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My gaze holds Belle’s, willing her to understand how much I hate this, but she barely reacts. I think I see a flicker of her wolf glowing in her eyes, but it’s so quick, I can’t be sure. I pray Lucia doesn’t push this too far, because there’s no way I could let her do anything more than touch me through my clothes. Our fractured bond might spare Belle the worst of the physical pain, but I’m dying inside.
“Steady on. Not that you aren’t hot, Lucia, but I’ve no interest in watching your dry as hell PDA. Not until we’ve finished with our business.”
Lucia eases back and licks her lips, staring at me hungrily, turning and giving Belle a smug, triumphant smirk. “Looks like he is done with you after all.” Seeing her gloating like this, her pale eyes devoid of emotion, I wonder how she managed to fool so many people, including me, for so long.
This woman is pure evil.
“An alpha’s daughter who’s not strong enough to lead on her own, and a beta whose pack means nothing to him. You deserve each other,” Belle spits.
Leon growls, his impatience getting the better of him. “Enough fucking around. Is the target still the same?” Leon asks, the edge of irritation clear in his voice. “You’re sure this is what you want to do? By this time tomorrow, there’ll be no backing out.”
I feel like screaming with frustration. Details, I need details!
“Yes, nothing has changed.” Lucia’s tone is equally clipped. She twists in her seat to face Leon again, ignoring Belle as she slips quietly from the room, eyes landing briefly on mine right before she disappears. I want to go after her. I feel like I’m being torn in two.
“You definitely have an invite to the conference?” Leon asks, and my attention switches from pining after Belle back to what’s being said in the room. “Because that’s a major spanner in the works if you don’t.”
“I do. It’s the perfect alibi. Every alpha in the region will be able to vouch for my whereabouts.”
It is clever, I have to hand it to her. She’ll be at the conference, very publicly visible, when whatever horror she has planned goes down. Nobody will be able to question what she was doing at the time. If she’s spinning around a dance floor in front of dozens of well-respected shifters, how could she possibly have set off a bomb?
“I’ve been acting sufficiently contrite and everyone loves Ethan. That has gone a long way to convincing people that I knew absolutely nothing about what Toby was doing.” Lucia chuckles and the urge to throttle her has my vision darkening. I grip the arms of the chair to stop myself from doing something foolish.
Leon laughs, “Whatever you say, Boss.”
42
ETHAN
Hearing Leon call Lucia ‘Boss’ makes my blood run cold. I need to warn my pack. I need to get in touch with Cooper, but judging by how closely Leon and Lucia are watching me right now, I’m not sure it’s going to be that easy.
“Problem, Ethan? Do you not have the stomach to do what it takes?” Leon’s not convinced I’m on board. “I hope you’re not thinking of running back to your pack and telling tales.”
Ignoring his barbs, I shrug my shoulders.
“I just don’t understand how this gets you any money?” Pretending I’m not absolutely disgusted that these two people can sit here and so calmly discuss killing people, I focus on gathering more information. The ‘why’ still doesn’t make sense to me.
“You don’t need to worry about that. I have everything under control,” Lucia’s expression is cold and her tone neutral. I look at her, and then Leon, and I realise that even though they look very different, they’re the very same. Lucia does have everything under control. She’s used me like a pawn. I’m here, not back in Grey Ridge protecting the pack, and I still don’t have enough useful information to do anything about it.
“We’re going to need your phone, Ethan. I hope you understand.” Leon extends a hand and Lucia watches impassively. Leon’s two lieutenants stand a bit straighter at his shoulder. If I refuse, I’m not getting out of here. Even if I could get past Leon, I’m deep in his clan territory. There’s nowhere to run. Reluctantly, I slide my phone from my pocket, turning it off before I hand it over.
“I’ll keep it safe until after the conference,” Leon tucks it into the inside pocket of his well-worn leather jacket and grins. I’ll never see that phone again. “Just like Belle.” When he winks, and his stooges laugh, I feel like punching him in the face.
Lucia scoffs. “I couldn’t care less what you do with her. Add her to your harem and have some fun.”
Leon doesn’t say anything, just stares at me with those hard, soulless eyes. “If you try to screw us over, that’s exactly what I’ll do.”
The pressure inside my head is unbearable as my wolf tries to force his way to the surface.
He’s essentially holding Belle hostage, trapping her here to keep me in line.
Leon knows that even if I truly don’t care about her as my mate any longer, I’m not the kind of wolf who wants to see anyone harmed. Plus Steel probably wants his sister back in one piece. He can use her to negotiate if he’s caught.
“You’ve got Carla, too,” I surmise, trying to keep the anger out of my voice. “And Beth.”
Leon frowns, pretending to be contrite. “Not Beth… anymore. There was an… incident. But Carla, yes. She’s not as valuable as Belle, though. Hasn’t met her mate yet, either, so no good to me for breeding. Fun maybe, but that’s all.”
His words are like a kick to the gut. He’s talking about breeding my mate. My chest tightens and for a second, I worry the effort of not shifting on the spot is going to give me a heart attack. When this is all over, I’m going to kill him for that comment alone. First, I need to work out how the hell am I going to warn the pack and get Belle and Carla out of this hellhole without getting us all killed?
