Now that we're alone...

**MAX**

As carefully as possible, I hedge around my sofa, attempting to look as if I was already leaving. “A better question is, what are you doing on this floor? Again?”

This time Fionna doesn’t deviate from her purpose, locking her evil glare on the sleeping goddess behind me. “That’s the girl that killed your brother, isn’t it? What the fuck is she doing up here in your rooms when she could be rotting somewhere in some dungeon, or swinging from a fucking tree by her neck?”

“Oh Good Goddess!” Diana gushes under her breath.

It takes everything in me not to snatch Fionna by her neck right at that moment. I want to. I more than want to. My fingers are fairly twitching with just the image of her face going purple with surprise. 

I allow that image to fuel the cold, cruel smile that forms on my lips. *“Blanca…* is resting. She was just attacked and has earned the right to do so. Jared will be removing her from my rooms as soon as she wakes, but none of that should matter to you, because YOU are not yet a member of this pack and YOU have absolutely no business on this floor. Now, unless you want me to call your brother and tell him that not only are you the nosiest female I have ever met, but that you do not possess the capacity to follow rules, then I suggest you wait for me in your assigned guest space, Fionna, and let that be the end of it.”

“But Max! She-”

“GO!!”

“Max!”

“NOW!!!!” I shout, taking an impatient step forward to herd her in the direction she came.

Fionna spins on her heels looking like an arrogant show pony, each of her steps more pronounced than the last. It’s almost as if her body is fighting the command I gave her, her knees jerking in her refusal to cooperate and taking all the swagger out of her normally dancing hips.

She slams the door behind her and I growl before turning around.

“She’s going to be such a treat to be around when she finally gets a little power behind her. Don’t you think?” Jared comments with a shudder.

Diana snickers, only stifling her joy when I purse my lips in her direction.

“I’m trusting you to watch over her,” I say with as much nonchalance as I can conjure up while knowing the last thing that I am feeling is carelessness. I don’t know why I do it. It’s got to be obvious to the Omega female that I harbor some modicum of fondness for my brother’s killer. Especially after Fionna’s ill timed exploitation of my audacious ways, the bitch.

Almost as if she’s reading my mind, Diana nods, her lip twitching as if she wants to smile. “Absolutely, Alpha Max.”

Fucking hell. Am I that transparent? I better not be.

Shaking off the girl’s amused expression I drag out my phone and check the time. “I’m late,” I say absently, forcing my feet toward the door without looking back.

With every step I take away from Blanca, it’s as if my heart squeezes. Yet somehow I make it to my office without turning around. When I arrive, I’m pleased to see that Beth Ceuran and Maggie Ceuran are already seated in front of my desk waiting for me.

“Good afternoon,” I greet them, my eyes roving gently over little Maggie’s features.

Goddess. The girl looks more like Blanca than I was expecting and I’m suddenly curious to know what Reanna mght have looked like before she was… murdered.

*That’s right. Reanna was killed too. Just like your brother was. But you don’t see anyone giving a fuck about what her killer is up to, now do you?*

Shit.

“Hello Alpha Max!” Beth says curiously, her eyes that are a muted blue shade of Blanca’s stroking over me almost sensually. 

*What the fuck?*

I take a seat behind my desk, my eyes drawing together in displeasure as Beth continues to ogle me shamelessly.

*This fucken bitch. Wow.*

After flashing Beth a patronizing grin, I turn my attention to Maggie. Her hair is as dark a brown as her mother’s, but whereas her mother’s is short and curly, hers is long and straight like Blanca’s. But it’s her eyes that get me most. They are wide and innocent and nearly as brightly lit as Blanca’s. I can see her in her sister’s face and for a moment all I can think about is the fact that the child is only twelve. Two years older than Blanca was when my father had her imprisoned.

I try to picture myself sentencing this little girl to her execution, this Maggie, and I simply cannot see it. I’m even finding it hard to imagine locking her away for any crime beyond being a danger to herself. Try as I might, I cannot come up with a single sin that would bring me to do such a thing. She is a *child!*

“I’m sure you’re wondering why I called you here today,” I begin, ripping my eyes away from the child so that I don’t let my compassion for her, and what she might feel, deter me from the task at hand.

“Yes,” Beth giggles, crossing her legs in a manner that I’m sure she thinks is sexy, but actually makes me want to grind my teeth. “The suspense has been killing me.”

*Oh no, no. Never that. Allow me to do that instead.*

I turn to Maggie. “Hello Maggie. Do you know who I am?”

She smiles shyly, turning to her mother for approval before gazing back down at her hands again. “Yes. You are the new Alpha. Alpha Max.”

“That’s right,” I say with a smile just as Jared enters the room and I grin. “I am the new Alpha. Do you know who that is behind you?”

She glances back before rolling her eyes at me on the end of a chuckle. “That’s Beta Jared.”

“Correct again. Do you think you might do me a favor, Maggie? I have a little chore that needs tending to, and I believe you’re just the gal for the job. Can you show Beta Jared how to properly dunk cookies in milk? He’s a terrible slob and in need of a tutor. Can you do that for me?”

She nods excitedly, once again gazing toward her mother for approval. Beth Ceuran nods, her attention sliding back to me the moment Jared and Maggie leave.

“Now that we’re alone,” Beth coos, her disgusting tongue sliding over her lips like that of a reptile's.

*I think I just lost an inch of my dick. Gross.*

“Now that we’re alone,” I grin, flashing her my first genuine smile of the day. “I’m sure you’re wondering why I didn’t require your mate to attend this meeting with you.”

She shakes her head, pushing her chest out and sucking in her belly. “Oh, I have a good idea.”

Again, I smile. “Oh, I don’t think you do. You see, it has come to my attention that the pair of you are a danger to the integrity of this pack and he didn’t get invited because I already knew he couldn’t make it. He was arrested at his post, early this morning. *You* did get invited, because I wanted to make this transition went as easy as possible for your daughter, Maggie, and it simply wouldn’t do to arrest her mother right in front of her, now would it?”

Beth’s face turns nearly purple with shock. “Arrest me?” She snarls. “For *what?”*

I glare at her, my lip lifting in a sneer. “For throwing the first stone. What else?”