Chapter 73
There are three na ked women on my father’s bed.
I don’t even see clothes anywhere else. So maybe they came straight in after the funeral ceremony?
But that doesn’t seem right either.
There are high heels on the floor and empty liquor bottles. Bras hanging from the bed posts and panties on the floor.
And they’re moving.
The na ked females, not their undergarments.
Legs writhing. Bodies arching.
I back up so quickly I slam into the wall.
All at once they sit up and stare. Wolf eyes flash back at me.
I’m not sure what they see. I’m in clothes better suited to a teenager. My hair is a mess.
I’m their Alpha’s daughter.
One of them lifts her head from between a brunette’s thighs. “Well… you’re Alpha now, right?”
I nod.
Shock keeps my feet rooted to the spot and my thoughts scrambled.
The dark-haired girl looks me up and down. “So come in here and close the door, if you want to take your father’s place.”
*
*
XXX
AARON
We make it to the end of the long road off Roberts packlands before James slams on the brakes.
I look up from my phone. “What the-?”
“Yeah. Exactly.” James is out of the vehicle first and moving to intercept Tobin where he leans against a Maybach on the opposite side of the main road.
I get out of the vehicle more slowly and scan the field behind him. Tobin appears to be alone, but that’s not to say a contingent of his pack aren’t nearby or already boxing us in.
“You’re always so paranoid, Aaron.”
I once watched this wolf slaughter three rogues and then go back to eating crepes.
He’s… unpredictable.
“It’s been a long time and now I’m seeing you twice in one day.” I glance over my shoulder. My other men are already positioned and guarding my back. “What’s up?”
“You don’t really think they bought that whole spiel you tried at the Council meeting about her father and his embezzlement, do you?”
I say nothing.
He smirks. “Okay, let’s try this a different way… how do you think Karolina and I knew exactly where to be… and when?”
My hackles rise. I’m pi ssed at Leah and there’s no way I’m going to just let her go. But I have to balance how much I let that
show.
2
“”
2
Something only has value if a person believes it does.
And I’ve never given anyone any reason to think that my wife is of value to me.
I learned that lesson from Alpha Roberts. It was his love and obsession with his true mate, Leah’s mother, that made him so
vulnerable.
In the end, she’d been his downfall.
It was no different than with my own family. Only it was my father who paid the ultimate price for his love.
Weak. Both of them.
Tobin continues to study me. His eyes have a coldness about them that isn’t so much reflective of mood or emotion but more
a form of detachment.
When he looks at someone, I don’t think he actually sees them. I think he views the world around him in primal degrees. He admitted it once, when we’d been younger. Something about his wolf is always present at the forefront of his mind. That unlike most every other shifter, he cannot relegate his wolf to the background.
I can’t imagine battling with my wolf day-in, day-out.
They’ve obviously found a way to co-exist that doesn’t involve him fur-out on all fours more often than not. Though perhaps his extreme propensity for violence comes as a result.
“Why are you here, Tobin?”
He pushes away from the car. “I’m here to visit an old friend.” His smile has a distinctive bite to it. “And to make a new one…”
“Get back in your car. Go home.”
He snorts and walks right past me. “Not to worry, bro,” he tells me. “I’ll keep a good eye on the Mrs. for you.”
He strolls toward the first security gate. The low-level basic outpost that looks like most every other ranch entrance in this area. He pauses before leaping over the gate and glances back at me. “With as hard as you fought to save your Luna, I’m
surprised you sent that human into a wolf’s den…You never know what kinds of wolves she might meet.”
