*Maddox*
I should have told Isla I love her, too, but I didn’t.
A million reasons why that isn’t a good idea flock my mind as I hold her in my arms, looking down at her beautiful face.
I want her to know that I love her more than anything, that I will do whatever I can to protect her, but I know that she is in a dangerous position because she loves me. Clearly, that has been demonstrated in the past few days when Zabrina and her minions tried to kill her.
Promising her that she is completely safe now would be foolish and dishonest of me. I want to do everything I can to protect her, and I will, but having just failed her, I find it impossible to know for certain I can do that.
I couldn’t even protect Rebecca from herself.
Isla isn’t sure how to respond to my statement, and I can’t blame her. I lean down and kiss the top of her head and then slide from the bed. “I need to go,” I tell her. I find my boxers and put them back on.
“Are you going to look for Zabrina some more?” she asks me as I pull my boxers up and bend down to grab my pants.
“That’s right,” I tell her, shoving one leg in and then the other.
“Do you think you’ll find her today?” Isla leans back against the pillows, and I imagine she is still exhausted. After what her body has been through, she should sleep more. I shouldn’t have made love to her, but it’s so hard to keep my hands from her. It wasn’t as if she was telling me no, after all.
“I have no idea if we’ll find her today,” I admit. “But I will keep looking until she’s found so she can be brought to justice.” It kills me to think that the wormy little bitch was able to get out of her cell. Didn’t we learn anything from how easily Larry was manipulated?
“Be careful,” Isla says, reaching for me as I sit down on the bed to put my socks and shoes on. My shirt is on but very wrinkled. I am just going to my room to shower and change, but still, I had looking so messy even for a few moments.
I reach for her and take her hand in mine. “I will be careful,” I assure her.
A small smile graces her lips, but she seems unsure.
An idea comes to my mind. “While I am gone today, why don’t you call your parents?”
Her eyebrows arch as her eyes meet mine. “Uh… they don’t have a phone,” she reminds me.
My head rocks back and forth. “I know, but you can call the Alpha’s number and ask for them to come to the phone.”
She bites down on her bottom lip, and I can see that she’s frightened. “I don’t think I want to speak to Alpha Ernest. He’s not exactly kind to me.”
“Oh, Ernest isn’t the Alpha of Willow pack anymore,” he explains. “I removed him. There isn’t an Alpha right now, but the Beta has taken over. For now, anyway. Miguel said he doesn’t want to stay the Beta, but he’ll handle it for the time being.”
Isla adjusts where she’s sitting on the bed, pushing herself up slightly. “I don’t understand, King Maddox.” I grunt a little at her formality, but she doesn’t go back and try to change it. “Uhm, why would you remove Alpha Ernest from his position?”
“For lots of reasons,” I tell her. “First of all, he failed to tell your parents where you were. He didn’t forgive their debt either. He also lied and told the hospitals to collect the medical debt from people who were not born in our kingdom, which is why your parents owed so much money to begin with. I took care of it, baby. I went there and made sure that he was punished for what he’d done. Your parents will be getting that money back, and I made sure they had enough money in the meantime as well. Who knows? Maybe they actually have a phone in their home by now.”
She continues to stare at me for a long moment. I smile at her and rub her hand. “That’s where you went?” she asks me. “When you left here, yesterday? It was to see Alpha Ernest?”
“That’s right,” I tell her. “My car broke down when I was coming back. I believe Private Wylie tampered with it. I saw grease on his hands earlier yesterday morning, but I didn’t have any suspicions about him because he had seemed to be loyal.”
“Yes, he always seemed loyal to me, too,” she agrees with a heavy sigh. “I wish I would’ve known you were going there. I would’ve loved to have seen my parents.”
“I’m sorry.” I mean it. “I just didn’t think it was a good idea until after I got to the bottom of what was happening with Alpha Ernest. Now that he’s out of the picture, you can go there whenever you’d like. I told your mother that you were working in the castle, but I didn’t tell her what your job is. I thought she would be upset if she knew the truth.”
