*Maddox*
I get out of the car in front of Alpha Bryant Logan of Hill Country packs mansion. It’s huge, though it’s no castle. Still, it looks a lot more modern than the place I live in, a lot homier.
As I make my way up the long path to the door, I daydream about downsizing a bit but getting something where the electrical wires are actually in the walls instead of along them since my castle was built about four hundred years ago before electricity was even an idea.
Beta Seth clears his throat behind me, and I know he’s nervous. He always does that when he’s uncomfortable. I turn and look at him, and he adjusts his tie like maybe it’s choking him a little.
“It’s just Alpha Bryant,” I remind him. “He’s on our side.”
Seth nods, but I know he doesn’t quite believe that. I don’t either, but we’re here. We may as well see what the fuck he wants.
Besides, I have to think he’s not choosing to side with Maple pack over me. If he was, he never would’ve let me know what he’d found along the river early that morning.
I raise my hand to knock on the door, but it swings open before I can lower my fist, and the Beta for Hill Country pack, Vinny, is standing there with a look on his face that says he thinks he’s got something on me.
And I don’t like it.
“Vincent,” I say, using his full name though no one ever calls him that. “Alpha Bryant says he’s got someone for me?”
Vinny cackles at me. “Yeah, yeah, he sure does, Alpha King Boss Man.”
I don’t think I’ve ever been called that particular title before.
I follow Vinny through the foyer, around a large marble table with a huge vase full of flowers in it, to the back of the house where he shows me to an office.
I already know who I’m going to see in that room with Alpha Bryant. He didn’t tell me through the mind-link, but I know just the same.
I walk in and see the Alpha behind his desk. To the left of him are four large Omega guards… and one tied up, gagged, doubled-over-in-pain Alpha.
Or should I say former Alpha?
“Alpha King Maddox. Welcome to my home,” Alpha Bryant says, standing to offer me his hand.
I shake it. He greets Beta Seth as well. Then, we turn our attention to Alpha Jordan.
Or should I just say Jordan?
“Where’d you find him?” I ask the Alpha.
He laughs and rocks back and forth from his heels to his toes with his hands in his pockets. He isn’t in a hurry to enlighten me about the situation, so I pretend like I’m not in a hurry either.
Alpha Bryant is not quite as old as Alpha Jordan, but he is probably old enough to be my father. He has gray streaks at his temples, and the rest of his hair is mostly brown, though it’s hard to tell the way that he has it slicked back whether that’s his natural color or if he just uses some kind of greasy, almost black product in his hair.
“Listen, Maddox,” he begins, and I raise an eyebrow at him. It’s a warning. We are not on a first-name basis—he’s not privileged enough to call me Maddox, anyway. He clears his throat. “King Maddox. Here’s the deal. You know I’m on your side, right?” He comes from around his desk and stands next to me, gripping my upper arm for a moment, but then, when I give him a similar look to the one I had given him before, he lets go. “I hear the bullshit lots of the other Alphas is always spewin’ about you bein’ easy to knock off because you don’t have an heir. I get it. They think that they can come in, take the throne, get rid of you, and not many folks is even gonna say boo because you don’t have anyone to replace you anyway. Right?”
I stare at him for a long moment, daring him to continue down this path. If he’s trying to make me nervous, it’s not working. I know everything he just said is bullshit. While it’s true there are a few packs that are talking about trying to take the throne, a handful of stupid ass Alphas who think they’re bigger than they are isn’t going to scare me.
Besides… I’m working on that heir thing right now, aren’t I?
“Where did you find him?” I ask again.
Bryant removes his hand, clears his throat, and walks over to where Jordan is slumped in the chair. It’s clear the Alpha of Maple pack isn’t doing so well. He looks to be in excruciating pain. He’s hunched over, his eyes are slits, and a stain on the chair tells me that it’s not just water that has his pants all wet.
“On the shore, down a ways from my industrial complex,” Bryant tells me. “He was layin’ there, half-dead already. We picked him up, brought him here, and now we’re holdin’ him for you.” He gives me a crooked grin, and I think that’s probably not all he has to say to me.
“Did you interrogate him?” I ask.
Bryant nods. “Yep. Squealed like a little piggy with his head caught in the electric fence.”
“So you know where his daughter went?” I ask, not wanting to continue to fuck around with these assholes.
“Oh, yeah. He told us the plan. Said he couldn’t make it that far. Doesn’t surprise me. Think the poor bastard’s back is broken.”
“Well, it might be,” I say rubbing my chin. “He did take an awful fall down the stairs.”
Jordan tries to glare at me, but he can’t. His face is too swollen.
“So where the fuck is she?” I ask Alpha Bryant.
“Well, you see, King Maddox. That’s the thing….”
