55. Breaking News

Backing out of the bedroom when Danika was left alone in the room, the door was quietly closed behind him. A hand hesitated over the knob for a second, debating what he was going to do in this instance. In the next moment Shayde reached for the key, hurriedly locking the door of his personal bedroom quarters. Ensuring that neither could Danika sneak out, though it was more to keep anyone else from getting inside.

Just because the girls were safely on the other side of town recovering from their injuries, Shayde wasn't taking any chances. All four of them had made their distrust and hatred from the human in his bedroom painfully obvious. None of them would bat an eyelash at the thought of sneaking inside of the castle, attempting for a second go around. In their eyes Danika was the enemy, an interloper in their territory and wanted her dead.

Not to mention the numerous other people in the pack. None of his people had been particularly pleased Shayde had dared to bring a human into their territory. Displeasure that'd grown with each passing day, witnessing the reaction he had to her anytime she was around. In their mindset Danika was the enemy, it was because of her everything bad was presently happening to them. It was because of her their own children were cast out of the security of the pack, now it was her the rogues had fingered.

Shayde couldn't afford to take the chance of trusting the wrong person and it cost her life in the end. And though at one time he'd have trusted to keep Danika safe in his absence, that time had come and gone. It was clear now the man didn't have any intentions of protecting the life of the human female. In fact it'd been Justin who'd suggested at putting the woman out of her misery, on more than one account.

The only reason he hadn't followed through on his desire to eliminate her was the alpha order to never harm her. He might be compelled to adhere to the orders of his alpha to never cause her undo harm, but that didn't mean anything. There were always ways around it. All Justin had to do was pretend ignorance of others targeting the woman, as the order didn't compel him to intervene.

Emerging from the back of the castle Shayde saw the men in the training field in the distance. Though at one time training was done in the area near the castle, but had moved when Danika arrived. As he stepped outside he couldn't miss how their every gaze tracked his movements from a distance. Even the guards who were patrolling the property boundaries watched each step he made, aware of their kings every action. In that moment Shayde couldn't have sneezed or farted without his people being aware of his actions.

Just as he noticed their careful inspection of him, the rest came to him as well. A variety of different thoughts and feelings thrummed through the atmosphere, coming from his people. All of which were presently centered on the man who'd led them these last two decades. Though the moment Shayde glanced in their direction all of them immediately glanced away. Suddenly looking at something in their view, as if their curiosity would hide the truth of what they'd been doing moments before. None of them wanting to be caught watching their alpha, their king, the man they once idealized.

He wondered if any of them realized it was a wasted effort on their parts, it wouldn't hide the truth. None of their pretend ignorance of his presence could change the emotions coming off of them in waves. Emotions that his own unique bloodline was able to register and decipher with barely more than a thought. Shayde could sense the disgust and hatred all of them felt in that moment, even as they tried to hide it. The overwhelming disgust for the woman he'd chosen to take to his bed, hatred for her being there. Then along came the confusion of how their beloved alpha could've allowed this to happen.

And lastly, the fear. Fear was the most potent emotion among his people, that'd been growing in leaps and bounds. A fear that couldn't be denied, no matter how any of them might want to try. Fear of the unknown, fear of what Danika truly was, fear of the magical spell she seemed to cast on him. His people were afraid that the rogue could've been telling the truth this morning and Danika was really a rogue in their king's bed.

Fuck.

So not what he needed right now. Now because of the bastard that'd dared to infiltrate his territory with those lies, none of them would let this go. It'd been bad enough when she was simply a human who'd bewitched him, but to think she was a rogue. It was so much worse. The rogues were their number one enemy these days, werewolves demented by their own need for blood and death. None of them were going to be willing to allow this one to go, too frightened there could be some truth to the man's claims.

Anger boiled up inside of him as Shayde felt the emotions coming at him from every angle. All of his people too focused on what the rogue had said, to simply allow it to go this time. Shayde had known he should've handled the situation fast the second the bastard had made his claims. His people were concerned by what the animal had said to him, needed his assurances there was no foundation to their concerns. That the woman was indeed the human all of them could sense that she was, the lesser of two evils.

Of course, he hadn't done as he should've. No, instead of calming the distress of his people he'd been between the legs of his sweet little mate, burying his cock deep inside of her body. And because of that Justin had come into his office unannounced, witnessed her half naked body and nearly gotten himself killed in the process. Undoubtedly making things more problematic than they already were, as others were sure to have heard.

“Get back to work,” he ordered through the link.

