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And the perfect alpha king does not allow his physical urges to overcome his ability to lead. Something I’ve had to remind myself of several times a minute since the moment I saw Mylah ready to go into the lunar pool.
She is here because she is my mate.
It’s so much worse, in every way. It’s the worst possible scenario.
“So, you took the Omega and stopped her sacrifice because you wanted to gather information about the pack?” Kellen presses, steepling his fingers and dropping his gaze to the floor. “I can’t help but wonder, sir, if an alpha might be a better target.”
“Let me ask you, Kellen, Alpha that you are,” I say, leaning forward in my chair and staring him down with the full weight of my position. “If you were taken for the purpose of revealing this pack’s secrets, would you do it?”
His brow pulls together, and his head snaps up, so his eyes meet mine. “Of course not, sir. I’d take my own life before betraying this pack.”
“Right. Now, let’s imagine—for the sake of the exercise—that you’re an omega. Weak.” Mylah flashes to mind as I think it, and a sour taste blooms on my tongue at the lie. She is not weak. But this is what I need to say to get this damn adviser off my back. “Pliable. You’re taken by another pack, put up in a room nicer than one you’ve ever been in before…now, when someone comes to ask you a few questions about the man “leading” your “pack,” do you think you’re going to take your own life over betraying him?”
Kellen’s eyes widen. Behind him, the other advisers are shifting, as though just now realizing that, while I choose to do things differently than my father, I do have a functioning brain. I am more than capable of being the kind of this pack.
A leader.
Even when I am completely bullshitting about the “strategy” I’m using.
“I would not,” Kellen admits, quietly.
I nod, glance at the rest of the advisers. “Anything else?”
Kellen clears his throat. “Would you like me to find someone to conduct the interrogation? Perhaps a female alpha would be—”
“No.” I don’t even want a female alpha around my mate. “I will be conducting them. This is a valuable prisoner. Nobody else is to go near her. Do you understand?”
Nodding heads. I stand, head for the exit.
Now, I’m going to have to see Mylah again, if just to keep up the ruse that I’m keeping her here as a useful, informative captive.
Chapter 11 - Mylah
I catch Augustus’s scent before he knocks on my door.
My heart jumps, my body tightens, and I wonder if this is it. The moment I find out what he’s here for.
And then it dawns on me—he is knocking on my door. Not just an alpha, but the Alpha king. A few days ago, I was worried one might just break in, and now here I am, crossing the space and opening the door for him, staring at him on the other side.
“Mylah,” he says, adding a weight to my name. “May I come in?”
I raise my eyebrows at him. “Am I allowed to say no?”
His brow furrows, and he reaches out, leaning a hand on my doorframe. His scent is so overwhelming I’m tempted to say yes, but I don’t. “You are allowed to say no.”
Before I can muster the courage to do just that, to close the door in his face in response to the day he left me alone at that club, then again when he left me locked up in this room, I step back and leave it open, a silent invitation for him to come in.
He does, looking around like he doesn’t remember what the room looks like. I can hardly imagine it—a room in your own house that you don’t recognize.
Slowly, awkwardly, I sit down in one of the armchairs. He sits down in one across from me.
“To what do I owe the pleasure?” I spit, needing to say something.
Augustus seems to take a steadying breath, running his hand through his hair. “Mylah, I need to know what you know about Gavyn.”
Outside the windows in my room, the wind howls. That statement hangs in the air between us, and when it finally processes in my head, I let out a laugh.
Augustus just stares at me. So, not a joke, then.
