Fear froze Alyssa. Could they get out of this mess?
“Keep them talking, Tyler, so their attention is diverted to you.” Michael took another step closer.
“Fredrick sent you to get me? Why the hell would he do that?” Tyler was just doing Michael’s bidding, but Alyssa knew he truly was perplexed.
“Our leader had big plans for you. You thwarted him when you left. He’s mighty pissed now. And he’s going to be even angrier when he finds out why you left.” The gun Alfred held relaxed marginally against Alyssa’s face. The cold metal bit into her cheek.
“Plans? What plans? He hasn’t ever paid one moment of attention to me, and there aren’t even enough women left for him to mate me with.”
Nothing made sense. Why on earth would Fredrick send these goons to get Tyler?
Alfred chuckled again as though Tyler were dense. “You don’t think he left you alone for the last six years working on that finance degree for nothing do you? He needed your skills, man. Now he’s just pissed.”
“Skills?”
“What are you, a parrot?” Alfred’s laughter vibrated through Alyssa’s cheeks where he held her.
“How did you find us?” Tyler asked. Then he spoke to Alyssa and Michael. “What are you waiting on, Michael?”
Judas laughed hard. “You are too easy. God, all we had to do was wait for you to leave the house and follow you. Nice of you to head straight for this isolated cabin. We appreciate it.”
“How did you know I was here in Oregon?”
“We followed you from home, asshole.” Alfred laughed again as though this were all so entertaining. “Fredrick didn’t trust you. It was a bit too coincidental that you flew through town announcing that Alyssa was mated and then left again. That man is sharp. He didn’t even think you would go to Colorado at all. Kinda surprised us when you did, but then you kept right on going north the next day.”
“Why did he send me to check on Alyssa in the first place?”
Alfred’s sardonic chuckle made Alyssa clench tighter. “He was just checking your loyalty.”
“My loyalty? To who? To what?” Tyler stepped forward.
“To the pack, dimwit. To the team.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Tyler stopped moving when Alfred stepped farther away, dragging Alyssa with him. She had to move her feet swiftly to keep up.
“Wells suspected for years that you were Alyssa’s true mate. He saw the way you looked at her even when you were young.”
“What? That’s crazy. How could he know that, and I didn’t?” Tyler spoke, but Alyssa wondered the same thing.
Alfred continued. “You were just kids. It easily wouldn’t have occurred to either of you, but you were drawn to her. You even pushed her on the swing at recess when she was a small kid. Kinda weird when a nine-year-old boy helps out a kindergartner he barely knows.”
Tyler gasped. His brow was furrowed. Alyssa had no recollection of this story, but why would she? She’d been so young. Apparently Tyler hadn’t been any more aware than she had.
Alfred pressed the barrel of the gun into her temple. “When the bitch ran off and didn’t do as she was told, it left her open to any possibility. This never would have happened if she’d have mated Dwight as intended. You two never would have known what fate had in store.” Alfred spat on the ground, disgusting Alyssa and making her squeeze her eyes shut against his spittle.
He continued. “And if she’d truly mated Michael two years ago, it also would have changed the tide. Wells sent you to see if you would fall for her. As soon as you graduated, he had plans within the pack for you. It was a test really. If you had returned and joined the team, Fredrick would have known the threat had ceased to exist, and you would have become a loyal player. Or, if Alyssa hadn’t mated yet, there was still the possibility you would have claimed her and returned to the fold with her in tow. That would have been sweet. Bring the bitch back into the pack and satisfy your carnal needs at the same time. Wells wouldn’t have had to deal with you wanting a mate at some point.
“Instead, you took off and never returned. We were sent to ensure you were on the up and up. Appears you were not.”
A light bulb went off in Alyssa’s head. True mates could be thwarted. If one of them had been mated earlier, they never would have realized they belonged together. Oh, God. She pinched her eyes closed, imagining the way things could have turned out. If Michael hadn’t gone to Spain… If Tyler hadn’t returned from Oklahoma… Or worse, if she had mated Dwight…
She whipped her gaze toward Tyler. He’d given up everything to make this happen. Sex alone hadn’t caused them to become mates. Tyler and Michael had also literally “claimed” her. With their bodies and their minds.