Page 30 of The Alpha’s Heir

Was I lying? Maybe. But despite Justus’s selfish ways, he was loyal to those who were kind to him.

You just had to get into his inner circle first.

“My mother would’ve done that?” Justus gasped as he put his hand over his heart.

I pinched the bridge of my nose, trying not to develop my own headache. “Megaera said she’d come to you instead. Now that poor woman is alone here while you complain about her inconveniencing your lifestyle, all while she’s trying to keep the gods from raining havoc on the world.”

Justus studied me for a moment. “You don’t really believe that bullshit? I know your dad used to tell those stories, but you have to know none of it’s real.”

I stopped myself from punching him and turned to the window instead. He wouldn’t tell a soul that my dad had liked to read banned books from the past, and that he’d shared the stories with me. Not that it’d matter much now anyway. But to throw that in my face was so typically Justus.

I yanked the heavy curtains open.

Justus winced as sunlight filled the room.

“Did you check the weather this morning?” I asked.

“Why would I?”

I glared at him. “It’s half a degree Celsius warmer than it’s ever been today.”

“So? We can handle a hot day.” Justus frowned. “I swear, one little weather fluctuation and everyone loses their minds.”

“That’s inside the dome.” I grit my teeth, hating how ignorant he was to cause and effect. But I had to remember that he—and the rest of the ruling class—were so far removed from reality at times. “There is a whole world out there, which, like it or not, affects what happens here. Another degree fluctuation outside the dome will be catastrophic for the climate.”

“Science will prevail,” Justus recited like a good little citizen. “Besides, the weather has nothing to do with the gods.”

“I watched the goddess change the fucking sky before our eyes!” I growled as I pointed at the window. “And if the gods swing lightning bolts and droughts and plagues around like toys, it might just mean that our systems stop working as intended. That science can’t catch up in time. That crops won’t grow. That we don’t eat.”

Justus paled.

Finally, the correct response.

I grabbed the nearest pair of pants and threw them at him. “Shower off your stink and get dressed. If she has to sacrifice herself for us, then so do I, and so do you.”

*

We were outside promptly at 8:45 a.m., which I called a win. It wasn’t the first time I’d been assigned to security detail for the councilwoman—hence Justus’s code-name—and I was sure it wouldn’t be the last. I knew the rumors that Councilwoman Troy had pulled strings to get me into officer candidate school so that I’d be at her beck and call.

They didn’t know the half of it.

My men knew me, though. Especially the ones I’d worked with for the past few years before I’d put on a collar device and picked up my new officer title. I nodded at Staff Sgt. Marcus, who’d gotten roped into this duty with me. He drove our unit’s vehicle and would be driving the council’s car today.

At least we were in civilian clothes. The heat pressing in around us would’ve been brutal in the full-dress uniform I usually wore on dignitary assignments to this house. Our civvies helped us blend in, though I was still connected to Marcus and the actual neighborhood security through my earpiece, with a direct line to local law enforcement too.

We were as ready as we could be.

Then she stepped outside, and it suddenly felt like I was forgetting an important detail. That I wasn’t prepared. That this assignment was more important than any I’d ever taken before.

That I didn’t want her to come.

“Good morning, Miss Meg.” I held open the car door of the black armor-plated limousine for her, even though Justus should’ve been the one to do it. He was currently sitting in the backseat mumbling about “ex-best friends.”

I didn’t bother looking at him, not when Meg offered me a smile I couldn’t help but return despite being on the clock. Happiness seemed to light up her eyes and I could imagine it was for me, but I quickly squashed that notion.

Something about this woman made me want to live in a fantasy. Which was dangerous.

I had a job to do. One that required me to be rooted firmly in reality and aware of our surroundings at all times.