Innocent Little Runt
Chapter 21

Xavier’s POV

I stared at Celeste as she slept peacefully. Her cheek was a purplish color now. The bruise had been larger than I first thought. It was almost the size of the entire left side of her face. I growled at the situation.

Celeste is fragile, almost too fragile, and I want her to stop getting hurt. What did she ever do to deserve pain. Only people like Christopher deserved such an awful life.

I sighed and leaned down to k**s Celeste’s bruised cheek. She whimpered and I felt my heart clench. I kissed her forehead and smiled when I heard that little relieved sigh she does whenever I touch her in the slightest way. It was like a way to know that she is safe, content, and near me. I love that little sigh.

I looked over at the time. 7:30, the clock read. Zay should be up by now.

Zay, I mind linked her.

Good morning Xavier, she sounded tired but I knew that right now her and Kaleshia would be in the kitchen to at least attempt to make coffee without eating each others faces. What can I do for you so early Xavier? I chuckled at her obvious hate for me bothering her so early in the morning.

I hate to attend a meeting this morning and Celeste isn’t awake yet. So if she wakes up just make her breakfast please.

Got it! Cereal it is! I growled at her but only slightly. I could tell by the giggles that came through the mind link that she was joking around.

Just make her pancakes and bacon. And try not to eat Kaleisha’s face while you’re at it.

No promises, she said in a sing-song voice and I cut the mind link.

I kissed Celeste’s forehead one last time, enjoying her little sigh, and got up. I took a quick shower and got dressed. I left the room, making sure to be quiet when I opened and closed the door.

I walked to the conference room where the other three Alphas should already be waiting. When I opened the door the three Alphas stood up. I nodded in acknowledgement to the and walked to my seat at the head of the table.

“Please,” I said. “Sit down.” The three men sat down as I evaluated them. One of them, closest to me on the right, was Alpha Weiss who had a small smile on his face. He was going back to his pack today so he would be able to see his mate and niece. Farthest from me on the right was Alpha Jackson, his ginger hair sticking out in the room that was all different shades of brown. On my left was Alpha Leo who had that “I hate everything” look on his face.

“Let’s start out with the odd occurrences that have happened.”

“The rogues have been able to get past my boarders without my warriors noticing. Alpha Jackson has told me that the same thing has been happening in his pack,” Alpha Weiss said.

“It’s been happening here too. Has anything been going on with you Alpha Leo?”

“Yes. One of those damned disgusting creatures made it all the way through my pack and no one realized it. I want them gone,” he sneered.

“Well I want to know how they’re doing it,” Alpha Jackson said. “They have managed to get past all of our borders at least once without anyone noticing.” I nodded in agreement.

“Maybe we should start up that project that we dropped two years ago. We should try to trace it back to whoever is in charge of the ro-” the door opened and I stopped talking. Celeste’s scent of vanilla and berries* entered my nose and I smiled. The other Alphas looked toward the door just as Celeste entered. She had the huge black blanket from our bed wrapped tightly around her shoulders. Her hair, which was a bit frizzy framed her face.

One of the Alpha’s gasped when he saw her. I wasn’t surprised at his reaction. There was, after all, a huge bruise on the side of her face.

Celeste walked over to me, ignoring the looks she was getting.

“This is my mate, Celeste, everyone.” Celeste went up onto my lap and laid her head on my chest.

“Alpha Xavier,” Alpha Jackson said. “You didn’t do that to her, right?”

“How dare you think I would hurt my mate!” I growled. Celeste sucked in a breath and put one of her hands on my bicep. I calmed down and rubbed her back. “I apologize.” I cleared my throat awkwardly. “We have had some things going on lately and this happened in the middle of it. The one who did it is locked away, I swear.” Alpha Leo rolled his eyes but I could see a hint of a smile. He was secretly a good man.

“Let’s get back to the problem at hand.” I could feel Celeste slowly falling back to sleep.

“For the past few years we have noticed that the rogues have bunched together. They most likely have their own kind of Alpha,” I felt Celeste stiffen at Alpha Weiss’ words.

“Celeste,” I said calmly. “Do you happen to know anything about this?”

“And why would she?” Alpha Leo asked.

“Because I was a rogue.” I smiled as Celeste said that. She was talking about it as if it wasn’t something to be ashamed of. “And there is such a person. It’s a cruel man who thinks of himself as the god who is going to get everything he wants.” All of the Alphas including me stared at her.

“Celeste have you ever met him?” I hoped she never did. If you could get rogues to consider you an Alpha then you would have to be cruel, manipulative, and an awful person.

“No but I’ve met a few of his fetchers. They go out and get information or the people who would know the information.” I could feel her get tenser. I could sense the fear that she was feeling and I was pretty sure the other Alpha’s could see it because their eyes held worry and hints of fear, reflecting hers.

“Why did you meet them?” She moved her hand so she could bunch up my shirt in her hand.

“Because they took Lycer.”