Page 74 of Bubblegum Pop

He stood at the head of the room, a marker pen in hand as he led us through attack formations we had practised for so long we could practically do them blindfolded.

Zeus jerked about in his chair, his restless aura affecting even the betas in the room as he growled low at Arrow. I was trying to send calming energy to him along with Apollo, but my guilt cut too deep into me.

The three of us had been friends with Arrow and Bones long enough to know they would take Zeus out if he tried something, and we needed him fully functional if we were going to get to Candy.

If only I’d been awake. If I hadn’t let them attack me in my sleep. I was nestled so tightly around her, determined to keep her safe from the world, and I had let her go. It didn’t matter if Apollo told me not to blame myself; it was clear who was responsible. At least Zeus had a chance to fight.

Arrow’s upper lip curled as he glared at us. “You either control yourselves or I’m leaving you behind.”

“Now, now,” Michael said from the entrance to our right. “We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves.” He stepped forward, his cane softly tapping on the floor.

Every alpha in the room sucked in a breath as his thick aura swept through us.

There were fifteen members of the security team seated behind us, half of them betas, though none of them could sense Michael the way we alphas could.

My throat dry, every nerve in my body was intensely aware of him and the danger he posed as he forced Zeus down with a simple smile. My brother’s face went sheet-white as his fury left him, all of us glued to our seats. Michael never looked like he put any effort into completely flattening us—he was just that strong.

Frozen, we watched as he scanned the whiteboard, waiting for his next move. The betas might not be able to feel his power, but they knew to be scared of him.

Fear trickled through our bond as Apollo readied himself. Then it was my turn to calm him. I reached out, gently wrapping my fingers around his thigh. His tense muscles instantly relaxed as he looked at me. He swallowed heavily, his eyes dark, but he gave me a grateful nod. My heart clenched, glad he finally found me through all the mess we’d made.

Michael helped wrench the three of us away from the pain throbbing in our bond, distracting us from the blind panic ripping through us so easily it was like we were sheets of fucking toilet paper.

Michael’s stare took me straight back to that day in the hospital, where I opened one eye to find him leaning over me. The first thing I saw after I had been stabbed wasn’t Zeus or Apollo, but Michael, wearing the same knowing look he had now—one I wanted to rip off his face.

“We’re going to approach this like nice, reasonable alphas, aren’t we?” Michael smiled softly, caution trickling down my spine. I sat up as he fixed his gaze on me and nodded before he turned to the board.

“Wonderful,” he murmured, lifting gloved fingertips to his lips and tapping as he examined it more closely. “I have to commend you, Arrow. You’ve outdone yourself yet again.” His voice was so mellow anyone would think he was paying a compliment, but every word was measured, precise, and layered with meaning that I was always shit at working out.

Arrow seemed to understand and stepped back, making room for Michael to fully appreciate the board.

We’d entered the operations room half an hour ago, with Arrow already drawing up a map of the house we were targeting.

It had been eight hours since we lost Candy, and they had spent four of those hours interrogating the beta Zeus had knocked out. We weren’t allowed to see him, and I knew it was for the best. If I was even in the same room as that fucker, I’d snap. Thankfully, Zeus had woken up after they dragged the beta away for questioning. We would have no chance of finding Candy’s location if my brother had been involved.

I dreaded to think what Michael had done to him. From everything I knew about him, forgiveness was not one of his strong suits.

Michael suddenly moved, spinning to face us, whacking his cane against the board. The entire room flinched as he sighed heavily, shaking his head.

“I have to say, it is incredibly tiresome that people still believe they can freely interfere in our business. Though I would love to show these gentlemen what it really means to approach my organisation in such a way, I ask that you please keep your kills to a minimum. We need to ask questions, and we can’t do that when their necks are snapped, can we?”

He looked pointedly at Zeus, who glowered back. Another wave of calm flowed through the bond as Apollo entwined their fingers. My brother could be an idiot, and even in his amped-up state, he knew going for Michael would be plain stupid.

“Just because I killed three people…” Zeus muttered.

“In. Succession,” Michael said, enunciating each word with a tap of his cane. “While rogue.”

Zeus held his gaze, but he wavered as soon as Michael pushed his aura towards him. My brother bit back a gasp and a shock of fear flashed through the bond at the weight of it.

Michael was at least two times as small as me, but our alpha instincts recognised the threat of death hanging over us.

“You do what I say,” Arrow said to us, hitting the whiteboard with his pen as Michael stepped away to show the full plan. “You follow my lead, understood?”

Arrow was as riled up as we were, even though he’d been working for Michael for more than ten years and knew his way around this. It had been years since we’d done a real mission, but we still had our skills, and we were ready to tear shit up.

Apollo and I nodded straight away, but Zeus grit his teeth. A glance from me had him relenting. My face was as hard as his, and all three of us carried the same determination to find Candy as soon as we could. That was the main reason we sat there like good alphas instead of stealing a car and racing to the address Arrow had written at the top of the board.

“No guns, no kills,” Arrow continued. “Nothing that will leave a trace. We’re in and out. Our focus is Candy, nothing else, you got that?”