And there it is. He is going to try to bargain with me. “Alpha Bryant, don’t you even start,” I say, giving him a warning.
“Now, now, hear me out,” he says, holding up his hands between us. “Seems to me, you have a couple of problems you need to have taken care of. And it also seems to me, that good old Alpha Bryant is just the man to help you out with both of them.” He lays a hand on his chest like he’s saluting himself.
I’m already shaking my head. “The only problem I have is that you have this asshole, and I want him. Don’t think I can’t just take him from you. And anything that he’s told you, he’ll tell me. My guys are a hell of a lot rougher on traitorous assholes than yours.” I look Bryant in the eyes. “And don’t you forget it, Alpha.”
Again, Bryant’s hands are up in mock surrender. “Sure, sure. I know you can get the information I have. But here’s the thing, Maddox—King Maddox, you’re in my pack right now, and there’s just the two of youin’s right? So….”
I step really close to him, and he backs up a few steps. “Are you threatening me, Bryant?” I ask him in a low rumble. “Because if you are, you’d better be fucking sure of yourself. My guards will have this entire pack surrounded in less than thirty minutes, and your ass isn’t going anywhere before I shut the highways down. You sure these guards of yours are going to have your back and not mine, their king?” I look over at the guards who are standing around Alpha Jordan, and most of them look undecided, like they can go either way.
I don’t have to tell Seth anything to know what he’s already doing, calling for backup, closing down the highways, getting ready to bar the door behind me. I can take these assholes by myself while Seth keeps anyone else from coming in. It may have been a while since I’ve been in a fight, but I can handle my shit.
Bryant shakes his head, a crooked grin spreading across his face as he, once again, holds his hands up. “No, no, of course I’m not threatening you, sir. But it would be easier if you’d just… hear me out. I have two things you want. One, Alpha Jordan and the location of his daughter, and two… someone who can give you an heir.”
I arch an eyebrow at him, not sure what the fuck he’s talking about now. I’m only interested in the first thing he mentioned, which was really two. Alpha Jordan is on his last limb. He could be dead before nightfall without me touching him. All I wanna know is where is his daughter?
“Someone who can give me an heir?” I repeat, scowling at him. “I don’t remember asking for help with that, Bryant.” My words come out full of venom.
“No, I know you didn’t,” he admits. “But… I have a little problem you can help me with, and you get your major problem solved with no fuss. Hell, you don’t even have to fuck her. Just… take her off my hands. Have your baby. Tell them the mother is whoever the hell you want her to be, and I’ll go along with all of it. No one’ll hear a peep from me.”
I can’t figure him out, not to save my life. I stare at him as he begins to sweat. He’s obviously nervous about what he’s just proposed to me, though I have no idea why.
Alpha Bryant is married. He has children who are in their mid to late twenties, almost my age, but as far as I know, he and his wife have issues. Major issues. They’re not exactly fated mates, and I believe he married her for prestige. She was the daughter of another Alpha. Her sister is married to the Alpha of the next pack over, and that marriage isn’t exactly solid either. In fact, it’s my understanding that Alpha Ronald Rogers and Luna Elise of Mountain Range pack fight so frequently, one of their kids recently came to live here in Hill Country pack with Alpha Bryant and his wife.
That’s one messed-up family.
“I don’t need your help getting an heir, Bryant,” I tell him. “Perhaps you’re unaware of the reason Alpha Jordan and his daughter went running to begin with? They tried to kill my breeder.”
He arches his eyebrows. “Oh, no, well I didn’t know that. But, hey, you won’t need a breeder after this. Just take a look okay?”
He whistles and gestures with his hand, and from a side door, a guard comes in, tugging along a small woman with dark brown hair… and a large abdomen.
She has huge eyes, overflowing with tears and fear, and I can tell immediately that whatever is going on here, it’s not on the up and up.
“What the fuck, Bryant?” I ask him.
“Yeah, so she’s eight months along. So far, we’ve been able to hide it, but I figure, you take her, you know? Say you visited last year, and uh… you know? Enjoyed her. It’s your kid. Right? Save us both some trouble.”
She is sobbing, but she doesn’t even try to pull away from the guards.
Confusion washes over me as I look at her face. I can’t quite sort out what the issue is. Obviously, he knocked up a young girl, and he’s trying to hide it—but from whom? Just his wife? His whole pack?
I have no fucking idea.
“Who is she?” I ask him, using a tone that tells him he’d better not lie to me.
“Uh… this is… Sydney,” he tells me.
I look at her, still not sure why it matters so much to him that I take her. “Sydney who?”
Alpha Bryant clears his throat. “Sydney… Rogers.”
My eyes widen as I realize what he is telling me, and all I can say is, “Holy fuck.”