The Alpha's Guardian

Wade POV

I hunch over, my hands on my knees, as I'm overcome with a sudden feeling of heat. It burns through my veins at such a rate I can't even process what is happening. Slowly, the pain gives way to relief, and just as suddenly as it had come on; it is gone again. Sweat is

pouring from every pore as I stand breathing deeply.

I look down at my sweat-stained shirt and I sigh in annoyance, I quickly take it off and toss it to the side. I've been a mess since she left. I felt a few slips in her barrier hours ago, but since then there was nothing other than this random feverish pain that overcame

me.

She has to be fine. The few times I got her emotions, she was confident and cocky. Her usual self in fighting. I have tried and failed many times to mind link her through the early hours of the morning, which makes me feel much more uneasy.

Guilt consumes me as I trudge to the bathroom and splash my face with water. Should I have helped her get Corbin out? Just as the thought hits me, I growl in anger. No, I could never have been the one to help him escape. Not after all the lives, he took for his own selfish gain. He may not be guilty of the crimes Ali placed on him, but that doesn't mean he is innocent of the ones he committed against my pack and the werewolf community. No amount of righteous acts can wash away the evil ones. You can wash the blood off your hands, but it still stains the water.

Could I have helped Ali just to make sure she was safe? The thought of her being injured or hurt flashes through my mind and panic rises. I'm taken back to the moment she walked up to me after the rogue attack in her ceremony dress. She looked like a ghostly vision, pale and resigned, turning to reveal the grotesque bite mark that should have been mine.

My heart lurches at the lingering memory. I hate when people hurt, but when she hurts, it drives me crazy. I wanted nothing more than to wrap her up and demand that she give me all her pain. My chest aches just remembering and I shake my head. Breath Wade. In and out.

"Ali is a trained warrior," I mutter to myself. "She will be fine."

I can hear a knock on my bedroom door and I rush to answer it, throwing it open. I am disappointed to find that it is Samuel. It's stupid to think Ali would be standing on the other side of my door, but I can help but feel let down that instead of my spunky, weird gorgeous mate, it's the overbearing, sly Samuel.

"Samuel," I say, a little taken aback. He quirks a brow and smirks at me.

"You were expecting someone else?"

"Well, my guardian seems to be missing, so I assumed you might be her."

"And you often greet her with your shirt off?" He points to my sweaty bare chest and I frown.

"No. What can I do for you, Samuel?" I ask, moving to the closet to grab a t-shirt.

"There was an incident last night." He says, looking me over curiously.

He is trying to determine if I had a hand in helping Ali with Corbin's escape or escape attempt. Interestingly enough, I am also trying to figure out if I had a hand in it. Was saying goodbye and telling her to be safe the same as aiding and abetting her? I'm not sure I could live with helping her break him out. But I'm not sure I can live with knowing I didn't help either.

"What kind of incident?" I ask, coming back out of the closet looking at him.

"Corbin escaped."

"How?" I ask curiously.

"Ali."

"Ali what?"novelbin

"She broke him out," Samuel says

"Because he is her family?"

"I believe that is the reason."

"That doesn't seem very like her. Her reasons have to be more than blood." I say, trying to get anything I can from him.

I know he has a wealth of knowledge about what happened to Ali when she was a kid. Hell, I'd bet my pack that he knows who killed her parents, too.

"Who knows?" He shrugs. "Either way, she betrayed us both. Her oath has been broken, and she is no longer a guardian."

"I thought it had to be a literal breaking of the oath she wrote in order for her not to be a guardian anymore," I state.

"Ah, yes, well, I burned her oath just moments ago. You should have felt some effects."

"Like a wave of flames and losing half my water weight in sweat?"

Samuel smirks.

"Yeah, something to that effect"

"Then yes, I felt it." I snap out.

Samuel zones out as if in a conversation in his head and he frowns.

"Well, there is a border issue. As your temporary guardian, I will go ahead and check on it."

"You're my guardian now?" I scoff.

"Yes, until I can get a new one here tomorrow. Now, don't wander out of the packhouse. We have reports of rogues forming and wanting to go to war with you over breaking your word to Corbin." "Well, fvcking great." I throw my hands up.

Samuel leaves without so much as a word, and I'm surrounded by silence again. I let out an enraged scream, running my hands through my hair roughly. My door flies open and I turn to see an enraged Liam stalking towards me. "What the fuck do you want?"

"They have her," he says, his voice low as he looks around my room for anyone who could listen in. I know immediately who he means. There is only one person the two of us care about. Ali. "What!"

"You need to check on her. Use the guardian mind link."

"I can't." I sigh, trying to keep tears of frustration at bay. "Samuel burned her oath! She doesn't have any of the guardian skills anymore."

"Fvcking hell," Liam says, looking pale. "He will kill her, Wade."

"He is a father figure to her. I doubt he will kill her."

"Wade. I hate you. Like I see you and I want to murder your fvcking face, but Ali... I love her and I know you do, too. So when I say Samuel will kill her, it is something you can believe."

I hate his words, but what I hate the most is the truth in them. He actually thinks he is in love with my mate. But that is something we can contend with another time.

"Fvck." I mutter, pacing the room "Ok. give me a second to think."

I mind link Francis immediately

-Francis, emergency meeting in my room. Bring Ada, Robin, and Isaac -

-Yes, Alpha.-

Liam and I stand in awkward silence for 5 minutes until Francis and the rest of the crew walk in.

"Alpha Wade," Francis says, waiting for me to fill him in.

"Ali is being tortured in the dungeon," Liam breathes out, telling us what his men are mind linking him. "He says she stopped being snarky. And now only grunts when they strike her," I can see his fury visibly and it mirrors my own. "Tell us what we need to do, Alpha Wade," Francis says, his game face on.

"Well, for starters. We need to break Ali out,"

"Where will she go after we get her out?" Ada asks bringing us out of our brute force idea of just rushing in and whisking her away. She is right. We have to have a thorough plan so that our packs and Ali can be safe. "The rogues." I sigh heavily. "Francis, we need to get word to Corbin or Simon. They need to be the ones who break her out."

"Will they help?" Isaac asks,

"It's his niece, and she broke him out. Yes, he will help her." I say truthfully.

"We have to help them break in, then?" Liam asks and I nod.

"Looks like we all are going a little rogue after all," Ada says, smiling.