Page 13 of Fated Alpha Baby

“I am your best friend, too. So you gotta trust me when I say I’m not tryna blow smoke up your ass. But I’m also gonna remind you to get your head out of your ass, too.” He slaps the back of his hand against my chest. “You should loosen up. We’re on ops, on our own, for the first time in three years. It’s gonna be fun.”

“Fun?” I sneer. “They’re all waiting back home like hawks, expecting me to return with my mate. Amos thinks she might be in this coven.”

Simon glances at me and scrunches his nose. “Just tell them she’s not. Go back and tell them they had the wrong gal. Simple as that, buddy.”

I press my lips into a firm line and stare ahead. “Hmph.” I let out a heavy sigh. “But if I don’t find her, I don’t have my powers. At this point, I’m not sure what’s worse.”

“Well, you can decide what you wanna do some other time. Let us deal with the stray in the back and hook the valley up with the alliance. That should keep them happy.”

“You know…you’re not a very good influence.”

Simon turns and tosses me his most charming grin, blue eyes sparkling with childish mischief. “That’s not why you picked me as your right hand.”

“No. And it’s why I needed you at that fucking meeting last night!” I chuckle as I throw a playful punch at his shoulder. “You could have stopped me from agreeing to this shit.”

“Well, you’re just gonna avoid it for now,” Simon says as he navigates the van toward the old Victorian-style building with ivory walls and a mansard roof that adds to the dramatic effect of the place.

“It’s not like you can avoid it forever,” he adds as the van comes to a halt in a parking space we’d been directed into by a broad, hefty-looking man with a thick beard and clean-shaven head. “Iron Breath does need their powers back, and their alpha operating at full capacity.”

“I hate the reminder.”

“As your beta, it is my duty. As your best friend, I’ll let you off the hook for the weekend.”

Simon and I exchange knowing looks before we both climb out of the van. We’re greeted by the bald man and an entourage of new faces that emerge from the building and step onto the porch.

“Greetings, Iron Breath!” A woman with ash-blonde hair, shimmering green eyes, and wearing a cloak as pale as her skin comes floating forward, descending the stairs as if her feet don’t touch the ground.

“We welcome you to Augusta, home of the August Moon Circle,” she continues with a soft smile as she glances at the others who follow her. “I am High Priestess Amalia Waters. These are alphas of the werewolf packs from around Helena Valley. While I would love to stay for the introductions, there is something else that requires my attention.”

Her eyes flit to the van, and I fall into step beside her as she makes her way to the back. Simon is already there.

“Marcus Hale. The human working for the demons. At least, he was until we caught him and destroyed his operations.”

Amalia Waters nods thoughtfully. “Wards are keeping his scent masked.”

“Yes.”

“The wards won’t hold for much longer. We will have to take him into the spell room underground.”

I nod. “We’ve been on the road for hours.”

“Then we shall take over.” She nods at the bald man who’s already waiting for her instruction. Together with Simon, the two of them open the back of the van and pull Marcus Hale out by the scruff.

There’s mumbling and groans muffled by the sack covering his head.

“I’ll show you where he’s being kept,” the bald man tells Simon. “We’ll go down together.”

Simon nods at me as he disappears with the man, and Amalia regards me for a moment.

“You are the Iron Breath alpha.” It’s an observation, not a question.

“Yes,” I reply flatly, a frown flitting past my face when the High Priestess doesn’t stop staring. “Is there something else?”

“No,” she shrugs diffidently. “Milly will show you to your quarters in the main house. That’s where our visitors will be staying for the weekend. But after I’ve made Hale comfortable, I’ll be in my study on the second floor. Come find me then.”

A shiver of dread skitters down my spine like I’ve been struck with a bolt of lightning, even as Amalia walks away. A young woman with flushed cheeks and big blue eyes comes toward me from the side of the van to introduce herself.

“I am Milly,” she says with a curt bow. “I will show you to your quarters, Alpha.”