Marked by the Alphas

Chapter 113: Chapter 113

Axel POV

“Welcome home, brother,” I smile jovially when Kane and Elara enter the mansion with Stella. I am happily surprised to see them so soon. I prepared myself for weeks without them, dreading the idea that they would have that time to bond without me.

“You’ll be changing your tune once you hear what Dad’s up to,” Kane grunts, guiding Elara up the stairs. “But we can talk about it once Elara and Stella are safe and unseen in her quarters.”

My good mood evaporates as I follow them to Elara’s quarters and help her settle in. Dad has already threatened Elara, and she is willing to return. Whatever he did, it must be terrible. We should not have banished him from the mansion; we should have locked him up so he cannot create more shit.

“That’s probably Mother,” Kane says when there is a knock on the door.

“I’ll get it,” I offer, thinking of an explanation of why Elara is back. Mother knows everything, but I have no idea what Dad did, and Father’s doings still upset Mom.

But when I open the door, I am surprised to see Maxim.

“Aren’t you supposed to be guarding the twins?” I raise my eyebrows.

“I’m sorry to interrupt,” Maxim says apologetically. “Monroe and Mindy are with the twins. Gregory and Lucas are here to see you.”

Ah, crap.

“Thank you,” I nod stiffly. “Kane and I will be there in a minute.”

I sigh and close the door. By some miracle, Gustav and the Elders have not come back to harass us for whatever reason they can concoct. I was getting hopeful that things are starting to smooth over, and now those two dumbasses are here. Again.

With the High Council looking for any reason to strip us of our titles, and Dad’s shenanigans, I have not given much thought to their last visit.

Gregory and Lucas are sitting in front of the small fire. Now that spring is dwindling, the weather is warming up, and there is no need for the roaring flames we usually stoke.

“Where’s that hot little piece you had running around the mansion last time we were here?” Lucas asks, his eyes roaming around the room as if a she-wolf might appear out of thin air. “We never got a good look at her. We were hoping we could meet her today.”

The bitter taste of disgust blooms on my tongue. We will never bring Elara anywhere near these two, not in a million years.

“You’re vulgar and rude,” I growl, glaring at them with blazing eyes.

“Sure. You probably scared her off already, didn’t you?” Gregory barks out a bitter laugh. “I knew you were worse than we were when it came to mates.”

“We told you she was the mate of a visitor,” Kane snaps. “A visitor who is no longer staying here.”

“What’s the purpose of your visit?” I growl while Kane flexes his fists. I am quickly losing patience with them. “We have things to do, and don’t have time to socialise.”

“We’re here to discuss Orion,” Gregory sneers. “Have you decided if you believe us?”

“We heard you kicked him out of the house.” Lucas pipes in. “I have a feeling that’ll come back to bite you in the ass.”

“Yeah, well, he’s not the Alpha anymore, so there’s only so much he can do,” Kane says, though I can tell he is not as confident about that as he sounds.

“I don’t know about that,” Gregory grimaces. “He’s got the whole Council in his pocket. I’m pretty sure he can do whatever the fuck he wants.”

Kane and I exchange glances, and I know what we are both thinking. Gregory is right. Orion had successfully convinced the Elders to investigate Kane and me, his own sons. Who knows what else he can make them do?

“Do you know why the Council is so willing to do his bidding?” I ask. “They’ve always had more power than he, even when he was the Alpha.”

Lucas stroked his chin like a movie villain.

“Should we tell them, Gregory?” he asks.

“I don’t know, Lucas,” Gregory replies, folding his fingers together and leaning forward. “You forbid us from taking a mate, and acted like we were crazy for saying your father was responsible for hurting the she-wolves we’d mated before.”

“We’ve been so hurt,” Lucas continues, dropping his head in his hands dramatically. “By our own Alphas.”

I roll my eyes and suppress a sarcastic snort. There will be no Oscars awarded here today.

“Cut the theatrical shit,” Kane says impatiently. “And tell us what you want.”

“A stiff drink to start,” Lucas says, motioning to the bottle of Whiskey sitting on a nearby table. ƒгeewёbnovel.com

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” I grunt, walking over and pour them two generous glasses. Maybe it will help loosen their lips, because I am so over them and their drama.

I hand them each a glass and they both down them in one gulp.

“And we want you to take back your ruling that we’re no longer allowed to have a mate,” Gregory adds, a wicked smile curling his lips.

Fuck. No she-wolf should be forced to live with these two.

“Done,” Kane says curtly. freewebnovel.cσ๓

Gregory and Lucas exchange excited glances, while I shoot Kane a look of death.

“You’re going to regret this,” I warn.

“The next mating ceremony is months away,” he replies. “We’ll deal with it before then.”

“Kane, we have enough shit to deal with,” I grunt. “We shouldn’t add more to our plate.”

“They obviously know more about Father than we,” he insists. “We have Elara upstairs and need all the information we can get to keep her safe.”

“Under one condition,” Kane says, and Gregory and Lucas grumble. “You tell us if and when you have any new information.”

“Fine,” Gregory shrugs. “Here’s what we know.”

He shifts forward in his chair, leaning in closer and lowering his voice.

“Orion is nosing out hybrids and picking them off one by one,” he says ominously.