My Mate....The Alpha (new version)

36. Ryker

The first thing I noticed wasn't the blood.

It was the silence.

Not the peaceful kind—the kind that settles after a long day, soft and earned. No. This silence was wrong. Heavy. It pressed against my ears like something waiting to break again.

I stood just inside the doorway, Preston still clinging to me, his body trembling in a way he was trying—and failing—to hide. My arms tightened around him instinctively, one hand splayed protectively over the curve of his stomach.

He was warm.

Alive.

That should have been enough to steady me.

It wasn't.

Because outside, beyond these walls, I could still feel it.

Watching.

Waiting.

"Inside. Everyone inside. Now."

My voice cut through the room sharper than I intended, but no one argued.

They moved immediately.

That alone told me everything I needed to know—this wasn't over.

Not even close.

Jessie stepped forward, already scanning the room, his eyes no longer glowing but still carrying that residual shimmer of something ancient. Argus and Lucius followed close behind him, their expressions grim, calculating.

"We don't have much time," Argus said, his voice low. "They pulled back too cleanly."

"They're reorganizing," Lucius added. "Or waiting for something."

"For an opening," I muttered.

Jessie's gaze flicked to me—sharp, knowing.

"For him," he corrected quietly.

My jaw tightened.

My arm instinctively drew Preston closer.

"Everyone to the central hall," Princeton ordered, already shifting into command despite the blood still staining his hands. "Warriors rotate perimeter positions. No one moves alone."

He wasn't the Alpha here—not of Savage, not of King—but in moments like this, titles didn't matter.

Experience did.

And Princeton carried centuries of it in his bones.

"I'll take outer watch," he added.

"No."

The word came from Jessie.

Firm. Immediate.

Unmovable.

Every head turned.

Jessie stepped closer, his hand brushing briefly against Preston's shoulder—gentle, grounding—before he looked at Princeton.

"You're staying inside the barrier."

Princeton's eyes darkened. "Jess—"

"I'm not debating this."

There was no anger in Jessie's voice.

Just certainty.

And something else.

Something that made my chest tighten.

"I won't have both of us exposed," Jessie continued, quieter now. "Not when he's here."

His gaze flicked again—to Preston.

To the life he carried.

Princeton exhaled slowly, tension rippling through him.