Alpha Rick

Alarick's

POV

I made my way to Asher and Zane's room. They had been investigating what I asked them yesterday, and I wanted to see if they had anything for me before heading to see Skylar and his dad. It seemed everyone was still asleep, other than the omegas. I could hear all the noise of pans and dishes, knives chopping, and, of course... complaining.

"Where is Olivia? Why is she not here yet? Is she still in the dungeons? I swear this girl is always getting into trouble." One of the older omegas says, making me pause.

"No, ma'am. We... We overheard Leah last night talking to her friends."

"It's LUNA Leah. We need to make sure we all call her like that from now on. Unless you want to end up in the dungeons as well. Now, what about Luna Leah? What did she say now?" she says, scolding the girls.

"She said... She said Livie is leaving our pack," the young girl says in a quiver. "What?" the older one responds. I get closer, looking at them as they talk about my mate but staying out of sight.

The young girls are crying, and the oldest one places her head down, sniffling as well. "I... I never meant to be mean to her." "Me either."

"Or me." the young girls say, making me look down thoughtful. "None of us did. And if the alpha hadn't ordered us to treat her as such... Well," she says, making me furrow my eyebrows. Why the hell would their own alpha order them to mistreat one of their members?

"I'm going to miss her. She was the best worker. She taught me so much." one of the younger ones says. I knew it. I knew my girl had a lot to offer. I feel proud of her already. "We will all miss her. First- I lose my best friend, and now she. I... I will surely miss the girl." the oldest one says, sniffling and looking away. I can tell she's trying to fight back tears.

"When does she leave?" she asks, making the young girls look at each other. "Well, I don't really know, but Luna Molly just came a while ago asking us to bring breakfast for her and Livie in Alpha Alarick's room," she says, whispering my name. "What?" they all say, gasping in shock. "Why? Oh, God. He's going to torture her. He's going to use her as his slave!"

"NO!" the girls say, genuinely afraid for her. Maybe it's for the best, they think so. Perhaps this way, they will learn to appreciate others better. I make my way to the room where the boys are waiting. I'm eager to learn from my mate.

I enter the kitchen, and they all hush, looking at me with fear. I clear my throat, clenching my jaw. "Ladies. Good morning." I say, and they all whisper good morning. "Alpha Alarick, I apologize. We have just begun breakfast. Can I get you a coffee while we batch something quickly for you?" the oldest says. I'm guessing she's in charge since all the others are silent. "Please. Also, I can wait until breakfast is done. I will be meeting with your alpha, so there is no hurry. But- would you be a dear and bring Olivia her breakfast to my room?" I ask, making their eyes go wide in shock.

"Y-your room, sir?" she asks, making me chuckle a bit. "Yes, my room. She will be staying in my room until we leave. Can I count on you, ladies, to treat her well for the remaining hours she has here?" I ask, making them glance at each other. "Of course, alpha. You can count on us," she says, handing me a cup of freshly brewed coffee. "Would you care for cream or sugar?"

"No. I like it black, like my soul." I say sarcastically, taking a sip. I wink an eye at them, turn on my heel, and leave, leaving them speechless but with great satisfaction in my soul as Black chuckles at my words.

I mind linking Zane, and they open the door as soon as I arrive. Kaiden and Blake are already there as well, waiting for me.

"Morning, gentlemen," I say, closing the door behind me. "Hey, Ricky. Take a seat." Blake says, padding the side of the bed next to him. I sit, furrowing my brows. "What do we get?" I ask, getting them to look at me with concern. "There's not much evidence to do anything against Morrison right now. We need to agree to protect his pack. It will give us an advantage. We'll leave warriors to guard, and they can look around and gather evidence."

Kaiden grabs my coffee, takes a sip, and places it next to the laptop.

"Which means?" Kaiden asks, making his dad look at him worried. "It means one of us has to agree to protect Skylar's pack," I answer, making them look at each other. There is a lot at stake here.

"I'll do it. I'll make a deal with the guy." I say, making Black growl. He feels something off, too. There is more hiding here. And I have a feeling it's darker than we think, but I'm hoping I'm wrong. Because if not, it means we weren't the only ones who lost more than we hoped for at the hands of those rogues. I just hope I'm wrong and Morrison is not secretly working with that rogue king scum, or I will make sure they both pay. And I will not have any mercy on either one.

