“Ice cream.”
“Heck yeah.”
In the walk-in freezer, he grabbed several tubs of ice cream and set them on the stainless-steel counter, and then he showed Sunny where the toppings were in the pantry while he gathered a large dish to make a sundae.
Adding scoops of vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry ice cream to the dish first, he and Sunny topped them with their favorites: chopped peanuts, colorful sprinkles, and cookie dough pieces, along with chocolate syrup and caramel sauce.
After cleaning up, he carried the dish to a table and set it between him and Sunny.
Sunny handed him a spoon.
“This looks great,” she said.
“How’s Fallon doing?”he asked, taking a spoonful of ice cream.
“Stressed.Worried.”
“That’s to be expected.”
“I said as much, but she’s an overthinker.I am too, of course, but I have you to put things in perspective.”
He smiled.“Hopefully, in time she’ll come to realize she’s safe here.And even more than that, is that we hope the jaguars move on since there’s no way that the alphas would allow her to be taken.”
Sunny nodded.“She doesn’t think they’ll give up.She said Dario is counting on her to be a literal sacrificial lamb to mate with this other alpha so that he can stay in power.It’s nuts that a male would use a female like that, alpha or not.”
“It’s old-school alpha bullshit.I’m thankful none of our alphas are like that.”
Footsteps sounded loudly down the hall and his dad rushed into the cafeteria.
“Dario’s back.”
“What?”Sunny asked.
“He and a handful of males are at the front gate.He’s asking for a meeting with the alphas to discuss the situation.”
Seneca stood abruptly, the chair scraping on the floor.He lifted the dish and said, “Let’s get you back to the house.”
She looked like she was going to protest, but then she stood and said, “All right.Just be safe, okay?”
“I promise.”
He took her to the private living area and gave her the ice cream and a kiss, then joined the alphas as they made their way up to the employee cafeteria.
His dad said, “Jupiter was on patrol and heard vehicle engines at the gate and found Dario and his enforcers.We’ve agreed to meet with him, but he’s not getting inside the gate.”
“You don’t want to just tell him to go to hell and send him on his way?”Seneca asked.
“We definitely want to do that,” Atticus said, “but we do want to hear what he has to say first.”
Once they were at the gate, the security team opened it enough to let the alphas out, and Seneca joined them.The area was illuminated by overhead lights and Seneca got his first good look at the jaguar alpha.
He wasn’t particularly well built, but he had a hard look about him, like he’d been fighting a long time and didn’t mind throwing down for whatever.He had short, dark hair and a beard.
“You asked for an audience with the leaders,” Marcus said.“We’re here.”
Dario’s gaze moved slowly along the line of alphas, and Seneca could see he was wary at the sheer number of alphas he was facing.
“I’ve come to negotiate Fallon’s release.She’s part of my prowl and under my authority.You have no right to keep her.”
