There was a knock at the door to his office. People in the tower knew not come down the hall unless he expected them. Darre's muscles tensed; it could only be more trouble.
He nodded at Nixon, who moved to open the door. One of his guards stood in the hall beyond.
"Alpha, the king is at the door and asks for an audience."
The announcement threw a damp blanket of silence over the room. In any other sector, people knew to bow and scrape to the royal family, who had established their reign almost two hundred years ago.
Darre didn't want to see him. He had the power to make the man camp at his front door for as long as he wanted. No one could force the Mad Monster to do anything he didn't want to do. Not even the former king. Not even his sire.
But ignoring Rhineholth felt like running away, and Darre did not run.
"Nixon, you're my second now," Darre announced.
Nixon said nothing, but his face conveyed his displeasure. He preferred his old title, it seemed. Darre wouldn't argue with him about it now.
"I'll be down to get new vows of allegiance from everyone in the tower after I deal with this. You know what to do."
The other man tipped his head in acknowledgment.
"Alreck, get this female secure. I don't want to see her again." He glared in disgust at the woman who'd tried to kill him, who could have ruined everything. Though she was hogtied and helpless on the floor, Rachel still felt like a danger to him. His world would be safer if her head was on a stick facing the street with those of her cohorts. He had killed females before, but never one carrying life.
His hand went over Naya's belly, its twin tightening against her nape. She turned her face against him, purring low and quiet, filling him up. She was always filling him up.
It was a risk. The monster was tapping at the back of his skull, ready to argue the point. The beast in him had no reservations about killing the beta. She and her unborn were enemies. The mother's poison could infect the child, who would grow to want revenge.
But Darre was free of the beast's control, and he could make his own choices. He chose to trust Alreck.
Breathing in Naya's scent, he pressed his face against her neck behind her ear. She helped him remember why it was important to show mercy.
Corre, the beta’s father, would need to die, though. Rhineholth could give Darre that. Corre had plotted with Mac and his son, Louis. Corre had broken Rhineholth's breeder laws and endangered an omega breeder—tried to force a choice on her by throwing her to Darre's monster.
Darre wanted the man's hands and cock separated from his body, preferably with something dull and rusty.
Nixon left the room with Alreck, who put the female over his shoulder. Head wound or not, the younger man took Darre's declaration about the woman needing a new marriage contract seriously. He growled at Nixon when he reached out to help. She was his responsibility, and he clearly meant to handle his business.
Nixon grinned.
With the door open, Darre could smell the anxious drones in the hallway. He'd told them to have regular meals ready for his mate, and they'd been waiting. Naya smelled them too and tried to pull away so she could see to the drones. He grunted, giving her a hard kiss first.
Naya motioned them in, taking the food as she began telling them about their excitement in the pit. The young one touched her fingers to Naya's bruises, frowning. Naya assured her she would be fine.
Without direction from Darre, she warned the drones to take orders from no one but herself and the twelfth-floor guards. After, Naya asked them about their day. They shared that they had discovered a bathing tub, which made the youngest girls shake with pent-up glee at the news.
It was news Darre also enjoyed. He watched a pleased smile split Naya's lips, her hand going to the hair on the smallest girl's head in an affectionate touch that made the drone blush.
Naya interacted with them with care and confidence. If she had ever been breakable like Rachel claimed, Darre had never seen it. The bond had changed him, but he hadn't known her before and so couldn’t know how much their bond had changed her.
Picking up the food that Naya had set on the couch, he moved it to his desk. He studied the spread of meat, cheese, apple slices, and a pile of green leafy stuff with an oily dressing dribbled on it.
Darre couldn't remember having ever seen a meal prepared by Cook that looked anything like this. He tasted the greens and made a face at the verdant feel of them in his mouth. The sweet and sour vinegar of the dressing wasn't enough to make him want to eat grass.
Settling himself in his chair, he watched his woman interact with the drones. Three of the four were taller than her, with too-angular features that suggested they weren't being fed well enough. Perhaps he needed to talk to Cook about providing extra rations for the drones.
What was wrong with him? By the rod, why was he thinking about the condition of the drones, or that he'd forgotten to get a doctor for all the people in his tower who he’d taken from Tenbel and his devoted followers?
As an alpha, drones were nothing to him. Too weak to be a threat, he viewed them much like cattle—good for doing the grunt work breed didn't have the time or inclination to handle.
His education had taught him he owed his superior breed genetics to the humans, but he'd always found it humorous that they'd caused the downfall of their own race in trying to alter what nature had already done. Now they would always find themselves on the bottom of the food chain.
