Lessons in Love

Chapter 46: The Gamma and The Guard

POV: Delta Rick Wallis

I got Emma and Henry to my suite and told them to set up the spare room however they wanted. We just needed to keep them out of sight until we figured out what to do about George. The bell rang, and I mind-linked Ben to confirm it was him. I opened the door immediately once he confirmed.

“Any idea how much time we’ve got?” I asked.

“No,” Ben started pacing. “They okay?” He nodded to Emma’s backpack on the floor near the sofa.

“Emma thinks it’s all a fun adventure.”

“We need to get upstairs. They know to stay out of sight?” He asked.

I nodded. “I’m just going to tell them I’m leaving for a bit.” I opened the bedroom door and found Emma putting the five stuffed animals she’d packed on the bench at the foot of the bed. “I have to head to my office for a bit, but I’ll be back soon. There’s lots of food in the kitchen. Help yourselves if you get hungry.”

“Are we going to watch a movie and eat popcorn like the big girls at school do?” Emma asked.

“I think we can arrange that. You think about which movie you want to watch, and I’ll put it on when I get back.” I smiled at her. Ben was standing in the living room with a smile on his face. “What?” I asked as we headed for the door.

“You’re really great with her.” He said. “You’re going to be a really good father one day.” There was a sadness to his tone, like maybe he wasn’t sure he would be as good, but the compliment was meant kindly, and I smiled at him.

“Yeah, well, I have to find my mate first.” I c****d my head. We went upstairs to Ben’s office. “So, what’s our play here?” I asked as we went in.

“Honestly, I don’t know.” Ben said with a sigh. “We have him on the torture. The guards we took into custody aren’t reliable, and we still don’t know where they’re from.”

There were two knocks on the door before it opened. Sam walked in. “What’s the plan?”

Ben smiled and repeated what he’d just told me. “I don’t know if that’s enough.”

“Can we get the guards on the record?” Sam asked.

“We can try,” I said. “You probably could with that fancy new aura of yours.”

“I’m not leaving the packhouse.” Ben said adamantly. “I know Riley will protect my mother, and I’m positive Riley could take him, but I just can’t.”

“I could take a crack at them.” Sam suggested. Both Ben and I looked at each other before turning our eyes on him. It was unfair of us to drag him into this. We hadn’t promoted him yet, but we certainly had been treating him like we had.

“Sam,” I started. “I don’t know if you should get involved here. I know we’ve been treating you like our Gamma, but you don’t have the title. I’m not sure what the legalities of getting you this involved could be.”

“Then maybe you two should make it official.” Sam said.

I started to shake my head. “You have a family, Sam. You have a kid. I want you to fill the role, I just …” I rubbed my forehead, unsure how to say it. The truth of it was, I’d already lost one friend and orphaned his child. I couldn’t do that again. With the speed things were shifting around us right now, I couldn’t promise his safety.

“Rick,” Ben said quietly. “We’ve been training him for this for months. We’ve talked about it.”

“I know!” I growled at him.

“Rick,” Sam drew my attention. “I know you think what happened to John is your fault, but it’s not. You need a Gamma, especially today. John would tell you the same thing. Let me do this for you. Let me do this for him.”

I couldn’t look at him. I knew he was right. I knew we needed the help. I sighed and nodded. I looked to Ben briefly to make it official.

“Sam, as our new Gamma, you’ll hit the dungeon. Rick, you and I are going to act like nothing is wrong. I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but if we get lucky, he’ll arrive home drunk.”

“Maybe we should get him drunk? Buy ourselves an extra day?” I mused.

“No,” Ben was firm on that. “You’ve got Emma and Henry in your suite, you can’t do it, and he’ll never believe that Sam or I want to drink with him. We have him on what he did to my mother.” Ben growled a little as he said it. “It’s enough to hold him until we can get the evidence to the council.”

“So, we arrest him? Just like that?” I asked.

“Just like that.” Ben shrugged.

“Let me know if you need backup.” Sam said, heading for the door.

