Business as Usual

*Maddox*

“Alpha Jordan,” I say as the other Alpha comes into my office. “What can I help you with?”

His eyes are narrowed as he says, “I want to speak to you about what happened with my darling daughter, Zabrina, last night.”

I nod. “Yes, I’m glad you came by. I think it’s a good idea for us to talk about it as well.”

“You do understand how close she was to being killed yesterday, don’t you?” he asks me as he sits down in a chair across from me, his forehead wrinkled with concern.

I stare at him for a long moment, not sure how to respond to that. “She almost died?” I repeat. “I’m not sure I understand what you mean.”

“That woman—the maid—whatever the hell her name is… she could’ve killed my Zabrina. What if she would’ve stabbed my daughter instead of killing herself? I find it horrific to think that your guards in the dungeon are of such poor quality that they can’t even prevent a prisoner from getting access to a knife!”

When he is finished, I take a moment, trying to process what he has said to me.

Is he serious? Could he be joking?

He’s dead serious, and I have to come up with a way to respond to this bullshit.

Clearing my throat, I say, “Alpha Jordan, you do understand that it was your daughter who took the knife into the cell, don’t you?”

“Yes, obviously, I know that,” he says, and I see I’ve irritated him further. “She shouldn’t have been allowed to do that! That’s my point!”

“Well, of course, she wasn’t allowed to do it, Alpha Jordan. She simply did it anyway. She managed to charm the guards into letting her in with her picnic basket, which contained a knife.”

“And they should’ve been smart enough not to do that!” he replies with his hands spread wide. “My daughter didn’t have any idea that what she was doing was dangerous. She didn’t know this woman would turn out to be some sort of a psychopath!”

I’m not sure what to say to this. A knock on the door alerts me that Beta Seth is back with my breakfast. He pokes his head inside of the office but gestures at me, wanting to know if he should leave.

The smell of bacon and fresh biscuits has my mouth watering, so wave him into the room. He sets it down on my desk and greets Alpha Jordan.

Jordan glares at him. “I see you’re too busy to address my concern at the moment,” he says to me.

“I’m not too busy, Alpha Jordan. I’m just surprised that you are concerned that your daughter might’ve been harmed when she was the one who brought the knife into the room, not to mention… she had an awfully lot of blood on her hands.” I hope he will get what I am saying without me having to spell it out for him.

“Of course, she had blood on her hands! She tried to save that wretched woman’s life! Surely, you’re not implying that you think Zabrina hurt that woman?” His eyes are wide and his chubby face is stretched as he gapes at me.

I am saying exactly that, but I know if I try to explain that to Jordan right now, he will further lose his shit. “I’m saying… the investigation is ongoing. That’s what I’m saying.”

He shakes his head. “Really, Alpha Maddox, I can’t believe what I am hearing. If you think my daughter had anything to do with that, you’re crazy!” He stands and heads for the door. “We should’ve never stopped here!” Spinning around, he points at me, “I tried to help you! I tried to make a match for you with a beautiful woman, the daughter of a powerful Alpha all of the other Alphas respect—me! But you’re too out of touch with the rest of the kingdom to even see that!”

I ignore his rant and say, “Jordan, if you’re sorry you stopped here, perhaps you should get going.”

“Oh, I will!” he says. “I’ll be out of here in a week or less, you just wait!”

“A week?” Beta Seth says, and I nudge him with my elbow, hoping he’ll just stay out of it.

“Yes, a week!” Alpha Jordan shouts, opening the door to go. He stops, though, and turns back. “If you do anything to my daughter before we leave, believe me, you will regret it!”

“Goodbye, Jordan,” I say, and he walks out into the hallway, slamming the door behind him.

I pick up the silver platter my breakfast is on and move it in front of me, thankful to finally get to eat.

“Are you really going to let him leave and take her with him?” Seth asks me.

My mouth is full of delicious bacon, so I can’t answer right away. I finally get out, “I’m not sure yet, Seth. I need to do some further investigating into the situation. Right now, my major proof that she is a murderer is that she forgot the girl’s name.”

“And she brought the knife into the cell with her, and there’s no reason for the maid to have killed herself when you basically told her she wasn’t really in trouble,” he spells out for me.

I shrug. “True, but we know nothing about this girl. For all we know, she had some issues before that made her want to claim her own life.”

He shakes his head. “I guarantee Zabrina did this because she didn’t want to get in trouble for drugging you.”

“That may well be,” I agree, “but I need proof, and none of the guards saw anything that will help us.”

“If we let her go, she’ll think that she can kill people and get away with it.” Seth folds his arms and paces slightly next to my desk.

His words distract me, though. After Rebecca died, everyone said the same thing about me, that I had killed her and gotten away with it.

In a way… that was true….

But I didn’t really get away with anything because I was a prisoner in my own mind every moment of every day because of what had happened to her.

“Maddox?” Seth says. “Did you hear me?”

I hadn’t heard him. “Sorry—what was that?”

