Page 34 of Claimed By the King's Gamma

“Now she’s pushing his buttons,” Damian pulls a face glancing in the back, but I slap his chest reminding him to keep his eyes forward.

“Well, aren’t you in quite the mood?”Kyson says, his tone dripping with exasperation.“If I didn’t know your werewolf side was slowly coming forward, I would have spanked you by now.”

“Oh, that’s going to go over well,” I say, glancing at Damian, who’s trying his hardest to ignore them in the back.

“Put your seatbelt on, Ivy,” Kyson says again, his patience clearly wearing thin.

“Put yours on, then,” she snaps back.

Kyson growls low and deep, the sound reverberating through the car.Ivy, undeterred, growls back, though it’s more of a whine this time.

“I like her drunk.”I admit.Damian looks at me with a silly smirk on his face.

“Sorry,” Ivy blurts out suddenly.

“You’re lucky I’m patient,” Kyson mutters, his voice dripping with irritation.“If you were anyone else, Ivy, I would not put up with this attitude.Hormones and werewolf instincts or not.”

There’s a scuffling sound from the backseat, followed by a startled yelp from Ivy.Damian and I both turn to look, making sure he hasn’t lost his temper with her.But he only rips her onto his lap, clipping his belt around her.

“Ivy, now your seatbelt is on,” Kyson says smugly, clipping the belt across both of them as she squirms to fix her pants.

Ivy huffs, clearly embarrassed, while Kyson leans back with a satisfied grin, resting his chin on top of her head.

Damian shakes his head, still laughing.“Well I’m glad I don’t have a mate, they seem like hard work.”Damian mutters.

“Yeah,” I say with a chuckle.“The poor bastard doesn’t stand a chance.”

The sound of Kyson’s purring fills the car, and Damian raises an eyebrow.“He’s purring now?”

“Hopefully she passes out soon, or I may go back and beat him if I have to listen to that the entire drive.”I chuckle as Damian looks at the directions and what’s along the route.

“Well, check that hotel, I don’t wanna drive through the night.Pull over at the next rest stop.I need to inform the King and let a few guards drive ahead to check it before we arrive.”Nodding, I speed up.

After pulling over at the rest stop, I switched out drivers with a couple guards in the car behind us.Now I sit in the back of the car with Kyson and Damian, watching as Ivy sleeps against him.She looks so small and fragile in his arms, her skin pale and marked with scars that tell a story none of us fully know yet.Kyson is tracing those scars now, his fingertips moving across her back under the thin blanket Damian handed him earlier.

Damian clears his throat, drawing Kyson’s attention.“We may need to take an alternate route.I don’t like the Black Forest—too many hiding places for an ambush,” he says.

Kyson sighs, glancing down at Ivy before nodding.“It’ll add an extra half-day’s drive,” he says reluctantly.

“I’m sorry, but it’s not a risk I’m willing to take,” Damian says firmly, his eyes darting toward Ivy briefly.

Kyson’s expression softens, and he nods again.“You’re right.Whatever is safer,” he says.Relief washes over Damian’s face, and I know he and I both worried Kyson would argue.But when it comes to Ivy’s safety, he doesn’t take risks.

Damian shifts in his seat, addressing me.“Did you find out more about her history?Her last name?Anything?”Making me realize I forgot to tell him I contacted her old Alpha.

I shake my head.“Not yet, but I reached out to the old Alpha.He said he’d dig up her files, and I can collect them next week.”

“I’ll come with you,” Kyson says, and I nod in agreement.

“He was curious why we wanted to know about her,” I add.

“What did you tell him?”Kyson asks, his tone sharp.

“I told him I wanted Abbie’s files, too.Said we needed to assess if they could be trusted among the other servants,” I reply.

Kyson nods, satisfied with my excuse.I glance at Ivy’s sleeping form again, her thin frame making her look even more vulnerable.Kyson’s fingers are still tracing her scars, his expression darkening.“He said she was young when she came to the orphanage.Her parents put up a fight.Apparently, her father killed the headmistress’s mate,” I tell them.

Kyson growls low in his throat.“That would explain the cruel punishments.But why let her remain with the headmistress, knowing that?”

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