Marked Twice by the Alpha King Chapter 116

**Blake's POV**

I stood in the corner of the Hayes celebration, nursing a drink I wasn't tasting while tracking every sideways glance thrown at Ava. My jaw clenched as two women whispered behind their hands, eyes darting to her before they dissolved into smirks. A deep burn spread through my chest—not the pleasant kind. As Alpha King, I rarely felt helpless, but watching these wolves circle Ava like she was wounded prey while politics tied my hands made my skin crawl.

The inheritance ceremony had been bad enough. Watching how these people treated someone who once fought for their pack confirmed what I'd suspected—the Hayes family was rotten straight to the marrow.

"—critical alliance for both packs, don't you agree?" Richard droned on beside me, completely oblivious that I'd tuned him out five minutes ago.

Richard was supposedly Shadow Creek's second-in-command, but the whole pack knew he was just a mouthpiece for his wife. My gaze drifted across the room to where Martha stood with the elders, her spine straight as a blade. She glanced my way, her perfectly painted smile never reaching those calculating eyes.

"Absolutely," I muttered, not giving a damn what I was agreeing to.

I focused my hearing instead, zeroing in on the group of women who'd cornered Ava by the refreshment table.

"Got some nerve showing her face here," a blonde in a dress that probably cost more than most pack members made in a month said, her lip curled. "Traitor's daughter strutting around like she belongs."

"Well, she's Sophia's pet project," another one snickered. "Poor thing has no idea how 'close' her fiancé used to be with this... warrior."

Something primal and dangerous rumbled up from my chest before I could stop it—a sound that rolled through the air like distant thunder. Conversations within twenty feet went dead silent. Richard froze mid-sentence, a bead of sweat forming on his temple.

"Alpha King?" he asked, tension threading through his voice. "Is everything alright?"

I inhaled slowly, fighting back the Alpha energy that wanted to flood the room. "Excuse me. Something needs my attention."

I didn't wait for his response. The crowd parted as I crossed the floor, nobody stupid enough to make eye contact. I moved with purpose, my focus narrowed to the women still surrounding Ava, too caught up in their own viciousness to notice the approaching storm.

Ava stood among them, spine straight as steel, face carefully blank. But I knew her now—could read the fury in her clenched fists and the slight tilt of her chin. My warrior was holding herself back, honoring our agreement to avoid making waves.

"She's probably only here with Sophia to save daddy dearest," Vanessa sneered, playing with her silver bracelet like a cat with a mouse. "How pathetic. Still hanging around after being tossed aside like yesterday's garbage."

I reached them in three more strides, my hand coming to rest on Ava's shoulder before I'd even thought about it. The temperature in our little circle seemed to drop ten degrees. The women's smiles vanished like they'd been slapped.

"Ladies," I said, keeping my voice deceptively soft. It didn't matter—every wolf within hearing distance went still as prey. "Seems like you've found better entertainment than the ceremony itself."

Eleanor—the family matriarch—recovered first, her face transforming from cruel to sickly sweet so fast it was almost impressive.

"Alpha King Morgan! What a pleasant surprise," she practically cooed. "We were just catching up with our old... acquaintance."

"Catching up?" I raised an eyebrow, letting a hint of gold flare in my eyes. "Funny, it sounded more like you were being nasty as hell to my guest."

Eleanor blanched. Vanessa took a half-step back, eyes darting around for escape routes.

"I—I apologize, Alpha King," Eleanor stammered. "That was never—"

"Save it," I cut her off. "Your apology isn't for me."

Eleanor's mouth opened and closed like a fish on land before she forced herself to turn toward Ava. Every line in her face screamed how much it cost her.

"Please accept my apologies, Miss Rivers," she managed, the words seemingly scraped from the bottom of her soul. "My words were... inappropriate."

The watching crowd practically held their breath. Hayes elders didn't apologize to anyone—especially not to someone they considered beneath them.

Ava nodded once, a small smile playing at her lips that didn't quite reach her eyes. "Apology accepted, Elder Hayes."

I kept my hand on Ava's shoulder, using the slightest pressure to guide her away. "Ava will be joining me at my table. The Morgan family handles hospitality differently."

No one missed my meaning. As we moved through the crowd, whispers rippled out like stones thrown in a pond.

"That'll start talk," Ava muttered when we were far enough away.

"Let them talk," I replied, not removing my hand. "They were already talking. At least now they'll think twice about it."

She glanced up at me, a hint of a real smile tugging at her mouth. "My knight in shining silver, huh?"

"More like your overprotective Alpha who can't mind his own business."

That earned me a quick laugh that hit me right in the chest. "I thought I was just your son's instructor."

"You're..." I paused, lowering my voice so only she could hear. "You know damn well you're more than that."

A flush crept up her neck, and she looked away, but not before I caught the warmth in her eyes. Something settled in my chest—a quiet satisfaction at being the one who put that look there.

We'd barely reached our seats when Martha glided up to the table like a shark smelling blood. She slipped into the chair across from me, her expensive perfume hitting my nose a second before she did. Martha was the power behind the Hayes throne—always impeccably dressed in clothes that cost more than most pack members saw in a year, with the family medallion gleaming against her throat.

Her eyes—the exact same ice blue as her son's—slid from me to Ava and back, calculating risks and opportunities with every glance.

"Is everything to your satisfaction, Alpha King?" she asked, her voice smooth as honey but with a bite beneath the sweetness.

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**BITE ME WEREWOLVES:** Well hello there, pack members! Blake just went full Alpha mode, and I'm here for it! The way he shut down those Hayes harpies? Pure. Alpha. Energy. Martha's calculating eyes miss nothing though... what secrets is she hunting? Don't you DARE go anywhere because things are about to get seriously HOT in the next chapters! #TeamBlava