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Andrew shook his head. “A-a-bout a powerful female alpha.” He sucked in a deep breath and scrubbed his hand down his face. “Charlie always thought it was bullshit, but I knew there was truth there. Our father believed wholeheartedly. He used to tell me to protect her. Made me promise that if he died before he could position her, that I would need to get her away until the time was right.”
“So, you’re saying you ousted Charlie for her own good?” There had to be an ulterior motive, because no alpha would protect a woman who was destined to take his place. My body froze, my breath caught and I was stuck on that thought.
I was the kind of alpha who would protect the very female destined to take my place.
And yet…I wouldn’t take her bite, even though I knew there were consequences she didn’t foresee. Levi and Johnny were fucked up right now. But still, I didn’t accept that she could bite me and make me hers.
I shook my head…hard, then pulled myself back from Andrew to pace a path around my desk, putting some distance between us.
“I had people watching her. But when Sal came back, I knew I had to act. I went to her myself. I staged a kidnapping to make it look believable because I knew Sal would be on to me and after Charlie.”
I refocused on what Andrew was saying, forcing my own inner clusterfuck confusion to the back. I’d have to sort out my feelings, my self-imposed roadblocks about Charlie’s bite later.
Andrew was leaving Gareth out of the equation completely. I decided to play along, see what kind of story he spun. “Sal insinuated that you were ousted.”
“He would.” Andrew snorted. “The truth is, he was working my men from the outside in. I didn’t see it coming, not in its totality anyway. I had my eyes on…other things. When he came at me with his grand idea to take over his rightful place…” Andrew air-quoted the last two words… “I knew I had to get the hell out of there before I wound up dead like Dad.”
“Are you saying your brother killed Dominic?” I stopped pacing to glare. If we had proof of that, we’d be able to wipe Sal off the planet for patricide, and no one would get in our way.
“Not by his hand and not that you could trace to him but yeah, I have a gut feeling it was the start of his plan to return to the pack.” He speared me with a dark look. “I’ve been trying to dig up enough evidence to pin him with his crimes…all of his crimes, for the last three years, but he’s too greasy for anything to stick.”
“So, you’re aware that Sal is hunting female werewolves?” I leaned on my desk, forcing my clenched knuckles to flatten.
“Everyone is aware of that.” He sighed. “Which is why he wants Charlie.”
“He had her, so why did he give her up?”
Andrew’s skin grew pale, and he licked his lips. “Because he knows about your family prophecy and that you and your brothers are the catalysts to her full powers.”
“What do you mean…catalysts?”
“I mean, for her to reach her full potential, she needs to not only take your bite, the bite of all three of you males, but to give one, too.” Andrew licked his lips and tugged at his collar. “He believed coming here would ignite her instinct to rise to her full potential.”
Dread pooled in my gut, a feeling of missing something vital in my plans settled deep in my bones.
“And what happens if the catalyst initiates?” My fists were clenched again, and I was fighting the impulse to leap over the desk and grab Andrew by the throat.
“I become all powerful…queen material,” Charlie said at the door, her voice a grumble as it slid past her werebeast fangs.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Charlie
Andrew hit the ground on his knees, his hands steepled like he was praying. “Charlie, I tried to help you. I was always on your side.”
I wanted to bite him. I wanted to rip his throat out. Instead, I stood still, willing my werebeast urges to calm the fuck down and hold position. No matter how grotesquely pathetic this was, I couldn’t act on my impulses.
Sensing my conflict, Levi pulsed strength through our connected threads, urging my rage to settle and simmer instead of explode.
“Levi, what the fuck?” Kane rushed toward us, taking a few steps before halting with a look of shock, anger and confusion mingled on his face. I knew Levi, who was just behind me, had morphed into beast mode. I knew he was trying to rein in his own instincts to lash out, not because he suddenly hated his brother, but he was surging with aggression, thanks to our shared bites. Part of me was in him and him in me. I ebbed some of the same calming essence back to him, completing a cycle of chill so we both wouldn’t do something we’d regret.
I glanced over my shoulder and met his eyes. They were vividly blue, as always, but they held his usual Levi awareness. He nodded once, and I knew he had things under control.
“What did you do to him?” Kane roared.
Levi stood seven feet tall now and looked as beastly as I did, except he was more primal and hadn’t yet mastered the ability to speak, so it was up to me to deal with his brother.
I stepped in Kane’s way, ducking under the doorframe to fit into the room. “He’s mine now.” My words came out garbled, like I was speaking through a mouthful of rocks. I hadn’t meant to say it that bluntly but there it was, Levi belonged to me and I to him.