She drops her eyes, and I wonder if she is ashamed of being my breeder. If she is, it’s my fault. I am the one who just made her feel like that’s all she is to me. That’s not the case, but I was too scared to tell her that I love her right now, so she’ll likely just assume this is just a job again.
I don’t have time right now to go through the intricate differences between what she is doing to me as my breeder and what separates her from someone who is doing just another job.
“Anyway,” I continue, “your family should be doing well now. You should call them. I know they’ll want to speak to you, and Beta Miguel will help you get in touch with them. Just… tell them whatever you’d like about your job. But I believe your mother thinks you’re a maid.”
Isla scoffs. “I thought that’s what I would be, too, even after Beta Seth told me I was your breeder. I didn’t even know what it meant until Poppy explained it to me. I guess… I’ve never heard of anyone using someone just to have a baby.”
“I’m not using you just to have a baby, Isla,” I try to assure her, but she looks unconvinced. “I’m serious. You mean so much more to me than just that.” I lift her hand and kiss the back of it.
In my head, Seth asks me if I’m up yet, and if so, what my orders are.
This will never end…. Not until that bitch is found. I hate it. We may as well be at war. It feels the same way with this immediate sense of urgency. I tell him to give me thirty minutes and return my attention to Isla.
“I’ve got to go,” I tell her. “But I will talk to you about it later. You should get as much rest as possible and then go call your mother, all right? Don’t worry about me. I’m not afraid of Zabrina or her awful father.”
“I will try not to,” she says, but I know she will worry about me because she is a worrier.
I lean down and press my lips against her, noting that her skin is a bit cold. I pull the blankets up to her chest and run a hand along her cheek.
“I’ll check in with you later, okay?” I tell her. “And if you need to use the mind-link with me, don’t hesitate, baby. I’m always here for you. I shouldn’t be going out of range, but if I have to for some reason, I’ll let you know before I do so.”
“All right.” That’s all she says.
It makes a sigh escape my lips. I should tell her. I should say those three words that would set her mind at ease.
But now doesn’t seem like the time.
“Goodbye, Isla,” I say.
“Goodbye, Alpha King Maddox.”
That’s even more formal than before. I tip my head at her and say, “Just Maddox from you, babe.”
She smiles, but it looks forced. When she says my name, I feel my heart tighten in my chest and my pants grow snugger. “Maddox.”
I think I’d rather be her lover than anyone’s king, but I have a responsibility to everyone, and that means I can’t just step aside for this woman.
I’ll have to find a way to keep her safe while maintaining my station.
With one more look at her beautiful face, I head out, going to my room to take a shower. I let the cold run slightly cold so that I’m not going off to find that murderous bitch with a hard-on. It doesn’t matter that I’ve just taken Isla from behind; already, I am growing hard for her.
But she needs a break, and I don’t have time to take care of myself, not at the moment.
After my coldish shower, I get dressed and go out to meet Seth.
“Any word?” I ask him as I take the protein shake he’s offering me.
He shakes his head. “No. I’ve got wolves out on the far shore of the river, trying to sniff her out. So far, they haven’t found a trace of her.”
I swear under my breath. I was hoping she’d emerge on the other side of the river. “All right. Widen the search. We need to go to the village.”
“What village?” Seth asks, confused, as I walk toward the door that leads to the garage and my car.
“The local village. I’ve heard there’s a diving shop there. I want to see if they happened to sell any oxygen tanks yesterday. If they did, I want to know to who, now large, and how long they’ll last underwater.”
My Beta seems to be on the same wavelength as me now. “All right then. Let’s go. But if you expect me to go diving, you’re crazy.”
I smile at him, knowing he’s not even a fan of swimming in his human form, and think that might be necessary. We can determine where the car entered the water. Perhaps, if the mud near that part of the river bottom is deep enough, we’ll be able to find her tracks. “I promise nothing,” I tell Seth and he groans as we get in my car, me behind the steering wheel, him in the passenger seat, glowering at me.
He'll live.