Page 3 of The Alpha King's Fate

Like the rest of the pack, the Beta hadn’t escaped being pulled into the depression the past few days brought. Her only hope was that everyone wouldn’t start to blame her for everything the way she blamed herself. It was a difficult spot to be in. To be so in love and happy on one side and so depressed and full of regret on the other.

Dylan started to walk down the steps.

“Tell Jackson I’m going around the other pack for official visits. I’ll be a few days.”

“What type of official visits?”

“As the King, Jax has to visit all his territories at least once a year to make sure everything is okay. But he’s been preoccupied lately, so I’m going in his place. It will be good to get away from everything for a while.”

She wished she could get away. But the pack needed them there; she wouldn’t become the selfish woman who pulled her partner away from his other duties.

Dylan opened his car door when the gates opened. Two blacked-out SUVs drove in. The butterflies returned to her stomach. She’d been anxious and nervous for days.

She stood and dusted her jeans off before walking down the steps.

“That’s today?” Dylan asked with a worried frown.

“Everyone’s gone. It should be okay,” she answered. At least, she hoped so. But she knew things could go sideways at the drop of a hat.

“Maybe we should wait? I don’t know if having outsiders—”

“She’s not an outsider,” Layla growled.

The cars stopped behind Dylan’s on the circular driveway, and the drivers’ doors opened. Two of the men she sent back that morning for Brit came out and bowed, and then the one at the front opened the back seat door.

When Britney stepped out, she looked younger than ever. Her sister was terrified as she looked around her, and she couldn’t say she blamed her. She felt the same way the day she arrived. Driving through the forest they had all been taught to fear since they were children had been a big part of it, but now her sister was dealing with issues that would make everything seem worse than it was.

At least Brit wasn’t going to start a war with her arrival.

At least, she hoped not.

She closed the distance between them and took her sister into her arms.

“Everything will be okay, Brit. I promise,” she whispered.

She wished she could do what their mother did. She wished she could make people feel better just by being near her. But she hadn’t been able to shift again since that night with the witch, never mind learning anything else.

“The way you keep telling me that makes me think things aren’t going to be okay at all,” Brit said when she finally pulled back from her.

Brit was going to be the smallest nineteen-year-old there. Was a huge, monstrous beast really going to burst out of her sister? It was worrying. But Jax told her it would be okay, so she had to trust that.

“I know you’re confused,” she said, linking Brit’s arm with hers. “But let's settle you in first, and then we can talk.”

She looked back at the warriors unloading the cars.

“You have a lot of things,” she teased.

“You told me to pack everything,” Brit grumbled.

All the warriors returned home for Jax’s birthday and the memorial, so they once again hired human security for her while she packed the things she needed to bring. And then, the first thing that morning, she sent the warriors who had looked after her for the past two years to return for her.

She looked back at the men. They had breaks and holidays during that time, and they’d been with the pack while Brit was at university, but she wasn’t surprised to sense that they were relieved to be home.

“Don’t worry. You’ll have plenty of room for everything in your new room,” she smiled at her sister.

“How long am I staying? I have assignments to catch up on before the break.”

Poor Brit. Her whole life was about to change again, and she probably didn’t have a clue just how much.

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