Page 4 of His Temporary Alpha Mate
A laugh burst from me. “I can handle myself, but thanks.”
“You shouldn’t have to. You’re one of us, Dalton,” he said genuinely.
“Uh-huh.” I laughed. “Pretty sure you’re just buttering me up. What have you done to my office?”
Chase made a face and escaped my house without answering.
“I’m going to murder him. Nope, can’t. I’m too pretty for jail, okay? Far too pretty to spend the rest of my life in jail.”
“What are you muttering about?” Deke asked as he approached.
“Have you seen the disaster zone in there?” I pointed to the door behind me, which stood ajar.
Deke leaned to look around me and winced. “Damn. So who are you killing?” He paused. “Chase, right? You’d never do that to Axel.”
My heart sped up. “What do you mean?”
He leaned in closer. “Come on, Dal. Axel might be blind, but everyone knows you’re into him. Also, if you kill your boss, there’s no job for you anymore.” His laugh was teasing. He didn’t seem to be mad I had feelings for his cousin.
“It wasn’t Axel who trashed the place. It had to have been Chase and whoever was looking after the place when we were all sick. Roan had assistants,didn’t he?”
Changing the subject from Axel was probably wise. I felt my cheeks heat over my mortification. I couldn’t believe everyone knew!
“Yeah, Larken was helping. I think a couple of omegas, too. The other alphas weren’t much use.” Deke scrubbed a hand over his face. “I hate that I wasn’t here to help. What happened to Roan…”
Other alphas had attacked Roan while our Alpha, Blake, was with his mate. If Larken hadn’t been there… I didn’t want to think of what could have happened to my friend.
“Wasn’t your fault, just as much as it wasn’t Blake’s or Roan’s. Those alphas had it all wrong. Every pack has them. The ones who think they know what’s best for the pack.”
The look Deke gave me told me he remembered some stories I’d told him about the pack I’d left behind.
“Are you going to be okay with all this? Need some help?”
I stared at him.
“Not me, obviously! I can get Larken to help you. He’s on the gate, but I can grab him—“
“Yes, please.” I sighed with relief. The entire place needed putting back in order. It was days’ worth of work, just me alone. Alpha muscle would be useful. “Since he helped make the mess, it’s only fair that he helps clean it up.”
“Cool. I’ll go take over for a bit.” He hesitated. “Look, I know you probably don’t want to talk about it, but I think you deserve to know before you see them.”
My heart dropped to my feet. “What?”
“It’s just a rumor. I’ve not seen them together to be able to tell if it’s true—“
“Deke,” I warned.
“Axel and the elf, Teárlach, are together.”
Payback
Larken
By the look on Deke’s face, I would not enjoy whatever he had cooked up for me. There was a determined set to his square jaw. A braced look to how he held his shoulders straight. The alpha was gearing up for a fight.
Shame for him, I would not give it to him. Deke was my boss and unless he had a total personality transplant, then he wouldn’t ask me to do anything he wouldn’t do himself.
“Hey, Deke! How’s it going?” I called out in greeting, plastering on my friendliest expression.
