The Alpha King (Kingdom of Askara #1)(67)

Luca glanced at Sam. Could they have been wrong about Christoph? “I heard there was a village destroyed.”

Kieran swallowed. “It was disgusting,” he spat. “Their leader is a Christoph Tor who will destroy anything that stands in his way, and one of the elders of the village had met me on a few occasions to barter food. It was Tor’s brand of punishment. They say wolves are bloodthirsty, but those humans slaughtered children.” Luca absorbed this. Sascha had been insistent it was the wolves who had massacred the village, and there was no way Christoph would murder his own people. Luca kept his smile in place even as a cold shiver raced up his spine. Kieran looked behind Luca at Sam. “Where is your omega?”

“At my camp,” Luca replied and couldn’t help the smile.

Kieran arched an eyebrow. “That’s fabulous. I can’t wait to meet him.”

Luca didn’t so much as breathe. He nodded back to where the humans were seated. “You got any coffee in there?” he asked hopefully.

Kieran grinned. “Sure, come on, and then we’ll head to your camp.”

Luca casually caught the reins that Sam tossed him. Kit? Kit?

Yes?

Listen very carefully. You tell Gabriel that I am with Kieran and there’s something wrong. I want you to find Christoph and hide. Somehow you need to meet me in Neira.

Who’s Kieran?

It doesn’t matter, just tell Gabriel he’s not to be trusted and get out of there as quickly as you can.

“Luca?” Kieran shaded his eyes and looked up at him. Sorin and Surya were at their brightest early morning before they separated.

“Sorry,” Luca shrugged. “I’ve got one of my headaches.”

“You still get them?” Kieran asked.

“Yeah,” he lied. He actually hadn’t had another since the night Kit had soothed him.

Darling, talk to me.

Luca ignored Kit’s voice because Kieran had suddenly stopped moving.

“Shit,” Kieran said succinctly.

Luca frowned. “What is it?”

Kieran sighed. “Because I said him not her.” And he suddenly whirled around. Luca might not have ever seen one before, but he guessed the thing Kieran was arrogantly pointing at him was a gun. Sam was quickly surrounded by the gammas.

Kieran shook his head and tutted. “I know you aren’t stupid and me knowing your omega was male would indicate more knowledge than a lowly beta in charge of a boundary.”

“How did you know about him?”

“You have made two mistakes in your life, Luca. The first was letting me live, and the second was letting the gamma who betrayed you go free. He ran straight into the nearest group of gammas and told all he knew.” Luca wanted to close his eyes in despair but there was no way he was taking them off Kieran. “For old times’ sake I was going to make you watch while I had every one of my men fuck your omega and then tie him to the back of one of the horses, then watch it bolt. I understand he’s quite pretty if you like that sort of thing, but I imagine when he has his face kicked in by hooves he might not be so appealing.”

Luca fisted his hands and took a breath. Everyone felt the ground rumble slightly. Kieran’s eyebrows raised. “But then I guess keeping you alive that long would be dangerous, so I’m just going to leave you with this thought. Every day. Every day when you are cold and dead in the ground I will keep your omega tied to my bed, and every day when I fuck him until he’s bleeding I will drink a toast to my poor dead brother.”

Luca roared as Kieran raised the gun. The shot came, so loud for a second Luca thought the noise was what was so bad about the weapon. Then he took a breath and pain hit his chest so hard he thought he had been struck and at the same time his legs lost their ability to hold him up.

“Luca!” Sam bellowed, only for the sound to cut off so sharply that Luca knew he had been hit too. He was grateful the ringing in his ears meant he couldn’t hear the shot.

Kit. Kit? Run.

Luca, what is it? Luca? Luca could hear the worry and the panic in Kit’s voice.

Tell me you are safe. I love you so much.

Yes, we are leaving. Baby? What is it?

But Luca couldn’t answer. Luca wasn’t sure he could even breathe. He concentrated quickly to bring forth his wolf but the sharp pain on the back of his head drove every thought out. He didn’t even feel the ground as he fell unconscious.

****

Asher jumped in the cart for the second time just as Kit tried to talk to Luca again with no success. As soon as Luca had spoken to him he had passed Ari to Taheesha and stood up.

“Kit, what are you doing? Sit down,” She hissed, trying not to waken either of the babies she was now clutching. “You’ve just had a baby. Two babies, please,” she begged, but Kit had ignored her and relayed the message to a startled Asher and within minutes the whole camp was on the move. The horses were quickly harnessed up.

“Tell me exactly what Luca said.” Gabriel sat in the front of the cart and passed Kit a mug of tea while Sascha ran around designating which wolves were to shift and run ahead first. They had just boiled water for everyone before Luca had first contacted Kit.

He took a breath. “He said Kieran wasn’t to be trusted.”

Taheesha inhaled sharply. “Kieran? He said Kieran?”

“Taheesha,” Kit said and scooted closer as her eyes welled. “Who’s Kieran?”