“Wait,” Ben called to him. Ben hurried to his desk and pulled out a folder from one of his desk drawers. “Here, sign this. Make sure you use the same date as we did.” He said, putting a pen next to the documents. It was his official promotion papers. I didn’t know Ben had typed them up.

“You can’t forge Marcus’s signature, Ben.” I snapped at him. “You’ll get Sam killed or turned out.”

“Marcus did sign it.” Ben said quietly. He ran his hand through his hair and looked down at the desk. “I had him sign it the same day he signed Riley’s contract.” Ben made fleeting eye contact with me.

Sam held the pen out to me. My signature would seal his fate as one of us. If this went sideways, we could all be brought up on treason charges. I took the pen and leaned down over the desk, but I couldn’t do it. “Sam,” I straightened up and looked at him, pleading with him to stop me for signing what I felt was his death warrant.

“We’re all going to make it out of this.” He said firmly. “Sign it.” He was sure. I could see it in his eyes. It was what he wanted. I set my jaw, turning quickly to the desk before I lost my nerve, and signed my name. Whatever came next, we were all in it together. Sam left for the dungeons immediately. Ben took the contract and put it back in his drawer.

“Rick,” he started to say.

“I’m fine.” I growled. I wasn’t fine. I was far from fine. This was a bad idea, and deep down, Ben had to know that. He couldn’t be this flippant with another man’s life. Ben opened his mouth to say something when there was a hard knock at the door.

“Show time.” Ben said, taking a deep breath as he moved toward the door. He pulled the door open. One of the guards from this morning who had gone with George stood there glaring at him. “Where are the guards upstairs?”

Ben pushed the door open and stepped aside. “Hi, nice to meet you. Won’t you come in?” Ben growled a little. The guy stomped through the door. Ben did a quick check of the hallway. “Where’s the Alpha?” Ben demanded.

“Gone to the pub for dinner.” The bodyguard said. I saw Ben grind his teeth, trying not to growl. As far as George knew, his mate was still bound and gagged in the basement of their home, and he’d gone to the pub for dinner. Ben closed the door but didn’t move far from it. He looked at me, and I knew what he was thinking. This guard was on his own. Ben and I could take him out, George would get drunk at the pub, and we’d have until morning to finish interrogating all three of the guards.

“What seems to be the problem?” I said with a smile.

The guard growled at me. “I just told you.” He stepped in on me. “Where are the guards from upstairs?”

“They were up there this morning.” I shrugged, sliding my right foot back to give myself leverage when I needed it.

“Where are they?” He snarled at me, taking another step toward me.

Ben moved and kicked his knee from behind. The guy fell forward, and I hit him as hard as I could in the face. He dropped to the floor, bracing himself on his knee with a hand firmly planted on the carpet. He gave his head a shake. I had hit him full force. He should have been unconscious. I looked at Ben and found him as stunned as I was. Ben let out a vicious growl, filling the room with his aura and putting the guy in a choke hold.

The guard was stunned long enough for Ben to do it, but once Ben had a hold of him, the guy was thrashing around, clawing at Ben’s forearm around his neck. I spun around, glancing quickly at my weapon options on Ben’s desk. Ben had this ugly cement cube for his pens. It weighed a ton, and I had been telling him to get rid of that silly thing for years. I had never been so happy he ignored me. I grabbed it, dumping the pens as I turned back to them.

The guard had staggered to his feet. I hadn’t realized the guard was taller than Ben, but the extra two or three inches the guard had on him made it hard for Ben to plant his feet. The guard leaned forward, lifting Ben onto his back with a growl. If this hadn’t been a particularly serious moment, I would have laughed at the look of complete shock that registered on Ben’s face. The guard hurried backward, slamming Ben into the wall behind them.

I raced forward and took another heavy swing at the guard’s head. Then another. “Come on!” Ben grunted, still pulling on the guy’s neck. Another swing and the ugly pen holder broke. The guard fell forward, unconscious, with Ben sprawled across him. Ben untangled himself from the massive man and stood up, panting. The room was silent for a moment as we just stood there catching our breath. Ben looked at me, and we immediately started to laugh.