Chapter 42 Chapter 42 Gamma’s Pride

~Rigel~

Fuck his possessive ass if he thought he could get rid of me. I wanted to see my princess in person; it was my duty as her knight. Lexy and Gale might tell me that she was doing fine and so was Liam, but that I had to see for myself.

It’d been four days. They were hiding something from me and if I found out Anna wasn’t well; someone was going to pay, preferably Gale.

“Last chance,” he said as we were almost in front of her bedroom door.

“I’d like to see him try.”

There was no way I was letting myself get pummeled by him. Just because he was the Alpha didn’t mean he could push me around. Getting overly jealous when I was around his mate, I swear to Goddess he was the most paranoid werewolf I had ever met. Like I could help it when women were naturally drawn to me.

I might be a player, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t loyal to the Alpha. For fucks sake, why couldn’t Lexy talk him out of it!

It’s the one thing she’s good at besides healing!

“He’s going to kill you,” Gale warned.

“In front of my princess? That wouldn’t be right. Threaten me, maybe, but kill me? Not if he wants her to stay.”

I knocked on their door but there was no response.

“I told you we were too early,” he muttered.

“Shut up, Gale. Liam never slept in before. Remember our training days?” I replied and he shuddered. Those days were worse than death that they left a scar in our minds.

I placed a hand on the handle.

“What are you doing?”

“Going in,” I said, then turned it and pushed the door open.

The bed was… there was only a mattress now, the bedsheets barely clinging to it. Then we heard a universally recognized sound from the direction of the… bathroom.

I immediately closed the door and walked away. Gale was silent as he followed beside me.

“I heard nothing,” I said nonchalantly. “How about you?”

“How can I hear anything when they’re still sleeping,” he replied.

We looked each other in the eye and nodded in agreement. That never happened, and because it never happened, we could never talk about it. Best keep it that way.

My princess was all grown up now. Guess she wouldn’t be needing me much now. I’d been cheering her up since I became her knight, which I volunteered to be just to annoy Liam.

She was a strong kind soul; it was easy to talk to her. She turned me into a real knight, eliciting a natural need to protect her at all costs. In many ways, she reminded me of my cousin.

In my opinion, she deserved better than Liam. Then again, who was I to question the Goddess’s intentions? She must’ve been drunk when she mated Anna to the Alpha of her previous pack though, that was undoubtedly a mistake. If I ever meet that guy, I’d punch him so hard his jaw would disconnect.

Gale would do worse, no doubt about it. That poor bastard.

Who gives a shit? If it ever goes down, it’s well deserved.

Beating up our Anna until she was almost dead…

“Good morning, you two,” chirped Lexy, disturbing the silence between Gale and me. “Rigel, what are you doing here?”

I raised a brow at her. “What? I’m not allowed in the mansion now? Is Liam going to sniff me out all the way here?”

“That’s not what I meant,” she said, laughing. “You look horrible.”

“No shit.” I grinned. This worrisome workaholic could use one less patient to worry about. “You don’t look any better yourself.”

She looked down at her outfit, dark blue jeans, and a loose cotton shirt.

“What’s wrong with my clothes?” she mumbled.

“You haven’t been sleeping lately,” said Gale silently, stepping up to her and cupping her face.

“What?”

“You have bags carrying bags and you’re getting skinnier and your lips are chapped,” he said.

Quite the observant. In fact, I’m shocked they weren’t mates when Gale came of age. Liam would’ve been alright with it and so would I.

With that, it was proven. Our relationships with each other were meant to be nothing more but familial. Just four abandoned kids who fucked up at one point or another, still trying to keep it together.

I watched them bicker back and forth about their jobs and who needed a break. Damn both of them, I needed a fucking break. At least one of us was on a break and having the time of his life. Ah… I shouldn’t be thinking about that – she’s my princess.

“Pervert,” said my wolf.

“Shut up, Rain. I don’t see her that way.”

I wasn’t the kind of guy who’d hit on anything that moved. Besides, she was my princess, not my queen. The latter was reserved.

“Calm down, man. I’m your wolf,” he said, yawning.

“Get your sleep. There might be more of them later, and who knows when packs will start attacking.”

“Gladly,” he said and retreated to the back of my mind.

We had almost no time to recover since the attack that night. It didn’t help that Jayme went back to sleep. My men were getting exhausted by the day and with more of them getting sent to Lexy’s, she and her team had to work double.

While the news of our Alpha waking up was a huge relief, the loss of his memories rendered him unable to perform his Alpha duties. So now, it was up to the three of us, and for Anna to look after him in hopes that something would trigger his memories to resurface.

“I have to go back to the borders,” I said calmly, interrupting the two.

