“I won’t have a monster for a mate!”
“Ivy is not her mother!You can’t blame her for the crimes of her mother.She was just a child then.”
“I can’t punish her mother for her crimes, yet she left behind a daughter who I can!”he growls before storming out of the basement.
“Fuck!”I curse, gathering everything and moving after him.This is not going to end well,I think, feeling my ability to handle this situation slowly slipping away.
The dingy basement is destroyed, as if someone has set off a bomb downstairs.Shaking my head at the mess, I follow after the king.I hear him barking orders at his men, demanding to leave.I turn to Alpha Dean as he rises from where he still sits on the steps.“Couldn’t you have told us this over the phone or faxed this crap?”I ask, shaking it in the jerk’s face.He says nothing, and I glance at his pathetic son.
“You’ll need to retrieve a broom,” I tell him.If it were me, I would lock the door and declare the basement no longer exists, as there’s probably no fixing this place.Kyson is still arguing with his men about hurrying and securing the place.I better get up there,I think, knowing members of his guard may not be as prepared to deal with him in this state.He is impatient and wants to leave, but we have protocols to follow before that is possible.
I snap my fingers at the driver, who jumps into the front seat.Glancing around at the men, I say, “Forget it.Mark, go ahead of us.We leave now unless you want him tearing this pack apart.”The man runs to one of the cars.The king isn’t going to wait, and I sure as hell don’t feel like chasing him on foot if he decides to run out his anger.
Climbing into the car, I slide across the seat and shut the door.The car takes off immediately, and the king looks for clothes.After dropping the documents on the seat, I lean forward and lift the bench seat with the storage underneath.I toss him some clothes, taking a pair of shorts and a tank top out for myself.
I pull them on, jerking sideways as the limo goes around corners before tugging the shirt over my head.
The king’s aura is suffocating in the small space, and Damian will kill me when he finds out, but he isn’t the one sitting with him.So, I reach into the fridge and pull out a liquor bottle.I try to hand him a glass, but he twists the cap off and puts the bottle to his lips before I can.Liquor dribbles down his chin, and he pulls the bottle from his lips, wiping his face on the back of his hand, and he sighs.
We all know he is an alcoholic.He has been since his sister died, and right now, I’m not helping the issue, but I can handle him drunk; it takes the edge of.I don’t feel like going round two with him right now, and it sure as hell won’t be the first or the last time I watch him find himself at the bottom of a bottle or two.
Halfway through the third bottle, he passes out drunk.It is a long drive back, and I am relieved to watch his eyes grow heavier before his head slumps forward.Sighing, I take the bottle from his grip and sit beside the two empty ones.I tap on the screen between the driver and me, causing the driver to roll down the window.
“He’s passed out?”the driver asks, sounding as relieved as I feel.Toward the end, his aura makes me queasy, so I know he feels the same.“Thank God!”he answers when I see his eyes dart to the mirror.
We chat a bit, and he pulls over briefly, allowing the cars behind us to catch up and drive ahead while I hop out for a smoke.I retrieve a blanket from the trunk, and the driver goes in, tucking the king in like a child.Usually, that is done by Damian, but today, I task the driver, Bill, with it.He always feels regret the days after or embarrassment, but I have a feeling this won’t be the last of his anger.I briefly wonder if I should mindlink Damian to warn him of the storm that’s coming their way.I shudder to think what’s going to happen next.
The driver hops back in just as three cars pull up behind us, which now travel ahead of us.
I toss the last of my smoke, climbing back in with the king.Retrieving the files, I decide to go over them to find out more about Marrissa and take a peek at Abbie’s files.
Not much is said about Marrissa because, by the looks of it, Alpha Dean isn’t even aware of who his pack has killed.
Shaking my head, I set that file aside before pulling out Abbie’s.I open it to the orphanage photo, which must have been taken the night they were found.She looks petrified as she stares at the camera, her childlike eyes wide with fear and blood drenching her clothes.Turning the page, I nearly drop the files when I find her parent’s ID.
More importantly, when I find her mother’s.That’s impossible… I watched her die.I knew she was dead because I killed her myself.
I blink down at the picture; her face is exactly how I remember it, similar to Abbie’s.The resemblance is uncanny, yet when I look at the name, it is wrong except for the last name.
This woman looks exactly like my mate.Identical, and now I figure out the allure I had to her.Liam is right.I can no longer deny it, and now I know why they share such a resemblance.I have a feeling the woman I am staring at in the photo is my mate’s twin.