Free The Loneliest Alpha (The MacKellen Alphas) by T. A. Grey Page B

conversation from a
window. She started to duck away when Hart spoke.
    “Who’s
that?”
    Movement
caught the corner of her eyes and she squinted as a figure came from the other
side of the house. Then her eyes narrowed in surprise at the man in the
deerskin coat. She recognized the way he walked, with just a kick to his legs
like a horse rider. Where had he gone?
    Gavin
kept his back to the house, the damn coward. “Alicia Clarkson,” he answered
Hart. “She’ll be here for at least another month. I’m considering her to be my
mate. Everyone will give her all the respect of that position,” he said in that
gravelly voice.
    They
nodded like good little soldiers, even Jo, which made Alicia grin. Jo caught
the look and glared at her again. She reciprocated in kind.
    While
this was going on, Hart pulled Gavin to the side and a bit closer to the house.
She struggled to hear the words.
    “There’s
been another murder.”
    Gavin
tensed, his body turning into stone. “Who?”
    “Anthony
Clipton.”
    “Fuck,”
Gavin cursed. “He’s only, what, fourteen?”
    Hart
nodded, grim.
    “You
tellin’ me we have a child killer in the pack?”
    “That’s
what it looks like. I’m looking into it. I’ll find out what happened.” He placed
a big hand on Gavin’s shoulder in support.
    “Where’d
you find him?”
    Hart
looked down at the ground. “He was found on the north side, floating in the
lake.”
    She
watched Gavin shake his head. “He drowned?”
    Hart
shook his head.
    “How
do you know he didn’t?” Gavin asked, anger lacing his words until he was
spitting out nails with each word.
    “He’s
covered in bruises. He received a beating for sure. Broken bones. He was
dropped in the lake afterward.”
    Alicia
flinched at the news and so did Gavin. “Find who did this, Hart. I don’t care
who have to bring in, and get every volunteer out there. I want every square
inch of the property guarded 24/7, you got me?”
    Hart
nodded. “Consider it done.”
    Hart
tucked his hand in his pocket as he strolled back to his truck and took off. Will
took off with Kaity who’d fallen into another lapse of tears.
    That
left Gavin and Jo. They shared a few words together, much too low for her to
hear. Then Jo lifted his big head and met her gaze.
    He
hollered out, his command aimed directly at her. “You will stay inside that
house. You will not leave unless the damn thing is set on fire. I will be
watchin’ you and if you so much as stick your head out a window to breathe in
some fresh air, I’m tying you up, gagging you, and locking you in your room.
Got that?”
    She
glared so hard her eyes hurt. She glanced at Gavin’s back, but apparently he
supported everything the big oaf just said. Smiling coldly, she gave the big
guy the finger, waving it at him for good measure. Then she ducked back into
the house and looked at it for the first time.
    Another
truck roared to life, this one she recognized as Gavin’s. It pulled away and
she had to resist going to the window to watch him leave. 
    Everything
grew quiet again except for the small sounds of the house. The ticking of
clocks here and there, the soft whirr of the refrigerator. This was the first
time Alicia was out of her room without a blindfold.
    She
was not going to waste her time, she decided, and headed for the stairs going
straight to Gavin MacKellen’s room.

CHAPTER 7
     
     
     
    After
an excruciatingly long and emotionally draining day, Gavin stepped inside his
home and leaned his great weight back against the door.
    A boy
was dead. Fourteen-year-old Anthony Clipton. Gavin had spent all day talking to
the family trying to ease the anxiety among pack members. No easy task.
Everyone was keeping their children under tight wraps now, and more than a few
women slapped him across the face today.
    He
rubbed the flesh. Even though the ache had vanished, he could still feel the
imprint they’d left. That imprint went much deeper than skin deep. Two children
were