you do best, Father. The bare fucking minimum.” I turned and left. I caught Radic’s eyes on the way past, nodding my goodbye. He was frowning but lifted his hand in a wave.
I’d come up with another solution. I could protect my Pack. Whoever was at the end of my claws would regret the fucking day they were even born.
I gently gluedand clamped the two pieces of pine together, setting it off to the side to set. My brain was whirring a million miles an hour about all the things I had to do before the cubs came, what I could do to keep Naja safe, how to deal with the Legion, whether I should sell the stocks in that sinking retailer whose CEO had just been accused of being an alien or wait it out… My brain was a mess. It was my father, of course—that old fuck got in my head every single time.
A soft knock against the door had me looking over my shoulder. Naja’s tentative face was in the doorway. “Can I come in?”
If I had ninety-nine problems, she wasn’t one. I would take all the issues that came with having her here with us, times them by a thousand, and still thank the Goddess we found her.
“Of course.” I cleared off the stool that sat in the corner and dragged it closer to the workbench.
She climbed up, because she was fucking tiny, but all the better to throw her against the wall and fuck her senseless.
No, bad dick. Down.
I cleared my throat. “How are you feeling, Omega?”
She rested her elbows on the bench and cupped her chin. “Better. You guys really know how to make a girl feel special.”
I gave her a crooked smile. “Naja, you are the very definition of special.”
“Seven told Raiden that you had a meeting with your dad? I’m still mad you guys didn’t tell me that your father was the Supreme Ruler.”
“Alpha General,” I corrected, my lips twitching.
“Same thing. Totally walked into that one blind, and I hate walking into things blind.” She frowned at me, and I realized she was actually pissed.
I blew out a long breath. “Apologies, Omega. It’s just that my father makes me fairly irrational so we don’t tend to talk about him.” She kept frowning, and I quickly continued because I didn’t want her to think I was a violent asshole who wasn’t in control of his temper. “Not that I would ever lash out at you guys or anything.”
She smiled and gripped my forearm tightly. “I know that, Gatlin. Not one part of me doubts that you would lay down your life before you hurt anyone in your Pack.”
