Robbing the Alpha

Ch. 9: The Bodyguard

BROOKE

My wolf saved my life. Her stamina kept me still, her will kept me calm, and when Lily arrived with breakfast, and the rattler struck, it was my wolf's speed that got us out of harm's way. If I'd never set her free, we'd have both been buried.

And I'd have never set her free if it hadn't been for Huck.

A whirlwind erupted after that. Lily screamed and ushered me from the room. An army of sentinels was called. Titan raged, demanding to know where the snake had come from. My room was swept clean, checked, and rechecked to ensure no other threat existed, then Mother arrived to keep me company while Titan went to investigate further.

Mother brought her knitting—a hobby she only partook in during the gravest of circumstances. Hours passed in tense silence as her needles worked, transforming her frustration into a scarf.

But Mother could never stay quiet for too long. "How did they get in without you noticing?"

"I was asleep."

Her lips thinned; her brows pinched. Knit, knit, knit. "It's a miracle you didn't get bitten."

She and I both knew she didn't believe in miracles.

"I nearly did."

The needles clinked as she slammed them onto the table, and her gaze met mine like it had when I was a child out of line. I held my breath, waiting for the lecture, but instead, a soft knock sounded on the door.

"Come in," I called.

Lily peeked her head in. "Alpha Titan wishes to know if you'll join him in the dining hall for lunch."

"Wonderful," Mother said, her unshakable composure restored on a dime.

"Yes...wonderful." A lie. Last night, I prayed to get out of this room, but the danger wasn't here anymore. It was everywhere else. I still didn't know who was trying to kill me, but I'd had plenty of time to consider suspects.

Aster had been my first thought. She was the last person I'd seen, and her cryptic threat had insinuated a motive. But if she wanted me dead, why use a snake? Why not just poison the tea? Though, if she'd used the tea, they could have linked the crime to her. I wasn't sure how they planned to connect anyone to the snake. Would they dust it for fingerprints?

I considered Blaze, who obviously didn't like me, but also didn't like anyone else either. While I didn't trust him an inch, I couldn't produce a single reason why my death would benefit him, and men like Blaze never did anything without purpose.

That left one person—the most likely to want me gone—but if I was right, I didn't stand a chance.

Titan.

Hadn't this all started from the beginning, when I'd been handed over to the valley wolves like a sacrificial lamb? Huck had said so himself. Someone wanted me gone, and whoever it was had the power to try again.

No one had more power than the alpha, and Titan had motive. After all, he hadn't been the one to arrange this pairing. It was his duty, an obligation, and skirting it would stain his reputation as an honest man.

But if I were to die in a freak accident...

I chewed my lip as we walked down the hall, and Lily hurried ahead to open the dining room doors.

I froze.

That smell. His smell.

Titan and Blaze sat at the table; trays of meats, cheeses, and different breads spread out before them. But it wasn't the food that held my attention. It was the two men standing behind them. One was so large he looked like a tree, and the other...the other was Huck.