Page 25 of Frenzy
Iwas throwing all my faith behind an Alpha I didn’t know, which terrified the hell out of me. But my more primal instincts knew he’d be a good leader. I just had to have faith in that gut feeling.
I also needed to forget about what had happened yesterday and concentrate on doing my job, but that was hard when Dominic was acting as my bodyguard today.
He didn’t badger me with conversation, and seemed to take his role very seriously. There weren’t that many threats in Maxton; this wasn’t a battleground. Well, at least not a physical one, unless you were an Alpha. Though if you’d asked me whether the Alpha General would attack me yesterday morning, I would have scoffed, so what the fuck did I really know?
I had to set up a meeting between the Legion Generals and Courtland, as well as track down Merrick and Murphy to let them know what was going on so the Legion Force didn’t end up on our doorstep, armed to the teeth.
Times needed to be arranged, notices sent out, the arena prepped. Yeah, we had an arena for Alpha fights. Not usually for a position this high up, more for fights between feuding family Alphas, but still. It was nice to have somewhere contained, and filled with the appropriate medical equipment to do these things.
“I thought I told you not to come back.” The growl came from behind me, making my whole body tense. The Alpha General was throwing around his power, and my Beast was pushing me to fall to my knees and supplicate myself. I gritted my teeth, clenching my fists at my side, and remained standing. But that one small act of defiance was the hardest thing I’d ever done.
Swallowing hard, I muttered, “Not here for you.” I hated that I couldn’t raise my eyes to look at him. Dominic was there, slotting his body between mine and the Alpha General’s.
“Back off, old man, before I fucking slit your wrinkled throat.” I could see the flash of throwing knives as they slid from his sleeves.
“This has nothing to do with you. This little worm is still under my authority, and I’ll do what I wish with him,” the Alpha growled, and even with clenched fists, my hands trembled.
Dominic though? He looked completely unperturbed. “Not anymore. This one is mine. And soon, none of these people will belong to you.” He gave a cold laugh. “You’ll be mine too, and if you don’t learnyourplace soon, I’m really going to enjoy driving home the point.”
I felt the hot burn of the Alpha’s eyes on my face. “Whoring yourself out, Radic? I expected better of someone with your breeding. Though you’ve been fucking that dumpy little reject for long enough that maybe it’s rubbed off on you— Argh!”
My eyes flicked up to see a fucking knife lodged in the Alpha’s shoulder. My eyes whipped between the stormy face of Dominic and the shocked outrage of the Alpha.
“One more word, and the next one goes in your fucking eye,” Dominic growled. The Alpha General ripped the knife out of his shoulder and threw it on the ground, and I could feel him beginning to shift.
“What the fuck is going on here?”
I whipped around to see one of the Legion Generals appear, and breathed out a sigh of relief. It was Joshua, who wasn’t the biggest fan of the Alpha General anyway, not since he had almost gotten the mother of Joshua’s grandcubs killed.
Dominic gave the man a bright smile. “A misunderstanding.”
Joshua looked at me, and I sucked in a breath. “There’s been a challenge.”
He raised an eyebrow. “I’m fully aware of that, son.”
I snorted. I liked Joshua; he was old-school but progressive enough not to be stuck in his ways. I would counsel Courtland to keep him on if he could. I shrugged. “The Alpha General doesn’t like the side I have chosen. Or my girlfriend, apparently.”
Joshua frowned, so I knew that this wasn’t the first time the Alpha General had bad-mouthed Bonnie. I knew as much, but I kind of hoped Dominic would make good on his threat and stick a knife in the Alpha’s eye.
“I am sure that the Alpha General has misunderstood,” Joshua said, though his tone said he didn’t think there was any misunderstanding at all. “Come along. We have many things to talk about, Radic, if this challenge is indeed going ahead.”
There was a low growl from Dominic, who hadn’t taken his eyes from the Alpha. “Oh, it’s definitely going ahead.” He gave the Alpha a grin. “And once I tell him what you said about the sweet Beta, there's no way you’ll walk out of that arena still the Alpha. Your time is up.” With that, he turned his back on the Alpha and herded me toward the Legion offices.
God, I hoped Dominic was right.
Joshua followed along behind us, and soon overtook us so he could power toward his office. Joshua was a pretty strong Alpha, and he’d had a lot of strong Alpha sons, as well as Raiden, one of the few male Omegas left. They had a good relationship, even if he did seem a little unsure of what to do with Raiden at times.
He unlocked his office door and stood aside, waving us both in. Shutting the door behind us, he motioned for us to take a seat. “Well, this has been an eventful twenty-four hours, Radic.”
I couldn’t help the laugh that burst from my chest, because he didn’t know half of it. Dominic settled himself in the corner, not trying to insert himself into the conversation. I appreciated that.
“It has been intense, but I have to say, not entirely unwarranted, Sir.”
The older Alpha across from me waved a hand. “Please, call me Joshua. I got three phone calls from my sons last night, all with a different account of what exactly happened here. Ezra said it was a hostile takeover, Cody said that your Alpha”—he directed that at Dominic—“came in and slapped down the Alpha General like he was an errant puppy. And Raiden… well, he said that karma had come for the ‘arrogant fuck.’ That's a direct quote, by the way. I think I might like to hear it from your perspective, Radic. You’ve been loyal to the Alpha General’s office for a number of years, so switching sides so quickly seems out of character.”
I recounted the arrival of Courtland and his Pack yesterday, and the Alpha General's response to a request for aid from a fellow Manix. “I don’t know about you, but an Alpha who would decide on power plays over getting tiny sick infants medical help, well, he isn't an Alpha I’d want.” I paused, because I knew now was the time for candor. “And honestly, Sir, I haven’t been happy with the Alpha General’s response to a lot of things lately. This was just a nail in the coffin. If you’d seen those infants, you would have known there was no time to waste.”
The older man drummed his fingers on his desk. “How did they get in that state to begin with?”
