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Lies.
“We’re here to talk.”
“Kane said you’re here to settle a misunderstanding.” My uncle’s eyes gleamed, a sneer warping his face. “I take that to mean he wants to form an alliance. With Sal in the game, things have gotten…testy.”
“We are here to settle.” ‘A score’ went unsaid. Johnny had a calm expression, unreadable to anyone who didn’t know better. I saw quiet cunning, a play on words, the intention to strike when least expected. Not yet though. Not yet. “We’re looking for Andrew Larsen. Hoping you might have some intel on his whereabouts.”
Gareth frowned. “Why would I have any information about that SOB?” He waved his hand. “You’re wasting your time if you’re here for information on Andrew.”
Johnny folded his arms and leaned back a little. “We’ve heard you might have helped him get out of Vancouver.”
I was startled to learn that tidbit and narrowed my eyes, first on Johnny, then quickly back on my uncle. Why didn’t I know about this before now? Why was I out of the loop when it came to clan information?
Because you won’t commit. No secret there, genius.
“Oh, is that what you heard?” Gareth squinted, pursed his lips, rolled his tongue along the inside of his cheek so it bulged out.
It’s true. Oh fuck. He’s involved.
I took a step back. My beast reared. I flexed my fingers, clenched and unclenched my jaw, grinding my molars as they started to grow bigger. I fought to keep myself from slipping control by using the techniques I’d been practicing to stay grounded with my beast.
Breathe in. Breathe out. Ride the wave of rage. Let it peak. Tamp it down. Start again.
“Where’s Andrew?” I kept my voice steady but stern, doing my best to stay as cool as Johnny while my beast continued to rage on the inside. “You know.”
Gareth tilted his head, scrutinizing me like I was a disobedient dog. It was an expression, I’d learned, that all male weres gave, one they honed from birth, it seemed. I wanted to smack it off his face.
“You’re losing your grip again, aren’t you, niece?” He motioned behind him, so his men began to close in. “You haven’t gotten that beast of yours under control, have you?” He looked at Johnny. “Are you aware of my niece’s…deformity?”
It was a slap that shouldn’t have stung as much as it did. My beast roared within and my body spasmed, muscles stretching, building, bulking, fangs poking into my gums, burning as they dropped. I took deep breaths, tried to rein things in. I didn’t want a bloodbath, no matter how much I loathed the man.
The beast and I were one. I reminded myself. A swirling mantra that pounded through my mind. We are one…we are one…we are—
“Don’t insult my intelligence, Gareth.” Johnny sighed as he briefly rubbed his thumb and finger on the bridge of his nose. He was so good at making you think you were wasting his time. “You set Andrew up on the flight and offered some contacts in Toronto,” Johnny continued. “We just need to know where he is now. We have some questions for him.”
“Have you tricked these men into thinking you’re stable, Charlotte?” My uncle ignored Johnny as he turned toward me. “Do they know what a freak you are?”
I stood my ground, continued with the deep breaths, but my body was bigger than it should be, taking on a partial shift on the way to full beast mode.
“You’re just like your mother,” he said with a sneer, moving closer when he should’ve been turning back. “Never knew her place, either. That fool of a man, Dominic, always gave too far-reaching freedom to her and you.” He lifted his finger, stabbing the air, his lips curled and eyes fierce. “She had a mouth on her, too, your mother. Headstrong. Stubborn. Entitled.” He spit the last word as he scorched me with another up and down, taking in my growing size, my monstrous deformities. “If you ask me, your mother deserved what she got in the end.”
The air left my body. My heart stopped. Red flashed across my vision. He knew. Until this moment, I didn’t really believe… I mean…Kane had said…but I didn’t really think that she was murdered by her own stepson, that my father had no idea. But my uncle knew. Her own brother knew. She was murdered and these puny men, werewolves so used to power and control, obviously felt she’d deserved it.
I’d had enough of this testosterone-riddled world.
“You…bastard,” I roared, then let my beast go.
Chapter Thirteen
Levi
“Well, that didn’t take long,” I said as I zoomed in on the action.
Kane leaned closer to the screen as well, his jaw tight, eyes blazing.
Charlie shifted to beast mode in two seconds flat.
“Keep the camera on her,” Kane said. “I want to make sure this isn’t a setup.”
