Three Alpha Princes for an Unwanted Omega

AYLA

”Who else knows?” My mother asked me.

Not, did they hurt you? Why did you not come to me earlier but who else knows that could tell and implicate or destroy her life because that was all that mattered to my mother.

”Ayla” she snapped. ”Who else knows what you did?”

”No one... wait, I...”

”Oh Goddess, did you tell anyone? Did you spill such damning secret to someone?”

I was shaking my head as she spoke.

”Who is it?” she demanded. ”Who did you spill your guts to?”

”I did not tell anyone.” I said in a small voice. ”He saw me”

”Who did?”

”Alistair”

My mother blinked in surprise.

”The healer?” she asked.

I nodded.

”What do you mean he saw you?”

”He saw me kill them and then he came to my room...”

My mother’s face drained of color so fast I thought she might faint. Her hand shot out, bracing against the wall.

”He came to your room?” Her voice had gone eerily quiet. ”You let him in? Who saw that happen?”

”My ladies in waiting.”

”Oh Goddess, Ayla.” She pressed her fingers to her temples. ”What if he decides to blackmail you? What did he want? How could you even admit to this?”

”Did you not hear me, Mom? He saw me.”

”It would be his word against yours, dear girl. And yours will stand higher than his in the grand scheme of things. But now you have met up with him, and your lady in waiting knows...” Her eyes narrowed. ”Which one of them is it? We would have to dismiss her on other grounds. Have her sent out of the palace before she begins to piece two and two together and flap her gums to all who would listen.”

I stayed silent. I did not tell her I had asked Astrid to make inquiries for me. If my mother knew that, she would dismiss Astrid without a second thought, consequences be damned.

”He was the one who hid the bodies in the well,” I said instead. ”Alistair. He told me he took care of them. That no one would ever know.”

My mother’s eyes widened. ”And what did he want in exchange?”

”He said he wanted to be friends.”

She stared at me for a long moment then she laughed.

”Ayla, that is blackmail 101. We need to get rid of him.”

I blanched.

”I am not killing anyone.”

Her face twisted with disgust. ”No one is asking you to kill anyone. He needs to be sent out of the palace. Soon.”

”Mom, I do not think he is going to tell anyone...”

”That is what is wrong with you, dear girl... you do not think. And that is going to be the death of us both. This man has seen you commit murder. He has disposed of the evidence. He has inserted himself into your life with a convenient little story about friendship. Do you not see what that is?”

I said nothing.

”It is a leash. He owns you now. And the only way to get free of it is to cut it before he realizes how tight he can pull.”

I remained silent, my mind drifting to Alistair grip on my arm and the anger in his eyes when he confronted me about mating with Ares.

My mother was right... as always.

”I cannot believe I am going to be asking this but how did you do it? How did you kill those men?”

I was about to speak when the summoning bell rang across the compound. It was a sound I had not heard in years and it made my blood run cold.

It was used only when the Alpha wanted to pass important information to the people of the pack or when a threat had been discovered and punished was about to be carried out or war about to be declared.

My mother’s face went pale.

”Why is the bell ringing?” I whispered.

She did not answer. She was already moving toward the door, her hand closing around the handle.

”Stay here,” she said.

”Mom...”

”Stay here, Ayla. Do not leave this room until I come back.”

She pulled the door open and stepped through, letting it slam shut behind her.

The bell kept ringing. The sound vibrated through the stones beneath my feet and through my chest until I could feel it in my teeth.

I crossed to the window and pressed my face against the glass.

Below, I could see them streaming toward the great hall. Servants and guards and noble ladies and field workers, all moving in the same direction. The crowd pressed together, a river of bodies flowing toward the massive oak doors that had been thrown open to receive them.

Guards lined the path, their hands on their sword hilts.

Something was wrong...something was very wrong.

The door burst open behind me. I spun around, my heart leaping into my throat.

Astrid stood in the doorway, her chest heaving. Her face was flushed, her hair escaping from its pins, and her eyes were wide with something that looked like terror.

”Ayla.” She gasped. ”You need to come. Now.”

”What is happening?”

”The Alpha has summoned everyone. They are saying... they are saying they found the person who put the bodies in the well.”

The floor dropped out from under me.

”How?” The word came out as a croak.

”I do not know. But they are calling for a public judgment. Everyone is to witness.”

I could not breathe. The room tilted around me, the edges of my vision going dark. I reached out, my hand finding the wall, pressing flat against the cold stone to keep myself upright.

They knew. They had found out. And in a few moments, everyone in the pack would know what I had done.

”It was not me.” I muttered.

”What?” Astrid stepped forward, her hand closing around my arm.

”Ayla, you are scaring me. What are you talking about?”

The bell had stopped now and the sudden silence was deafening.

”We need to go,” Astrid said, pulling at my arm. ”If we are not there, they will come looking for us.”

I let her pull me toward the door.

We stepped into the hallway. It was empty, everyone was already in the great hall.

The massive doors stood open as we approached, and inside I could see the crowd packed shoulder to shoulder, the air thick with tension.

I stopped at the threshold.

Ahead, on the raised platform at the far end of the hall, Alpha Kieran stood with his sons flanking him.

They all looked grim.

But it was not the princes that held my attention.

It was the figure standing in the center of the platform, his hands bound in front of him, his head bowed.

My breath caught in my throat.

”The accused,” Alpha Kieran’s voice rang out, ”has been identified as the one responsible for disposing of the bodies found in the eastern well.”

Murmurs rippled through the crowd.

”He has confessed to trying to dump the third body before he was caught”

My heart was pounding so hard I could barely hear.

Who was that?

I scanned the crowd for Alistair and found his eyes on me. He held my gaze for a moment and then he smiled.