Chapter 21: Chapter Twenty-One – Exposure

Alex

I am sitting in my office with Katy and Euan. I can’t believe what they are telling me. That Katy was as good as alone with Mike, when we had been taking precautions to keep them apart, and worse, that she had ordered him, commanded him, used her royal dominance to stop him from beating up Rob. What was it with my mate and Rob, that she would risk everything to save him? I try to keep it together and supress my urge to find Rob and finish what Mike started.

“We need to move quick. He will have gone to tell Carl about you. It shouldn’t be enough for them to figure out that you are royal, but they are going to be very suspicious of you now. The only thing we have going for us is that he doesn’t know that you are my mate, and that I will be here to protect you. It is more important than ever that we get you away from here and under the protection of the Royal Pack.

Have you heard anything from Jane?” I ask Euan.

“Yes, she managed to get a message back that her visit had been successful, and she is on her way home. She couldn’t say more in case the message was intercepted but I expect her to be back on pack lands in the next couple of days.”

“Good hopefully Joseph will follow her soon” I say.

“I am sorry” Katy tells me. “I didn’t mean to use my dominance on him, I didn’t even realise that I could. I just couldn’t let him hurt Rob.” Her eyes are pleading with me to understand but I can’t.

“Well as long as Rob is safe” I tell her sarcastically.

She bows her head. I know I have upset her and what I should really be doing is trying to reassure her, convince her that I will keep her safe, but she has made a perilous situation worse, and for Rob of all people.

“Euan, we need to up Katy’s protection. I think we have to forget about keeping it low key, it may make more people suspicious, but now that Mike knows about her dominance I don’t think we have any other choice.

Speak to Ross and ask him to listen out specifically if Carl or Mike mention Katy by name, or if they discuss royal wolves.”

He nods. “I will get on to it now” he says as he gets up to leave.

Katy and I sit there for a moment in silence. I don’t want to speak in case I say something that I will regret. I feel angry and jealous right now, and I know that that is unfair. I know that she is the type of person who wouldn’t think before putting herself in jeopardy to help a friend, but this has made her situation more dangerous than I think she realises. She has basically told the worst person possible that she is not an Omega. He is going to be suspicious of her now, and if he or Carl puts two and two together, they will be hell bent on trying to find out more about her. They could even kill her.

And why did it have to be Rob of all people that she had to risk everything to protect? Does she still have feelings for him? Is that why she was so keen to help him?

“I am sorry” she says again, looking pleadingly at me “I didn’t mean to shout at Mike, I just thought that he was going to kill Rob. I don’t have feelings for Rob, he has just been my friend for a very long time, and I didn’t want him to get hurt if there was anything I could do to stop it.”

I give her a small smile. I know deep down that she is telling the truth I just need to keep my anger in check. “I think it would be best if you call in sick for the next couple of days, until Euan can arrange around the clock protection for you. Stick to your house, and I will send Daniel to keep you and Emma safe.”

“OK” she says as she gets up to leave, “I love you.”

I nod and smile at her, but I just can’t quite say it back, not at the moment.

Katy

I am sitting in my house with Daniel and Emma, we are trying to keep her entertained, which is proving difficult because she is bored of being cooped up in the house. She has decided that we must play princes and princesses with her. Daniel is the prince, she is the princess and I am her willing maid.

Daniel doesn’t have any younger sisters so is finding it quite challenging. I am trying not to laugh as she does her best to dress him up in a long cloak and a paper crown. He is going along with it which I am grateful for, but he looks very uncomfortable.

“If you tell anyone about this, I will kill you” he whispers to me.

“Afraid that the other warriors will find out that you like to play dress up with little girls?” I ask teasingly.

“They would never let me live it down if they knew” he says horrified.

“Well, it is not me that you need to worry about.” I tell him. “Emma is more likely to tell people than I am.”

“Would she” he asks?

“Yes if she met them but I think the likelihood of her hanging out with the warriors any time soon is pretty distant” I say.

“That is true” he says.

I suddenly hear a knock at the door, both Daniel and I freeze and look at each other.

“I will check who it is first, stay behind me” he tells me. He goes to the window and looks outside before opening the door. We don’t have a peep hole, or secure locks on the door we have never needed them until now.

“It’s only Lily” he says,

I breathe a sigh of relief. “Let her in” I tell him.

I haven’t seen Lily for a few days, and I miss her. With finding out about who I really am and Mike harassing me, I haven’t had time to stop by her office for a chat. I know though that that isn’t the main reason, I feel bad about not being able to confide in my best friend about who I really am.

“Hey, are you too hanging out together?” she asks, surprised to see Daniel here.

“Yes, he just popped round this morning, we haven’t had a catch up in ages” I lie. I hate lying to her but she can’t know that Daniel has been assigned to be my bodyguard.

“Yes, I had a few hours spare, and I was passing…….” Daniel says awkwardly.

Damn he is a terrible liar, no one from the pack just passes where the Omega’s live. I can tell she isn’t buying it.

“That is great, we can all catch up together, and you can tell me what you are both really up to” she says.

At that moment Emma spies that Lily has arrived and goes running up to her. She wraps her arms around her and gives her a big hug. Emma loves Lily. Lily always makes time to play with her.

“Great you are here, we are playing princesses and princes, and Daniel doesn’t know how to play, and Katy is not very good at being my servant. Now you are here it will be so much better” she squeals dragging Lily into the living room.

I sigh with relief Emma has saved us from an awkward conversation.

……………..

We have been playing with Emma for an hour when I suddenly hear a loud banging on the door. Daniel goes to look out the window, but before he can I hear Mike shouting.

“Katy, Katy, open the door now. We have some questions for you.”

Daniel checks out the window. “There are four warriors out there. They are all from the group we suspect of being traitors.”

“Traitors?” Lily asks.

“Sorry we have no time to explain, but they mean to harm Katy. We need to get out now, I will check the back door.” Daniel tells us as he runs to the back of the house.

He comes back shortly. “No luck, there are two at the back door as well. They have us trapped.”

“Let’ s go upstairs we can lock ourselves in the bathroom and barricade the door” I tell him.

“Come on Emma” I say trying to give her a reassuring smile, “Let’s go play hide and seek.”

I watch her face crumble; she knows that we are in danger and she isn’t able to cope it is too soon after the rogue attack.

We make our way upstairs. I get Daniel to help me carry a set of drawers into the bathroom. We lock the door and use the heavy wooden drawers to barricade the door.

There is a small cupboard in the bathroom which will be perfect for hiding Emma. They won’t care about her it is me that they are after, if she stays quiet, they will hopefully not realise that she is here, and she will be safe.

“Emma” I whisper. “I need you to be a very brave girl. I need you to hide in this cupboard and not come out. Whatever you hear, however scared you feel don’t come out.”

“No” she says clinging to me and shaking her head, “No” she repeats.

“I am sorry Emma but you have to, you have to be very brave and stay in here” I say as I gently push her into the cupboard and close the door. “I love you and want you to stay safe so please be very quiet and don’t make a sound that way the bad men won’t be able to find you.”

Downstairs I can hear heavy thump, thump, as the warriors attempt to break down the door. It doesn’t take them long the door is too flimsy to hold against the strength of four warriors. I can hear them begin to search the house. I know it won’t be long before they work out where we are hiding, and when they do we won’t be able to hold them off.

I wonder what has happened that they are prepared to come to my house in broad daylight and break down my door.