Chapter six: Axel

Axel’s POV

“You’ve got to be fuckin’ kidding me,” Frank muttered the moment Mary guided the rogue woman up the stairs, his voice heavy with disbelief as he rubbed a hand over his face. His problem was trying to process everything at once and failing.

“You don’t even know her name, Axel. You seriously just let some strange rogue into your room without asking a single thing about her? That’s not just reckless, that’s insane.” He gestured wildly now, clearly building steam.

“She could be anyone. She could be a spy, an assassin, or one of those unstable omega freaks trained to slit throats in their sleep. Hell, she could even be part of the Lykan remnants, and we’d have no idea because you—” he paused, his expression twisting as he turned his glare to Alex, who was leaned back in his chair calmly munching on a carrot like he hadn’t just witnessed a potentially dangerous rogue being welcomed into the heart of their estate.

“You’re in on this, aren’t you?” Frank narrowed his eyes. “Don’t tell me the two of you used the damn mind link just now to make this decision on the fly. Because I swear, if either of you dreamt about her and suddenly decided she’s your fated mate, I’m going to hit something.”

He kept talking, pacing now. “And your room? Really? Of all places. Why not the holding cell like we do with other rogues? Or the west guest wing where the windows are reinforced in case they try to jump? But no. You put her in your room. Just like that. As if she’s earned it. And you—” he pointed again, “you smiled at her, Axel. You smiled. That alone is enough to freak me out. You don’t smile. Ever. Not unless someone’s bleeding or begging. Not like your Alpha brother over here who practically breathes for attention.”

Ouch. I winced internally at that backhanded insult thrown at Alex. Well, to be fair, Alex and Frank weren’t exactly known for getting along. Calling them comrades was generous… more like allies by obligation, and even that came with disclaimers.

As usual, Alex didn’t so much as react. Instead, he calmly reached for another carrot (where he kept pulling them from was still beyond me) and bit into it.

Then, with that same infuriatingly smooth voice that always seemed to make Frank’s eye twitch, he said,

“Fraynik, you’re worried about absolutely nothing. Just shut up already.”

I even felt ‘sorrier’ for Frank.

Frank froze.

I almost sighed, already seeing where this was going. There was no way Frank would let Alex get away with those words.

Fraynik.

That was his real name—his given name, but no one dared call him that. He’d made it clear years ago that he hated the name, and he didn’t even like hearing it in passing, let alone being addressed with it directly.

But Alex had just done it casually, with that fake sweet smile of his.

I didn’t need to be a mind reader to know he said it just to get under Frank’s skin, and it worked every single time. I glanced at Alex, raising an eyebrow slightly, but he didn’t even acknowledge me.

To be honest, Alex and I hadn’t exchanged any words before I made the call to keep the female rogue. But we didn’t need to. We’d known each other too long, fought too many wars together, cleaned up each other’s messes too many times to not read what the other was thinking.

When I saw the rogue’s face, and remembered the way Alex looked at me after Alphonso’s body hit the ground, it was clear what I needed to do.

He wasn’t questioning my decision or upset that I had taken the rogue in without asking. He just understood. He knew I didn’t want to kill anymore.

Not because I couldn’t, but because I was starting to hate what it did to me afterward… and that was what made it worse because I couldn’t even put a name to the reason I brought her in.

I didn’t know if I felt pity, curiosity, or some messed-up instinct to protect something I didn’t understand. All I knew was, in that moment, I didn’t want her to die by my hands or…

For me, that was already strange enough. Even sending condolences to Alphonso’s family didn’t sit well with me.

It wasn’t the first time we had to send messages like that, and it wouldn’t be the last. But for some reason, this one bothered me longer than the others.

There would be consequences.

“You did well, Axel,” Alex had told me earlier through the mind link. “The apostles will let us be now. So, we’ll use her well.”

I remembered that exact wording—use. It rubbed me the wrong way. I wasn’t sure why. Maybe because it made everything sound like the only reason she was still breathing was because we had a use for her.

I almost said something then. But I didn’t.

“Frank,” I said instead now, watching the way his jaw was clenched so tight. He was one second away from exploding and I wasn’t in the mood for either.

I needed him to calm down before he embarrassed himself, or worse, picked a fight he had no business starting. Because no matter how much noise he made… Frank was never going to win against Alex. But when I looked at him again… something about his expression had shifted.

There was still anger there, yes, but his mind had already moved past this argument and was settling into something else.

Goddess, Frank was about to do something extremely stupid… or something that was going to create a new problem I hadn’t prepared for.

“I challenge you,” he growled, locking eyes with Alex, “to a combat match.”

Alex blinked slowly. His eyes trailed to Frank, then to the fruit bowl beside him. Without even glancing at what his hand was reaching for, he casually plucked an apple from the pile, and took a giant, obnoxious bite.

The crunch echoed across the room.