They stopped in their game of stretching each other’s cheeks and gawked at me.

“We’ll see you for lunch?” asked Lexy.

I nodded. If I talked, she’d notice that I was lying.

“Be safe out there,” said Gale.

“That’s your job, isn’t it?” I said, waving a hand in the air as I pushed the doors open.

He coordinated all our forces, including the rest of the pack. The brains behind every plan, he had to disseminate information and orders quickly, most of which only between the special units, including me, and the rest, to the entire pack.

For now, everyone blocked out Liam’s link. His was constantly a sharp static that would make one’s ears bleed. Until that stops and until he’s back, we’d have to keep him in the dark.

I jogged to the borders, joining my men who were assigned in the northern section. There were only six of us, including me. Every single one of them was personally handpicked from the rest for the simple reason that they were needlessly loyal to me.

I saved them from whatever miserable life they had before in their packs, the names of which I’d forgotten. And though I tried to get rid of them, they stuck to me like glue.

“Rigel, the scouts are back,” said Nalia. She was tall with a slender figure that looked out of place. It had its merits. Fearless is what she was. As a last resort, when all else fails, she was bait. She picked the shortest stack, and she just laughed it off.

Two scouts, both still nineteen, came running towards us. They shifted back into their human forms as they approached, stopping right before me.

“Gamma, rogues are coming from the northwest, twenty in total. Another twenty to follow. Three kilometers.”

Although there was no pattern or any discernable motive besides the usual, these rogues were too many in number. Someone was coordinating these attacks, and we had no idea who.

“Good work. Continue with the rotation. Make sure to get your rest.”

“Yes, Gamma,” they said in unison.

No sooner did they take a step did the other guy collapse. Luckily, his partner caught him before he hit the ground.

My men were quick to assist. They brought out a stretcher for him to lay.

“Ethan, Ty, get him to Lex,” I ordered, and to his partner, I said, “Don’t get distracted. If you’re scared go back to your Mom. No one will blame you for it.”

I turned my back on him, ignoring his glare.

“We’ll return asap,” said Ethan.

When they left, Reese spoke. “They’re doing what they can. Your strictness might demotivate them and we need everyone, especially right now.”

He was the youngest in our team, having turned eighteen last month. Skinny as fuck, but the pup can fight. His wolf was vastly different from his human form, I mistook him for a stray when he jumped me as a wolf and almost choked him to death when he shifted.

“Nalia, what’s the number?”

“We lost eight scouts today, all from exhaustion.”

If we start losing more than ten, we’d have to restructure our forces just to fill the gaps. However, it would only cause more damage on our side. Losing one’s comrades, only to be replaced by a higher rank. It didn’t help that some of our men were taken out.

“You’re ignoring me again,” Reese muttered.

“I need warriors, pup. Skilled, focused warriors who’d give up their lives to protect this pack and the man right next to him. Those who run to their mothers with their tails between their legs have no place in our ranks, not even as an Omega.”

He turned away with a tsk, and I held out my hand to stop Nalia from knocking some sense into the kid.

“Forget it. Disruptions on our side are advantageous to the enemy.”

“But he-“

“Nalia,” I said firmly, and she backed off.

“I don’t need my team fighting now. Settle your shit when this is over.”

“Any news with the Alpha, Rigel?” asked Sabri. She was almost as tall as Nalia but on the thicker side. She was wild with guns – all kinds of guns and knows how to use them. Our marksman: never missed since the day I crushed her pride and humiliated her in front of everyone in the pack. Fond memories.

I grinned. “He’s good. Our Luna’s keeping him company.”

A link tried to connect just then.

“Yeah?”

“Head Gamma, the rogues split. Fifteen coming in your direction. Assistance is on their way.”

“We don’t have reserves for assistance,” I replied.

“Thirty percent from the south, Head Gamma. Beta’s orders.”

Thirty per- What the fuck is he using percentages for! Our men weren’t statistics he could measure in a fucking chart! Thirty percent… how many the fuck was that!

I addressed my team. “Fifteen coming our way. Do you need assistance?”

I heard knuckles crack and guns load.

Keeping my anger under control, I replied, “Tell Beta to hold off assistance. We can handle it.”

My team joined my sides, already preparing themselves, their game faces on.

“But Head Gamma, Beta said –“

“Fuck what Gale said,” I said proudly. “Send them back. We can handle things from here. Order the northwest unit to not fuck up on their side.”

I cut the link then.

Howls came from the distance. I stepped forward and my men followed, smirks on our faces.

“Leave one alive.”

Gale might appreciate a gift to calm him down.

“Yes, Head Gamma,” they replied, excitement in their voices.