Marked by the Alphas

Chapter 92: Chapter 92

Axel POV

“Should we help her?” I ask Kane as we watch Katie and Mason argue. “We are partially responsible.”

“No,” Kane shakes his head, pulling me out of the hallway. “We’ll only make it worse for her. If Mason didn’t hate our guts before, he sure as hell does now.”

“Damn,” Kane exhales deeply, sitting on one of the shower’s benches. “We almost fucked Katie.”

“Yeah,” I sigh, sitting beside him and resting my head against the wall, looking at the ceiling. “If Mason walked in five minutes later, who knew what kind of position he would’ve found us in?”

“I can’t tell if I am relieved or disappointed that things didn’t escalate when he caught us,” Kane chuckles.

“Probably disappointed,” I grimace. “Mason is raging, and Katie probably wouldn’t go near us again anytime soon.”

An intense wave of need pulses through me just thinking about it. We got so close to touching her, and now it was all crashing down around us.

“It’s for the best that it didn’t happen,” Kane says, though I can tell he does not believe his own words.

“It’s less complicated,” I sigh. “But the thought of never being that close to her again is physically painful.”

I get up and walk to the door just in time to see Katie run outside. For a second, I am considering following her, but she needs time. I know I would have if I were in her shoes.

“Katie left the building,” I look at Kane, walk to my locker and get dressed.

“Where do you think she went?” Kane asks, standing up.

“Let’s hope she’s out for a short run,” I reply.

“Opposed to running away?” Kane smiles sourly, pulling his shirt over his head.

“She wouldn’t leave Stella,” I reason.

“Goddess, can this day get any worse?” I say, pinching the bridge of my nose.

There is an urgent knock on the door, and Maxim enters on Kane’s command.

“Alphas, you have visitors,” Maxim announces solemnly with a troubled look. “Gregory and Lucas. They’re in the den waiting with Monroe.”

“Fuck you, man,” Kane punches my shoulder. “You cursed us. Those are the last assholes I want to talk to today.”

We have not seen Gregory and Lucas since we announced Alice’s death, and they accused us of killing her. They spent a week locked up for that one, which was why they lay low ever since. They were already on the Council’s bad side.

“Shit,” I grunt, rubbing my shoulder. “What business do they have coming here?”

“I don’t know.” Kane shrugs. “But I guess we’re about to find out.”

We walk to the den slowly, dreading coming face to face with those disgusting oafs again.

“Alphas Kane and Axel.” Gregory nods when we enter the den, where they are waiting on the large couch. “We have something urgent we need to discuss with you.”

“If it’s more lies and slander, I don’t want to hear it,” Kane says, waving his hand at them dismissively.

Kane and I sit in armchairs facing the couch, giving us a good view of the other two men. They looked rougher and weathered than they had on the day of the mating ceremony. I suppose the last few months have not been kind to them.

“It’s not slander,” Lucas says through gritted teeth. “It’s concerns.” frёeweɓηovel.coɱ

“Go ahead,” Kane says, a hint of sarcasm in his voice. “Tell us what these so-called ‘concerns’ are.”

“We know you’ve brought another young she-wolf to the mansion,” Gregory answers with a self-satisfied smirk.

“How the fuck did he know that?” I glance sideways at Kane.

“No fucking clue,” Kane replies. “But I don’t like the sound of this.”

“She’s the mate of a visitor,” I answer simply. “And it’s none of your concern.”

“Forgive us,” Lucas smiles stiffly. “We only want to ensure this one doesn’t wind up dead, too.”

With a growl, Kane lunges out of his chair. I jump up and dive between him and the two men. Anything Kane or I did could be used as fuel to fan whatever flames of doubt they were trying to plant in our pack’s heads about our sanity.

“Where the fuck do you get off playing protector of she-wolves?” Kane growls. “You really think anyone would buy that after the way you tortured your own mates?!”

“You don’t have any fucking clue what you’re talking about, Alpha,” Gregory laughs mirthlessly.

“We weren’t the ones who hurt our mates, Alpha,” Lucas says. “That was your father.”

Kane POV

“You’re lying,” I sneer. My father is an asshole, but he would not hurt innocent she-wolves. At least I do not think so.

“He’s not,” Gregory jumps in. “Orion would tell us he needed to take our mates to the mansion to help with Luna duties or some shit, but that’s not what was happening.”

A pang of nausea flips my stomach inside out. Is Mother also involved? No way. She never pulled in help outside of the mansion. I knew for a fact that she would do everything on her own if she could.

“What was happening then?” Axel asks in a thick voice.

“He’d dump them back on our property days later, covered in bruises, pale as ghosts,” Lucas answers. “We took our first mate to a Healer for treatment, but when we went to check on her, she was gone. Never seen again.”

“And the second one,” Gregory says darkly. “She was dead when we found her.”

Suddenly, I cannot hear anything but my blood pumping in my ears. I try to swallow, but my throat is too dry.

“How do we know you’re telling the truth?” Axel asks.

“You’re the alphas, investigate,” Lucas says. “The Council never did, but if you insist, they will.”

“Thank you for raising these concerns,” I say, clearing my throat and ushering them out of the room. “Maxim and Monroe will see you out.”

“I know you might not want to believe us about your father,” Gregory shouts as the guards guide them out. “We didn’t want to believe it, either. But we don’t want it to happen again.”

He looks deep into my eyes, and I notice something there that I have not seen before. Pain. Can he really be telling the truth?

“I’ll think about what you’ve said,” I nod. “It’s a serious matter.”

Gregory and Lucas have barely been out of the house for two seconds when Katie’s scream echoes like a bell in my ears.

“Kane! Axel! Help!”

“She’s in trouble,” Axel says, looking at me with wide eyes.

It feels like Katie’s screams are in my head, and my heart beats wildly. We follow her screams to the west wing – Father’s wing. And if everything Gregory and Lucas said was true, then Katie was in even bigger trouble than I imagined.

I burst into his quarters, Axel trailing right behind me, and I went blind with rage when I saw Father’s arm wrapped tightly around Katie.