Rejected By the Alpha (Forbidden Alpha Kings #5)

42. Lucas

42

Lucas

“What do you mean, Kaylee is missing!” I exclaim, stepping towards my aunt. Kurt puts his hand out, stopping me from getting too close as my rage explodes. My Kaylee, my goddess-given mate, is missing. The crowd watches on in silence, the scent of grief and sadness heavy in the air.

“What the hell happened?!” I demand, letting the power of my blood radiate. That Marco guy steps forward, an apologetic look on his face before he turns to my aunt. She nods at him, and he sighs before turning to face me.

“Two days ago, Kaylee was given the go-ahead to take two days off, after helping in dealing with Alpha Jordan of Shadow Moon,” he begins explaining, looking into my eyes. I sniff the air, scenting the truth to his words before I nod for him to continue telling me the timeline of events.

“I was out hunting with Royce, our head hunter, when she sent a link out to the pack stating she will be on her days off and also to not have anyone bother her.”

“Especially us hunters and warriors. I still wince every time I think about the last time we bothered her on her day off. Never again,” another wolf says, a lanky man with a mess of black hair on top of his head.

“Royce Clearic, head hunter,” this wolf introduces himself as Marco glares at him.

“I was with Kaylee when she received the forwarded email you sent. She was impressed, by the way,” Royce continues, before Marco slaps him on the back of the head. If I wasn’t so angry right now after learning my mate is missing, I would have laughed at these two.

“As I was saying, there was about thirty minutes of silence, before she reopened her link to the pack, only able to say four words: ‘At cottage. Help me.’ Then the link went dead.” A look of pain crosses Marco’s face, and a she-wolf, one I recognize as Jenny from Oak Fur, steps forward and places a hand on Marco’s left shoulder. His left hand comes to squeeze it, and I wait for him to collect his emotions.

“I was the closest to her house, but it was too late. She was gone by the time we got there, and we couldn’t recognize the scent of the two wolves,” he finishes, eyes closed as a tear slips down his cheek.

“I know what you did to Kaylee. She told me.” His eyes open and a look of anger is directed to me. It is then that I realize he was the wolf that helped Kaylee through the pain all those weeks ago. I don’t know whether I want to thank him or throttle him, but one thing is clear. The relationship between Kaylee and him is something more than friends, with how everyone glances at him with pity and me with anger.

“Take me to her house, please.” My words are tense from the anger, but I don’t blame anyone in Ivory Fangs. They did nothing wrong.

“Why?” Jenny asks, eyeing me with suspicion. I roll my eyes at this question, concluding that everyone who used to be a part of Oak Fur has one hundred percent become loyal to Ivory Fangs. Anything I say or do will be met with pushback now.

“Because I have visited and met many packs’ alphas and betas. If anyone is going to recognize the scents left there, it will be me,” I answer, turning to look at the she-wolf. Last I saw her, Jenny was an omega. Now she is a warrior, and I can sense she is growing stronger. I recall the conversation that Simon and I had, back when we found out about Silver Paw. How Kaylee would step up and help them if she could. It seemed we were spot-on, without realizing it.

Simon.

Turning to face my friend, I see a look of guilt on his face. He must have realized that I concluded he has been talking to Kaylee this whole time.

“After I find Kaylee and we are back at Ivory Fangs, expect to meet me in the ring,” I warn him, not happy he kept important information from me. Simon rolls his eyes, ignoring my threat, and I suppress a growl before I turn back to Marco, Royce, and Jenny.

“So, are you going to let me help find my mate—”

“Ex-mate.” Marco cuts me off, but I ignore him.

“—or are you going to wallow and not do anything?” My gaze turns to my aunt, and she ponders for a moment. My uncle has joined us, arms wrapped around my aunt. He is watching me pensively, his body positioned in a way to protect my aunt if need be.

“I will take you to her cottage, but on one condition,” Marco finally answers, after a long pause of silence.

“Anything,” I agree, happy to see he is letting me help.

“Kaylee did everything to build a life without you. You can sniff the scent, but you can’t enter her home,” he warns. My rage grows, and I take a few deep breaths to settle myself. He is Kaylee’s friend now. If I attack this head warrior now, while angered, she will never forgive me.

“She is my mate,” I counter back, once I feel calm enough to answer.

“A mate you rejected, no matter how noble the cause,” He scoffs. Simon steps closer to me, ready to step in and stop me from doing anything stupid. I give him a small nod, and he backs away with a raised brow.

“Fine,” I agree through gritted teeth. Marco smirks at my answer, and motions for Jenny, Royce, and me to follow him. He leads us to a blue jeep—one that smells like Kaylee when I open the door—and I frown. She must have spent a lot of time in this vehicle, for her scent to linger.

Instinct tells me I need to end the person who will be a hindrance in getting back together with Kaylee, but I take a deep breath and breathe in her lingering scent. It’s been so long since I smelled her cinnamon sugar scent, and I feel like a parched man finding water in a desert.

“You climbing in?” Marco asks, sliding into the driver's side and turning on the vehicle. Without answering him, I slide into the passenger side, the jeep moving forward almost before I can even close the door. The drive is quick, Marco seemingly fine with taking the direct route when I thought he would take a scenic route. I am thankful for this, and soon we end up in the driveway of a small cottage, Kaylee’s truck sitting in front with the view of a familiar lilac bush beside us.

Silently, we all exit the jeep, Marco and the other two staying back, watching me with angry glares while I slowly make my way to the front door. I can smell the many scents of flowers planted around the cottage, and forest flora. I can taste the staleness of Kaylee’s scent coming from inside the house. Concluding the scent of her kidnappers will be barely there with two days having passed, I close my eyes and step forward. Marco lets out a growl of warning as I sniff the air and grow closer to the door, but he doesn’t move from where he stands.

Focusing further, I scent the pine that the cottage was built with, scent the rose perfume of my aunt. Finally, I scent two scents that were barely discernable. I know these scents, I have met the brothers before, and know who they work for. I had a feeling this might be the case, and honestly, I want to throttle my aunt, uncle, and Marco for not coming to this conclusion and instead trying to blame me.

Snarling, I march towards Marco and grab the collar of his shirt, letting my anger and the power of my alpha blood radiate around us.

“You are a bunch of morons!” I snarl out, our noses touching as I glare into this so-called head warrior’s eyes.

“You could have saved her, if you had used your pea-sized brain and realized Shadow Moon took her!”