“I said… I tried to get a hold of the Moons, but every number I called in Willow pack says they don’t have a phone, and they live so far away from everyone with a phone, there’s really no way of getting in touch with them except for to call the Alpha and set up a meeting with them.”

I let out a sigh, chewing a bite of eggs that are light and fluffy, just like I like them.

Calling Alpha Ernest will defeat the purpose. No, I need to meet with them without him knowing my plans.

It’s a two-hour drive—each way.

I sigh and look at the clock. I don’t have time to go today. I have too many meetings and urgent work that has to be done today. “Tomorrow,” I tell him.

“What’s that?” Seth asks me.

“I’ll go visit them tomorrow. Make it happen, Seth.”

He sighs. “You’re going to drive to Willow pack tomorrow?”

I nod. “That’s right.”

“And are you planning on taking Isla with you?”

I shake my head. I know she’d love to see her family, but I don’t want her to know what I’m up to. “Not this time.”

“Fine…” he says. “I’ll clear your schedule tomorrow. What time do you want to leave?”

“Eight,” I say, thinking that’s usually the time I try to get into the office. But then I think about what I have planned for later tonight, and I change my mind. “Make it ten.”

“Ten,” he says as a note to himself. “All right. And what are you going to do there, exactly?”

“I want to make sure that Alpha Ernest forgave the debt the Moons owed him.”

“And if he didn’t?” Seth asks me.

I look up at him, wiping my mouth on a napkin. Setting it aside, I say, “He will not like what happens to him if he didn’t.”

* * *

*Isla*

I wake up to the sound of Poppy moving around my room. Blinking a few times, I try to remember back to what happened earlier. Maddox’s smiling face flashes before my eyes, and I suddenly remember what happened earlier.

“You’re awake!” Poppy says. “Sorry if I woke you, but I thought you might be hungry. Have you eaten today?”

“Eaten?” I repeat. “No, I haven’t eaten.” I’ve been eaten… I haven’t eaten anything myself.

Poppy stares at me as her eyebrows slowly knit together. “Is everything all right?” she asks me.

“I’m fine,” I tell her, remembering that I did not put my panties back on after Maddox left, and I have no idea where they are. I look down at the floor, but I don’t see them. My face heats even more.

“I put them in the hamper,” she says. “Believe me… you wouldn’t want to put those back on.”

I swallow hard, not bothering to ask her what she means.

She must think I’m some sort of sexual deviant who can’t help but take her panties off and touch herself.

“Well, I can go get you something to eat if you’d like to go take a shower. Any idea what you’d like to wear today?”

Has she let it go? Poppy? She’s not going to ask me why I’m not wearing any underwear?

“Uh… I don’t know what I want to wear,” I tell her.

“I’ll lay something out for you,” she says with a smile. “Should I include panties, or are you just not wearing those anymore?” She snorts and then starts laughing.

I narrow my eyes at her. “Stop that, Poppy,” I insist. “Yes, I will be wearing underwear!”

“All right. I just wanted to make sure. You do you, girlfriend.”

I shake my head. “Poppy… you don’t know what you’re talking about, so please stop.”

She stares at me for a long moment, and I realize I have said too much. “Did… did the king come in here last night?”

I take a deep breath and shrug. “I don’t want to discuss it, Poppy.”

“Oh, my Goddess!” she declares. “Did you two… I mean, it doesn’t smell like sex in here, but—”

“Poppy!” I duck down and hide my face with my hands. How can she be so blunt? “We didn’t have sex, okay. Just… some other stuff.”

She giggles like a schoolgirl and jumps up and down. I just want her to go. I’m not getting up until she’s out of my room.

Eventually, she catches her breath. “Aren’t you going to tell me about it?”

“No!” I shout. “I’m not going to tell anyone about it. Now, please go get me something to eat while I take a shower.”

“Okay, okay,” she says, looking wounded that I won’t dish everything with her. “I’ll go. But… I think you should tell me. I’m your only friend now, you know.”

Sighing, I tell her, “Maybe later.”

She has to be satisfied with that, so she accepts it and walks out the door, and I know she will get it out of me later.

She’s wrong—she’s not my only friend here; she’s my only friend anywhere.

Once she leaves, I get up and head to the bathroom, noticing how odd it feels down there now that I’ve had part of another person in there. Maybe it wasn’t his cock, but it was still a part of him, and every time I think about how good it felt to have the Alpha King licking me, I feel my heart race and my breath catch in my throat.

Later, I think he’ll come back, and he’ll finally claim me once and for all.

I turn the water on and take off what I have left on before stepping inside of the shower. I’ll make sure everything is sparkling clean for him, in case he wants to explore other parts of my body.

My knees weaken just thinking about it.

I had been so frightened to come here, so terrified to become Maddox’s breeder, but now that I’m here, I can’t imagine ever being anywhere else.

And I can’t imagine ever being with anyone else.

I’m definitely falling for him.

Falling hard.