Livie

The tea was so good it made me want more. I have never had a full cup of tea, let alone while it's still warm. It was so good I drank it to the last drop. But- it made my stomach grumble since I haven't had a bite to eat since yesterday morning. I decided to follow his advice-my mate.

'Alarick,' I thought of his name out loud, making my lips tug into a smile. This is so surreal. I still can't believe it. "Freya, please. Please tell me this isn't some sick joke from our alpha. This is... So good to be true." I say as I pick up the towel he left nicely placed on the coat hook.

It still smells like him. It doesn't smell like the shampoo or shower gel we leave for guests. Alpha Morrison always wants to make a good impression on visitors and gets these fancy soaps to put in their showers. But I personally don't like them. They smell weird. I'm guessing he may have brought his own because the bathroom smelled just like him. Sandalwood. Though, he smells like Cedar as well. God, I love that smell. Dad used Cedar to build most of our house. It smelled so good for months.

"It's no joke, Livie. He's our mate. I felt his wolf, and he was just as excited to meet us. Livie... Our moon goddess gave us a second chance, mate!" Freya said, jumping up and down excitedly.

"And this time, I can tell... he will not reject us. He really, really wants us, Livie," she adds, wanting to cry from joy.

I can't help but feel a knot in my throat as well. Tears start falling, and I sit on the floor with my feet crossed, clutching onto the towel like a comfort blanket, and I start sobbing uncontrollably, holding the towel to my face and drying my tears with it. I used the towel to muffle my cry so I didn't draw attention, but I couldn't help but cry. I never thought I could have someone want me.

"Livie?" a sweet girl's voice says, making me jolt, looking up. "Why are you crying? Are you ok?" she has beautiful long black hair, darker than my dark brown. It almost seems like a jet-black color. She is so pretty and looks so sophisticated, wearing denim jeans and a white button-up that looks flowy and black pumps. "Who...who are you?" I say almost in a whisper.

She chuckles, kneeling and sitting before me as she hugs me. "Oh, Livie. I knew you may not remember me. But that's ok. You were in terrible shape when we brought you in here last night. My name is Molly. I'm Alpha Kaiden's wife. But I'm also Ricky's twin sister. You already met him, right?" she asks, making me smile slightly.

"I- I did," I say, whipping my tears away and sniffling.

"Was he mean to you? I swear I'll kick his ass if he was," she says, looking to the side with a glare.

"N-no. No, he wasn't. He was... He was really sweet." I say, making her smile. She sits firmly on her butt next to me and takes my hand. "Good. But, then, why were you crying?" she asks, making me feel bad. No one had ever asked me why I cried with genuine concern. They just yelled at me because they would get irritated when I cried after I was hit or was being bullied.

"It's just... I can't believe this is true. I can't remember the last time I felt this happy. Freya says I'm not saying, but... Could you verify... It's not a dream, right? Please tell me it's real!" I said, crying, turning to her. She looked at me sadly, crying as well. "Oh, Livie. Of course, it's real. I promise it's real." she says, laughing, hugging me tightly.

"Hello! Oh, my gosh. What's wrong? Why are you girls crying?" another girl, a bit older looking but equally beautiful, came in. "Oh, Selene. This is Livie. The one I was telling you about. She's Ricky's mate." Molly tells her, making me feel like an idiot for crying so much. "Livie, this is my momma-in-law, Luna Selene Landon," she says, making me purse my lips and nod politely. "It's a pleasure, ma'am," I say, dropping my shoulders.

"Oh, sweetie. You are so gorgeous. But why are you crying? Did my nephew not heal you properly? I can go and get him if anything is still hurting." she asks, pointing out the door.

"No. No, I'm ok. Wait, Asher, right? He's your nephew?" I asked, making her smile. Before I knew it, she tugged on her jeans and sat with her feet crossed along with us. "Yes. Asher is my brother Tyler's son. He's the beta to our pack. Tyler is my twin, by the way." "Wow. Lots of twins." I say, making them chuckle. "Well... You'll get used to it. Our pack and YOURS have a lot of twins, triplets," Selene says.

"Quadruplets," Molly adds, making my eyes widen. They chuckle, holding hands together.

"In our pack, most girls only have one pup at a time. There's only one that had twins, and that was our lead omega." I say, looking down sadly. "But she lost both during our last attack," I say sadly, wiping away my tears.

I have never thought of what it would be like to have pups, let alone what the ladies felt like to lose one of their loved ones. It must be hard. I know I was hurting when I lost my family.