Chapter 158 – The Alphas’ Porn Star Mate
Miles POV
"Fucking ridiculous," Ivar snarled in my head.
"I agree." I watched as Chloe and Lenny left the room, trying to hold back my irritation until she was out of earshot.
"She needs more guards than just Lenny," Mick whispered to me.
Dave chose that moment to snore really loudly, and Riley had to elbow him in the gut.
"We'll go," Riley sighed. "Come on, papa bear. Time to wake up."
"Where are we going?" Dave looked around the room with an irritable expression. There was still tension from Chloe's outburst that I'm sure he could feel.
"To babysit."
Dave grumbled, "I fucking hate kids," but got up to follow Riley anyway.
"I wanna go too!" Winnie whined, and got up to follow, but Cindy reached over and pulled him back to his chair.
"You just want to see Boyd. Beau will let us know when it's time to see him, honey."
Winnie sat with a huff, crossing his arms over his chest and slamming his feet onto the table. "Miss priss and her cranky butt gets to walk out when she wants but I can't?"
"I know, hun," Cindy ran his hand down Winnie's back soothingly. "Life's not fair sometimes. We've all got different priorities."
I growled, the disrespect shown to my mate making my anger rise. I slammed my hands on the table. "She is the fucking Luna of this pack."
Cindy stared at me with tired eyes, a wry smile on his face. "That doesn't make her any less spoiled. Throwing a tantrum because Alexi wouldn't say something at her command is a bit much."
"Hey," Winnie suddenly looked uncomfortable. "I wasn't saying that. I just want to see Boyd."
"She wasn't throwing a fucking tantrum because she's spoiled," Mick snapped. "She's frustrated. If you were in her fucking shoes, you would be too."
"She's not as ignorant as everybody treats her," Jamie said, looking serious all of a sudden. "When her family," he glared at Cindy, "Which we fucking are, treats her like a naive brat, how else is she supposed to react."
"I'm sorry," Cindy said sarcastically. "Since half of her family were displayed on some wall in a hidden room in that hotel screwing her, I thought her reaction to Alexi was a bit much."
Ivar snapped inside of me at the same time as Rome, both of their aura pressing out onto the room as mine and my brother's deep snarls echoed in the enclosed space.
"That's enough!" I stood, barely containing my wolf.
"What is wrong with you?!" Mick was shaking, gripping his chair.
"Yeah," Winnie said softly, "You can't slut shame her when most of us have done far more than she has. That's not even why she got mad. She was mad because of Rodger." Cindy rolled his eyes. "You're right. I think it's just too early. Maybe I need coffee."
"I want to hear more about this wall," Jamie said, looking at Alexi.
Alexi looked uncomfortable, especially with me towering over everyone still in their seats. Chloe calling me a pompous, too-tall jerk ran through my head. Only she could calm the anger in me right now. I wanted to finish this meeting and find her as soon as I could. "That's part of what we found in the basement," Alexi said hesitantly. "There was this locked room with all sorts of weird shit. Like, animals in jars, and tons of space heaters. There were weird pictures like writing on the walls. It looked like some creepy scene from The Mummy or some shit." He then looked at me and Mick uncomfortably. "There were pictures all over one wall. Pictures of Chloe and....and some of us with her. They were stills taken from her videos."
"What kind of videos?" Estel asked, looking confused.
"Porn, sweetie," Cindy smirked at her. "Our Luna did porn."
"As did I," Mick growled. "You need to go take a nap or get that coffee or something. I don't know what's brought forth this attitude, but I'm one snarky comment away from letting Rome free."
I chimed in, "Chloe, despite any personal opinion or grudge you suddenly have against her, is our mate and the Luna of this pack. If you can not treat her with respect-"
"Relax," Cindy waved off my aggression like it was nothing, pissing me off further. "I don't have a grudge against Chloe. She's been my friend far longer than she has been your Luna. I'm just tired and grumpy. As I told you."
"Why don't we take a coffee and rest break, and meet back here after breakfast? It might be more productive to do this with Boyd and everyone else present," Billy suggested. He stared at me and Mick, "I don't want Taylor to wake up alone after we were gone all night." "I'll get the guard shifts sorted out and check on the progress of the clean-up," Dez said.
"I guess that settles it," I looked to Mick for confirmation, and he just nodded. "Meet back here at ten."
Winnie stood up abruptly from his chair and rushed out before anyone else could stand. We all knew he was heading for the clinic.
"Um, since the mission is done, would it be okay for me to walk around freely now?" Estel asked.
“Yeah. No problem here. If you need to go back to your sister-"
"No," she nervously shook her head. "No. Not at all. I think... I think I'll stick around for now, if that's okay?" Her eyes met Mick's for a long few seconds, and he smiled at her sympathetically. "Yeah, that's fine. Emily can find you a free room at the pack house for now," Mick said.
"Thanks," she smiled tightly as she and Emily stood together and began walking out.
Cindy got up and started walking out with them. For someone that claimed to be grumpy and tired, he looked enthusiastic enough while talking with the girls.
"What the hell was that between Cindy and Chloe? Did they fight or something?" I looked at Jamie, expecting him to know since he's spent the most time with Chloe the past several days. "Nah, I think Cindy just gets a stick up his ass in the mornings. He's been fine around Chloe."
Maybe it was just a bad morning for everyone.
Alexi looked uncomfortable, staying back as everyone else, including Jamie, filed out of the room. "Um, Alphas. Something is bothering me," he said when we were alone.
"What is it?" I asked, feeling weary and wanting to go find my mate.
"I, uh, I never told anyone what was in that room. Definitely not Cindy."
"So?" Mick stared at him, missing the point of what he was trying to say.
Alexi shrugged. "How did Cindy know that there were pictures of Chloe in there?"