Chapter 82
Ragnar
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Sophia is upset. We’ve been around one another enough for me to be able to sense it now. It feels a lot like her presence is brushing up against my own. Seraph said this would be the case as soon as I began breaking the oath I had sworn.
I feel her all around me, even when she’s not close. My bond with my first mate never reached these heights. I’m sitting here listening to her talk with her friends and my brother, but I’m feeling a bit worried about what we’re going to do tonight.
Maybe I should have asked her to stay back, but the bigger part of me knows that she’d never accept that. Yet something inside me tells me this is wrong. That I shouldn’t have pushed her this far. That encounter with the girl she grew up with has shaken her, and there’s something heavy in her presence that isn’t sitting right with me. As we enter the city, that part of her only grows more impatient.
“Sophia, come sit back with me. Mathew take her place. Do you two remember your lines?” I ask.
“Yes, my King,” the two of them answer.
Sophia climbs back into the back seat beside Sasha and then back towards me. Mathew makes his way to the front, and the conversation dies as we all prepare for the raid. Now that she’s sitting right next to me, I can feel that part of her as if it were covering me like a blanket.
“Are you alright?” I ask her.
Nothing prepares me for the cold look in her eyes when she looks up at me. I had been upset with her when she first arrived in Blackstone because it didn’t seem like she understood what had happened, but as I stare into her eyes now, I see that she did. The rage she’s feeling is that unsettling presence I feel inside of her.
“Yes,” she says calmly.
“Are you prepared for what is about to happen?” I ask her.
“I am,” she confirms.
She completely believes that she is. I cup her face, wondering if perhaps she might hesitate when she sees someone she knows. Someone she trained with, someone she studied with, or someone she’s friends with. What happens tonight will break every tie she has with these people, and by the way her former friend upset her, I don’t think she’s ready for it.
“Stay with me,” I order. “Do you understand?”
“Yes, my King,” she bows her head. The two of us look up when Kennedy turns onto the street approaching the first gate. “Ken, turn into this alleyway. We’re going around back. When they ask you why you’re on this side, tell them the GPS led you there.”
“Okay,” Kennedy turns into the alleyway.
“Turn your coms on, everyone. Let’s wait for the others to get to their positions.,” she adds. I open the back
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Chapter 82
89
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door for us. I climb out first to make sure no one is around. I freeze when she fires off two shots over my shoulder. She’s holding her gun with a silencer attached to it.“Cameras,” she smirks when I glare at her. “Sorry.”
I help her out of the truck, and then Sasha. The two of them don’t hesitate to scale the brick wall beside us. I follow them onto the roof and see we’re not that far from tonight’s event. Sophie signals Sasha to watch the backside as she moves to the front, where all the cars are still arriving in front of a very nice upscale theater. She holds up her phone, showing me the broadcast happening down there.
There are alphas and pack wolves showing up from the neighboring Cities and states. I see her stiffen when a black G–Wagon shows up. We both look down at the phone to see that former Luna Romano and a girl about eleven years old step out of the car. The crowd erupts into cheers. Then the new Luna of the City is presented. Sophia scoffs at the subtle round of applause that passes fleetingly for her. Behind her, another woman steps out of the car, and the four of them make their way onto the carpet.
“Where the fuck are the alphas?” Sophie whispers.
“What do you mean? This isn’t normal?” I ask.
“No, usually they all show up the same way the others do. In pairs to show off their mating. To ensure the pups coming into the ballroom see what their mating is supposed to look like,” she turns the volume up, and the reporter is wondering the same thing we are.
She looks around and then spots something near Sasha. She makes her way over to her and the two trade positions. She goes into her backpack and pulls out a little black laptop and a cable. There’s a box where she’s crouching. She pops it open and inserts the cable. On the screen, several windows pop up for her. She bypasses them, and security footage appears on the screen.
“What the fuck?” I smirk.
“I would have changed everything the moment I lost someone who’s been around my security team,” she scoffs. “I can’t find any of them. Not the Alphas or some of the betas in charge of tonight’s security,” she works over the little keyboard and stops in a garage. “What?”