All of them immediately scrambled to follow through on the command that their alpha had given them, save for Justin, who made his way towards them. Witnessing how Caspar tracked the man's every movement, taking in every faucet of his expression, as if waiting for the man to make the wrong move. His wolf's possessiveness had surged since Danika had been brought to the castle and in was in that moment he finally acknowledged a truth he'd known for days. Delilah was right. There was no way in hell that Caspar was going to allow his mate to leave, undoubtedly prepared to fight Shayde in order to keep her.

Fuck.

“I'm sorry,” Justin apologized. “I didn't know you'd be...preoccupied.”

“What was so urgent?” He growled in response. Shayde wasn’t in the mood to listen to the reasons to why Justin felt compelled to come into the conference room. Where Danika was sitting on the table completely naked, baring witness to the sensitive flesh no man had the right to see.It’d only serve in reminding him why he was so angry, the overwhelming desire to rip the eyes from their sockets.

Justin became increasingly unsettled at the show of anger. Taking a couple steps back in the face of his rage, wishing to avoid a blood bath at what had brought him looking for the alpha. “Well, um, ah, it would seem that…”

“Just fucking spit it out already,” Shayde snarled at the man’s stammering explanation, so unlike the hardened beta he’d come to know the last twenty years.

Taking a deep breath to control his turbulent emotions, Justin faced his alpha head on and confessed what had bought him there. “It’d seem that someone already sent in a report. Informing the Black Guard about everything that’s been going on in your territory.”

“Everything?” he hissed. What did he mean everything? How far had the information leak really gone? Was it just about the rogues or had they told them about Danika too? His earlier anger was replaced by fear, at the thought of those black hearted bastards being aware of her presence there. Having little doubt what the vermin would want done, the second they found out a human was within their boundaries.

“Everything,” Justin assured him, bowing his head, confessing the depths of the treachery. “The repeated rogue attacks these last months, your new human companion, the rogue's bombshell. They’d requested a meeting tomorrow.”

Fuck.

This wasn't good.

Not good at all.

While it was easy enough to deal with their concerns about the rogues, it was bound to happen, it wouldn't be so easy when it came to Danika. Undoubtedly the second he arrived they would demand to have the woman executed, as she brought a risk of exposure none of them would accept. Because if a human bore witness to their world, if they ever shared this knowledge, then the hunters would show up. Those melicious bastards who’d been hunting them since the brink of time, determined to eradicate all traces of the supernatural world. Especially the wolves.

Justin was talking again, forced to tune into what he was saying. “I think in this instance it's best to be proactive, we can take her back to the city until this mess can be resolved.”

Shayde growled at the thought of the suggestion he was making, that only served in stirring the anger in the pit of his stomach. Hands clenched tightly at his side, he glared at the man. “Why is it that your answer to everything seems to be either to send Danika away or have her killed?”

“You've become attached to the human Shayde.”

He elected to ignore him. “Who sent the report to the Black Guard?”

Justin calmed down when he shifted the subject. “Honestly Shayde, I don't have a clue who could be behind this report of information, it could've been anyone in the pack. Everyone has been scared of her presence and what is going on with the rogues. I've been fielding their questions all afternoon. We'll take her to the hotel in the city, our people guard it, so she will be-"

“She's stay here,” he ordered. “Delilah will protect her.”

“Shayde,” his beta protested the decision he’d come to, as if he expected his word alone could talk him out of his decision today. “I don’t know what is going on with you and this girl, but the fact of the matter is her presence here is endangering everything. She’s a weakness none of us can afford.”

Shayde adamantly refuses to listen to the protests that his beta made on account of his decision, unwilling to bend where she was concerned. Whether it was his emotions or Caspar's, he honestly didn't know, but allowing Danika to leave wasn't an option he was willing to take. “Arrange the meeting with the alphas too while you’re at it, those leeches have been trying to get me to meet with them too. I can handle both of them and don't want to be gone more than a couple of hours.”

Justin sighed wearily at the orders come tumbling out of his mouth. “Come on Shayde, for once be fucking reasonable. Keeping that woman here is a bad idea. All she does is bring problems and complications we really can’t afford right now. Things haven’t been the same since she got here.”

He turned a deaf ear to the continued complaints coming from his beta, having no desire to have this conversation with him.

Shayde instead focused his entire attention on what loomed ahead in the future, knowing he'd have to be prepared for every eventuality of what was to come in the future. “One last thing, have you dealt with Clarissa and her friends?”

“They're gone,” Justin thought fast in assuring him, as if he was afraid of what Shayde’s response would be if he didn’t. “I had a couple of the warriors lead the friends off the territory last night and Patrick had seen Clarissa off earlier this morning. None of them will be back.”

“Good,” he grunted in relief.