Chapter Ten

King

I put in a call to Tyrus as soon as I left the compound. The bear knew who my mate was, but I wanted to make sure that if something happened, my mate was treated like any of the other mated omegas, even though we hadn't made it that far yet.

The bear would take care of Ryan if something happened—along with his six cubs. They were a package deal and, as I scouted out the farmhouse I'd been sent to, I contemplated how my life had changed in the last day.

The fact I had tried to deny my fated mate was proof I was more brawn than brains. One look at him, standing there outside my room, saying how I was his mate—ended me. We hadn't mated officially, but the taste of him was still on my lips. His sweet kisses were the things fantasies were made of.

Ryan came with six little ones. They were as attached to him today as they were when they first arrived, tacking themselves like shadows to his every move. They looked to him for everything. When to eat. When to go to sleep. Begged him for stories and walks outside.

He was their father for all intents and purposes and while we hadn't discussed the issue, when we were mated, they would become my responsibility right alongside my omega's.

I watched from a vantage point on the side of a mountain. The farmhouse was cute. Yellow paint. Gray door. But the only person I'd seen coming in or out of the place was an omega, a wolf from the smell of him, along with little ones—three of them all less than four years old.

This couldn't be who I was supposed to go in and end.

And three pups with him? No way this was my target. If it was, I had something to say about it. I took a chance and called the number associated with the texts I'd been receiving. Wasn't my usual way of doing things, but I'd be damned if I was going to go in and kill a daddy wolf omega.

Even I had lines I didn't cross.

"Why are you calling, lion?" The voice that came over the phone was deep but robotic. They must've been using some kind of voice-changing software. It reminded me of a Halloween costume I'd had as a child, one that changed your voice to something scary.

"I think there's been a mistake," I answered.

"Go on."

"The person at this farmhouse is an omega with three toddlers in tow."

Crackling resounded over the connection. "Are you unclear about my orders? When I give you a target, you go in and take care of it. I don't pay you to think, King."

Oh, he did know my name.

"You want me to go in and slaughter an omega and his children."

A long pause. "He took something that didn't belong to him. Something that is mine. I don't care if the omega's wearing his Easter best and begging you pretty, pretty please on his fucking knees, I want him gone. All of them. An order is an order."

"Your order was to kill the alpha."

"When did I say that? I said end the thief. Kill everyone in the house and burn it down. You're good at that, aren't you?"

Fuck.

"I'll take care of it."

The asshole fucking chuckled. "See that you do."

The line went dead, but I already had in mind what I wanted to do.

"Talk to me, King." Hammer answered on the first ring.

"I can't do this. Put me on speaker. We need to move on a rescue like five minutes ago."

"What happened?" he asked, but I could hear his hurried footsteps heading toward wherever the others were.

"I found him—the one who stole from our bosses, but…"

"But what?" Tyrus got in on the conversation.

"There's an omega and three little ones. That's who they want me to kill. I might be a monster, but I'm not murdering an omega and his kids. I'm not doing it. We have to get in here and get them all out. I can't." My voice broke with the last two words.

"Send us your location by GPS. Quick meeting and then we'll get to you. Hold tight."

My mission changed in the blink of an eye. Thieves, I didn't mind taking out, but the omega had to have a reason to steal from them.

Maybe he fled with his children.

Hell, I didn't understand it yet, but there was one thing I did know—it would be a cold day in hell before I killed a father and his kids.

The bosses could cram that fact up their asses and sing it a song if they wanted to.

Until then, I would wait to keep them secure. Make sure the bosses didn't send another hit man to see if I did the job.

My brothers would be here soon. Then we would get to the bottom of all this.