Page 19 of His Bonded Omega Mate
“Go catch a nap. Blake’s in his office, so I’ll stay here with them until he comes up,” I assured him, ushering him towards the bedroom of their suite.
“Who’s on guard?” he asked sleepily. The man was dead on his feet. The last couple of weeks adjusting to life with triplets, plus the added shock of an alpha female being born, had taken their toll on my best friend.
He was still on parental leave, or supposed to be, yet I often found him working next to Blake. It had gotten to the point I didn’t fight him on it anymore. Just scheduled as little as possible in his diary and made sure his papa was there for grandpapa duties.
“Larken. When Blake comes up, I’ll sit out there with him.” My other friend had been sticking closer to me since the birth of Elliotte. There had been some rumblings from the pack about me being so close to the alpha princess with my Rincoln connections and past. It had gotten so bad that someone had leaked that I’d killed Rincoln, and those mutterings had shut down fast. It still didn’t stop some looking at me with suspicion. I hadn’t needed my alpha and Chase to do that, but I appreciated the gesture.
“I don’t know if we need guards at the door. Isn’t that overkill?” Kade frowned.
“Isn’t it better to have and not need them?” I raised an eyebrow.
“Fair point, but when will you sleep?”
“There’s a shift change in a couple of hours.”
“Right. I’m gonna go —“
“Get some rest. I’ll watch them.”
Kade wandered over to where the babies were sleeping and looking lovingly down at his sleeping children. The pure joy in his expression made me long for that, too. Only with someone else. I wished for a mate of my own. A feeling that I’d thought would be years off. I was only twenty-seven. There was plenty of time for a family, yet seeing all the babies around had me hoping that I wouldn’t have to wait too long for my own.
After a last kiss to each baby, Kade tiptoed into his room and I shut the door behind him, blocking out his glare. I knew he preferred the door open, but he was exhausted and needed some uninterrupted sleep.
Although the rooms were large, the bedroom didn’t quite have space for three cribs, let alone the extra large one to house the three pups. It was handy that they didn’t like to be separated. The alphas liked to wrap around their omega brother, sleeping for longer if they were together.
I settled down on the couch next to the crib and looked through the endless emails, pausing at every sniffle or snort from the crib. It was my job to check on the applications from the elves that wanted to come and stay near the babies in Sweetwater, either in the compound if we could house them, or the town itself nearby. The elves were keen to come here to be around all the children, having missed their own young. They had gone over fifty years without any being born.
The elves seemed to take the pack security more seriously than the council, who were slow to act to the revelation that female alphas had been a thing until male alphas tried to kill them all.
An hour passed with the sleepy sounds of babies breathing, occasional snores from Kade, and the tapping of the keys on my laptop as I caught up with some work.
My stomach growled, and I checked the time. There were still a couple of hours until shift change, though I wondered idly if someone in the kitchens would bring up something to eat.
Putting my laptop away, I approached the door to the suite when there was a muffled commotion outside.
I warily opened the door, gaining a glimpse of Larken sprawled on the floor, a bloody cut on his forehead, when a force barreled into me, knocking me off balance. I landed hard on the floor, as someone pushed by me.
There was no time to shout or raise the alarm before they lobbed a potion at my feet. It broke, a haze of fumes rose into the air.
Instantly, my wolf was cut off. Again. This was the same feeling that I’d had when I was attacked just months before. The feeling of déjà vu had me off balance for a fraction of a second. I tried for the pack link too and it was gone. Nothing but silence when usually there was a low grade buzz. A feeling of comfort and safety just gone in an instant.
They threw another potion, and I yelled for Kade. The sound coming out muffled and distorted. The new spell must have tampered with the acoustics of the room, making the sound stay in place.
I got to my feet shakily, the suddenness of being cut off from my wolf, the attack affecting my equilibrium.
Once up, I rushed at the man heading for the crib, shoving him into the wall of Kade’s room, shaking it with the force of the blow.
I slammed a hand up into his face and followed that with a hook to the side of the head, knocking him out.
Turning to check on the babies, I saw an accomplice reaching into the crib and grabbing Elliotte.
Racing for him, I tried shouting again, hoping that someone would hear me and come help.
Where was Blake? He had to have heard Larken’s attack, or sensed something in the pack link.
The house was quiet as I chased the large man along the corridor, down the stairs, and out into the yard.
In the back of my brain, it registered that no one was standing guard. There was no one walking about. Everything was eerily quiet and still.
