Page 47 of The Alpha's Regret

When I picture her snooping through my personal records and my online banking, I growl, completely furious. She might be my assistant in our pack's company affairs, but she’s never had access to those. Kim hacked into my account and my wolf’s territorial instincts trigger again.

“We’ve worked together for a long time, and I trusted you. You have no right to invade my privacy. You’ve no right to just arrive here and let yourself into my room.”

Over the years, Kim has become a core part of running the pack. My dad had great faith in her, and relied upon her heavily, giving her more and more responsibility over the years, as did I. Maybe foolishly. She pivots to face me, tilting her head and looking at me through narrowed eyes. When she turns, I see a knife hanging loosely by her side, as if she’s forgotten she’s even carrying it.

“You had no problem with meinvading your privacywhen it was time to pick up your dry cleaning, or when you asked me to bring your work to your apartment. Or when you wanted me to suck your cock. You even gave me a key to your room at the packhouse, remember?”

Shit.

“Kim, what’s this really all about?” I need to get the conversation onto a safer subject, if there is any. She has a silver weapon, the only thing that can really hurt a wolf, and my mate could return any minute. Kim turns to look at me and gestures to the chair.

“Sit down, Nathan. If you move, I’ll shoot her in the head the second she walks through that door.”

She pats her hip, and I see the bulge of a gun underneath her top. What the fuck? She holds out her phone and shows me a close-up picture of Maya walking along the beach, wearing the same clothes as when she walked out this morning.

“Nah ah, Nathan. You don’t think I’m here alone, do you? I’d hate to have my friend get rid of Maya for me. I was looking forward to catching up with her.”

Someone is stalking my mate. With a roar, I reach out to grab Kim and she lashes out, slashing my bare arm with the silver knife and yanking the gun from her waistband, letting her phone fall to the floor with a thud.

“Drop it.” I try to put some strength behind my command, but the silver is making me weak. With horror, I realise my senior position is no help to me anymore. I need to convince Kim to end this madness instead of forcing her to submit.

“Sit down,” she repeats with an angry hiss, fighting against the order, and winning.

I do as I’m told, gritting my teeth to stop the anger inside me from bursting out. I need to stay calm. I can’t take any chances where Maya’s safety is concerned. Hopefully, she is with Ross, and she’s safe, and Kim is bluffing about having someone here with her. Kim’s beef appears to be with me, and I’ll take whatever pain she plans to dole out. I don’t care what she does to me as long as she leaves Maya out of it. When Maya gets home, she’ll hear Kim and get Ross to help take her down.

“I hate that it’s come to this. We’ve had a lot of fun together over the years. I thought that maybe one of you would SEE me. I do so much for the pack, and helped Rex, and Leila… I thought after that you’d see I could really be part of the family.” She looks sad and hurt. Maybe we have taken Kim for granted over the years, but this seems extreme. “And then this little dark-haired pixie turns up, not even your type, and you’re following her around the party like a love-struck puppy, fighting Ross, sneaking her away with you… I mean, what’s she got that’s so special?”

“Kim. We all adore you, but Maya is my MATE. I’m sorry we didn’t tell you, but we were trying to keep it a secret in case someone attacked her like they did Leila and Leah. I don’t know what you want me to say?”

Kim freezes, going eerily still as she stares at me, open-mouthed. Slowly, her stunned features morph into an expression of pure rage. Throwing her hands up in the air, she looks at me scathingly.

“YOUR MATE? Well, that’s just perfect.”

She rolls her eyes, smirking cruelly before stepping close to twist my arms behind my back and cuff them together with silver handcuffs. I hiss as she closes them far too tight, my skin sizzling as the metal burns where it touches me. The stench of searing flesh hits the air.

“I’m here because I’ve moved on and I’m going to prove what a good mate I’ll be. I have someone else now and I don’t NEED you to pick me. But you deserve to know what it feels like to have someone take your future away and be powerless to stop it. Then maybe you’ll understand why I did everything that I did.”

Who is Kim’s mate?

When I don’t respond, the pieces of the puzzle refusing to slot together in my brain, she sighs.

“Do you remember Beth? Carla’s little sister. We were best friends when we were younger.Arebest friends, even though sometimes I hid it because of herreputation.”

Kim pauses for effect as she cuffs my ankles and waits for what she’s implying to filter into my brain. Oh, no. Please tell me this isn’t true. She’s the one who’s been betraying the pack and who helped break Toby out of jail. Kim knows every detail of our schedules, where everyone will be, and when.

“You helped her. That’s how she got the key card to Toby. You helped Leila when she had her heat, so you knew she had scent-masking herbs. Beth used them to hide her trail and frame Carla,” I surmise, realising the full extent of Kim’s betrayal. Not only has Kim betrayed the entire pack, but she was also happy to let Carla take the fall. Carla, whose own sister tried to pin this crime on her. Charming.

We knew it wasn’t Carla who placed the key card in the hiding spot for them, but her errant sister instead. Beth left the key card in a hiding spot for Mike to retrieve when they came to break Toby out of his cell. If not for John seeing Beth come back to collect the damning evidence, we might have believed that Carla was responsible.

Beth had to have help from within the pack. Despite being the old beta’s daughter, she had long ago shown herself to be trouble. Drinking, fighting, refusing to take up offers of training or jobs, and the last incident we suspected her of being involved in was stealing her sister's car. The same car that was later used in a kidnapping attempt on Leila. Beth seems to be in the middle of everything that’s been going on, but, by the time we realised, she was nowhere to be found, probably back with the bears, and Carla was gone.

We assumed she had run, but now I’m not so sure.

Ethan had mentioned Kim’s name as a suspect, but I refused to believe it. I thought Carla had more reason to be bitter and vengeful after pining after Cooper for years and being shown up in front of the pack when he met Hayley, spurning Carla’s advances. It looks like I was wrong. Wherever she is, I hope she’s okay.

“I didn’t want anyone to get hurt, well I didn’t really care about Leah, but not anyone from the pack. Beth got in deep with the bears, making all kinds of promises. Then she needed my help to make good on them, as usual. So, I got myself put on the rotation of security, looking after Toby and bringing him his meals, looking for a way we could get him out, and then… I didn't expect Toby to be so… kind and caring.”

She smiles dreamily as she says his name and I want to puke. Kim is a clever woman. I can’t believe she fell for his bullshit.

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