“Steve,” Alpha Berger bit out. “Come here now.” There was more commotion and then Keith was being moved into someone else’s arms. “Take him to the car. Jennifer, go with Steve and keep guard. I’ll handle them.”
“You can’t do that!”
“Stand in my way and I will happily challenge you on the spot. Try me, Alpha Jackson. Please fucking try me.”
“How dare you!” Junior protested. “We’ll—”
“Fine. If you insist.” Rupert had never sounded so calm.
“What? Father?”
“You heard him. He insists on taking Keith Iredell out of Green Valley and he left us no choice in the matter.”
“We can—”
“There is absolutely nothing we can do,” Rupert said more loudly. “It’s out of our hands.”
“I don’t understand,” Junior said. To be fair, he understood very little.
“I’m sure the staff can attest to that. Isn’t that right? This Alpha barged into our territory, threatened us, and is taking Keith Iredell against our will. We tried to stop him. You all saw us, didn’t you?”
Several moments of silence followed during which Steve set him inside the car, and he toppled face first onto the seat as the door closed.
“Yes, Alpha. That’s what happened.”
“Lorainne, shouldn’t you be preparing my dinner?”
“Yes, Alpha.”
“Then why are we all standing around here? Get back to work.”
“Yes, Alpha.”
“Alpha Berger!” Rupert said.
Nobody responded.
“You got lucky this time,” Rupert shouted. “Don’t ever step foot in my territory again. You aren’t welcome in Green Field.”
The growl that shook the air could have only come from an Alpha wolf so it must have been Alpha Berger’s response to Rupert’s not so thinly veiled threat.
“One of you drive. I’m sitting in the back with him.” The door opened and then Alpha Berger growled again. “My God.”
Keith’s head was gently lifted and then lowered in a more comfortable position, on a warm, delicious smelling pillow.
“Do any of you have water that we brought from Purple Sky? I don’t trust anything they gave us.”
“I do, Alpha,” said a female voice, which had to be Jennifer.
“Give it to me and get us the fuck out of this sick place as quickly as possible.”
“Happy to, Alpha.”
The car jerked and then squealed onto the road.
“What did they do to you?” Alpha Berger sounded pained. “Keith? Can you hear me?” Careful fingers tenderly combed through his hair. “I’m Brian.” A strong arm curled under his shoulders and elevated his head. “I need you to drink this.” A bottle pressed against his lips. “Can you hear me? You need to drink.”
He had heard a similar request from his pack members endless times over the past several weeks and he had mostly refused them, but when Brian firmly said, “Keith, open your mouth now and drink,” his body responded on reflex, lips parting and throat swallowing down the liquid that was poured into it.
