fate of the alpha - episode 3 by Tasha Black Read Free Book Online Page A

knocking over the coffee table.
    “We’ve got to go,” he said to Bonnie.
    “To do what?” she asked.
    “Whatever we have to, to make sure that thing never leaves the mine,” he said.
    He turned and strode out of the room without waiting to see if she was following. If he had to do this on his own, so be it.
    Somehow, he made it through the main room and out into the bracing night. The cold, fresh air began to clear his head immediately.
    “Are you okay?” Bonnie asked uncertainly.
    So, she had followed him after all.
    He took a deep breath, forcing himself to plan, not just to act.
    “Never better,” he replied.
    “What’s your plan?” she asked.
    He gestured for her to come with him on the journey by foot back to the truck.
    “I’ll tell you on the way. I’ll tell you everything, but you need to do me a favor,” he told her.

                                   

    CHAPTER 9
    A  insley was off her game.
    Though her whole world was falling apart at the seams, what had her truly shaken was Grace.
    It was one thing for Ainsley to know her best friend was getting it on with a guy she’d had a fling with herself. It might be kind of odd if she over-thought it, but at the end of the day, it was no big deal.
    But the way both Julian and Grace had been behaving was beyond mysterious. First the kiss, then the denial, then the unspoken anger yesterday.
    And now...
    Ainsley had gone to the police station to find out what they’d gotten out of Garrett. The whole place was silent as a tomb.
    When she’d slipped past the reception area, the door to the interrogation room had swung open just long enough for her to see Grace sleeping naked on the conference table, before Julian pulled it shut behind him.
    Grace was a consummate professional.
    And Julian was over one hundred years old.
    Neither one had an excuse to be acting like a couple of hormonal teenagers.
    What the hell was happening with these two?
    Now she and Julian stood in front of the interrogation room door, staring at each other awkwardly.
    Julian looked down, and cleared his throat.
    “Where’s Garrett?” Ainsley asked, saving him from trying to explain what he and Grace had just been doing.
    He smiled at her and the relief was plain on his face. He looked quite relaxed, actually, and there was something else different about him too. Ainsley was having a hard time putting a finger on it, but his eyes looked brighter.
    “He’s in a cell in the back,” he told her. “I put wards on it so that no magic can be done inside — ours or his.”
    “I’m going to talk to him,” she said.
    “I’ll wake Grace,” Julian replied.
    They nodded at each other, then Julian opened the door again.
    Ainsley got one last glimpse of her best friend. Grace curled on her side like a kitten. Her face was soft in sleep, but a half smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. She must be having a good dream. Julian leaned over her tenderly, and spoke in a low voice as the door swung shut.
    Suddenly, Ainsley had a lump in her throat. She turned on her heel and headed for the holding cells.
    The room at the end of the hall felt dark compared to the rest of the station. It stood empty, except for a desk and chair with a framed print of one of Escher’s labyrinths over it, and the man in one of the two holding cells.
    Garrett sat on the floor of his cell, cradling the stump of his right hand in the arm of his left.
    He should have looked pathetic, but he was strangely calm. And though he was dirty and horribly injured, Ainsley couldn’t help but notice the confidence in the set of his shoulders.
    Frankly, she didn’t give a shit how he felt right now. He was going to answer all her questions or the wolves of Tarker’s Hollow would be permitted to tear him apart.
    “So you want to release the moroi,” she said without preamble. “Why now?”
    Garrett studied her calmly for a moment. Ainsley imagined ripping the cell door off its hinges and