The Alpha King's Wrath

47 Darklings

Chris POV

"Jess, wait!" I call out but my words are too late. "Baby, I didn't mean it like that."

Jess' wide eyed expression as she flinches away from me sears into my mind. She's pushing through the crowd that stares and whispers at us on the verge of tears but I can't get to her.

"Seriously!?" Jude growls, his blue eyes hard and angry as he holds me back.

"Not now Jude," I growl back. "I need to-"

"Give her some fucking space brother," Derek warns, helping Jude to hold me back. "Leave her to Mack, we need to talk." I growl, wanting to push him aside and go after Jess but he's right in that she's safe in here and there are other matters to deal with.

"Clear the hall, lockdown until told otherwise," Barron booms, scattering the crowd of gawkers.

His security orders are issued and we head outside to try and figure out what the hell happened. Cyrus whimpers in the back of my mind. I feel his longing to go check on Jess but time is of the essence.

At least she's safe in there.

"What the hell was that?" Derek asks, his brows furrowed and lips pulled into a full on scowl.

"I don't know," I admit, looking at the bodies being piled. "I've never seen anything like them before."

Derek shoves my shoulder hard bringing my attention back up to his angry gaze. "Not them, you!"

"Nothing," I grumble, shaking his hand off of my shoulder.

"The fuck it was nothing," he spits back, not relenting. "Brother you just scolded her in front of everyone, outed her pregnancy, and threatened to lock your mate away!"

Jude growls next to me and even Jace has nothing but disapproval in his eyes.

But they don't know what it's like... to feel like your worst nightmare is threatening to come true.

"It wasn't like that... I told her to run, she disobeyed, AND fought anyways!" I defend, trying to make them understand. "She's pregnant. For fuck's sake she has to think about them before herself."

But I can't bear the thought of anything happening to any of them...

"Jess was right, you are a temperamental, hot headed-"

"Watch it," I growl, cutting Jude off mid-insult.

"She did," Ryker says, walking over to us. "I tried to drag her to the palace and she pushed back, might have even saved my life. She KNEW those things were hiding up there, waiting to ambush us."

"Fuck," I groan, catching on to my misunderstanding too late.

"We hung back in the open, where nothing could sneak up on us," Ryker pushes on, making sure I know just how royally I fucked up. "Only when Mack came and cleared a path did we move. That dagger you found? Jess threw that from a good twenty feet away."

I palm my forehead and run my hand through my hair, taking a moment to get myself back in order. The memory replays in my mind on a loop looking worse each time...

The look in her eyes.

"Now everyone knows she's pregnant too..." Ryker warns, pursing his lips. He has never hidden his disapproval at me for hiding that information, so I'm surprised he's not happy.

'You announced our mate's pregnancy in the worst way possible!' Cyrus yells at me, adding to my headache and guilt. 'People will think we're ashamed of her or something!'