“What is it?”
“They’re not here,” she says, looking up at me. “Like at all. This is where the armored trucks usually are. Six of them are missing. They only use these when they’re going out of town or need to park them around certain
areas.”
“Maybe they’re down there?” I suggest.
“No, they’re very hard to miss. We would have come across them by now. They’d have one right across the street from the event. All I see are patrol cars. She skims through the footage again and comes up empty handed.
“I’m going to call my father to make sure he’s on high alert,” I say. She nods and continues looking for them.
“Is everything alright?” my father answers on the first ring.
“The alphas aren’t here. Make sure we don’t get any rude visitors tonight.”
“I’m sending out natrale now Re careful 203 “ha anve without hocitation and hange in
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Chapter 81
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“Obviously, some things are genetic and can’t be fought. I learned that the hard way. I used to hate everything my grandmother did, and before the attack, I swore I’d never be like her. But then I started the academy, and fighting is in my blood. Training, getting dirty, and learning new ways to push myself past my limitations. I kind of hang on to all her advice now. I can’t help it. This makes me crazy happy,” I admit.
“Me too,” Kenny agrees. “I used to be an influencer. All I did was shop and get people to give me free shit so I can post about it. I made a shit ton of money. Now I use my account for news and militia awareness stuff. I make twice as much as I used to.”
“Nice,” I lift my fist up to her, and she bumps me.
“I like fucking shit up too,” Sasha says, and the three of us laugh. “I’m not saying that she’s wrong for being mated to that man. It’s just that their name isn’t respected among us. They’re disgraced royals. We value our royalty a lot. They keep our race relevant, and it’s not easy considering our size.”
“Things happen for a reason, though. The Poluccis control a lot of the underground businesses. I’ve heard of them before. I just didn’t know they were Lycans. When I was around seventeen, Luna Romano mentioned them a few times. How the Rogues worked for him after Rogue King vanished.
“It’s a very common name among wolves, so I didn’t think anything of it until now. They’re afraid of him, so there are lines they can’t cross without pissing him off. Yet, they still attacked the castle and have tried to get away with more, only to be met with that brick wall. Could you imagine if he weren’t standing where he is?
“Things for us would be much worse. Wolves aren’t exactly known to be chill, and this family is protected not only by the Rogue King’s administration but also by the Alpha King’s. Maybe what we need is for a disgraced Prince to show the people what he can do. Breaking stupid cycles of hate like that should always be the King’s objective. Otherwise, it give insentive for betrayal. The enemy of my enemy is a friend and all that.
“Aimee is a very good doctor, and she loves her job. I am learning so much from her, and she’s helping me with my curriculum, so I don’t waste time taking classes that won’t matter. She didn’t hesitate to show up when the bombs went off, and she donated a lot to the families that were affected by the attack. So did he.
“If what you said is true, he didn’t have to do all of that for the people who have disrespected him and the love of his life. It means under all of that, he’s a good person. We all have darkness in us. I mean, we’re on our way to steal some shit from the people who hurt us so that we can turn around and use it against them. It’s no more noble than getting paid to assassinate someone. We’re still taking a life that isn’t ours to take. The only difference is that we’ve spun it to fit our agenda.”
“I guess I never thought of it that way,” Sasha sits back. “I always categorized us as the good guys,”
“There is no such thing as good or bad guys. Not when politics are involved. We’re all assholes. We do things we believe are logical, but we’re just people. There’s no way for us to separate emotion from reality. At the end of the day, someone somewhere is still going to hate the outcome.
“The selfish thing to do is get what we want and deal with the consequences later. Being powerful makes leaders forget that the people who put them in that position are the ones who will tear them down. I consider. myself a part of the people,” I straighten up and pop my shoulders. “Tearing down is the easy part, and I’m going to enjoy every second of it.”
“Amen,” Ivar says from behind me. “I can get behind that any day.”
Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.
