“There’s the mating ceremony tomorrow night, right? After which he’ll be officially named as the pack’s Alpha. Did he actually tell you he loved you in order for you to agree to go throughthat?”
This woman was clearly mental, but I didn’t want to completely reject her in case she was dangerous. “Go through what?”
She plastered on a fake look of concern. “Oh, he didn’t tell you?” Then her expression turned almost gleeful. “The ceremony involves what you could call a very public display of his affection with his new mate. After which, he’ll be named the Alpha, thus saving the ranch.”
Public display of affection?
“I’m just saying that if I were you, I’d be prepared to be humiliated and left at the altar as soon as the Alpha ceremony has concluded.”
My stomach clenched at the memory of that actually happening to me.
“He would never?—”
“Are you sure?” the woman hissed, waving a stack of papers at my head. “Here’s a copy of his father’s will and notarized signature. Go ahead. Read it.”
I put a hand up to protect my face, and the papers scattered all over the sidewalk, but not before I caught a glimpse of the letterhead. It was the address of an attorney on Darkaway Island. Blazoned across the top, it said:Last Will and Testament of Franklin Monroe.
I narrowed my eyes. “Who are you anyway? And why do you have his father’s will? If it’s even the real thing.”
“Oh, it’s the real deal, all right. Pardon me for not introducing myself.” The woman’s tone went from sugary sweetto acidic. “I’m Lavinia Monroe. I’m married to Merrick Monroe, Franklin’s next eldest son. Per the terms in the will, if Travis isn’t mated by the next White Wolf Moon after his father’s death, my husband inherits the ranch. Travis had no marriage prospects, so he and his sister concocted the Date-A-Wolf contest to find him a temporary mate. He’s just using you, Daphne. And once he’s done, he’ll throw you away.”
I tried to swallow, but my throat muscles had suddenly tightened. That was how I’d felt when Gavin left me. He’d tossed me away like a piece of trash, and I had to pick up the pieces myself.
Sensing she’d found a chink in the armor, she went in for the kill. “After the ceremony is over and he’s named the pack Alpha, he’ll go back to his jet-setting life as a famous actor dating glamorous models, and you’ll return to your boring lab tech job in Atlanta.”
I stared at my cuticles, suddenly wanting to pick at them. Travis wasn’t like that—he would never do something like that. But a tiny niggle of doubt gnawed at my stomach, reminding me that my intuition had been wrong once before. Maybe it was wrong again.
I recalled the photos of him in the magazines his father had?—
Wait. How did she know I was a lab tech in Atlanta? My head snapped up, and I looked around. But Lavinia had disappeared into the crowd.
I wasn’t sure how I got to the apothecary booth, but I needed to hear from Sarah that my fears were unfounded. That these were old wounds of mine and had nothing to do with Travis. So I poured my guts out to her.
“What did she mean by apublic display of affectionanyway?” I asked. “Does it mean what I think it means?”
Sarah looked uncomfortable. “Most packs have done away with those old rituals. But yes, it means what you think it does.”At my raised brows, she continued. “After the ceremony, the Alpha has sex with his new mate, sometimes in the Alpha’s bed or in a wooded clearing, while pack elders watch to give witness. She meant to scare you off, Daphne, because I know for a fact that the Darkaway Island pack doesn’t practice those old ways. They haven’t for generations.”
Seeing my shocked expression, Sarah added, “It was one of the first questions I asked Travis.” She looked down at the ground between her feet. “Because the pack I come from does.”
A huge surge of protectiveness had me reaching for her shoulder. Now I was the one comforting her. “I’m glad you got out of there. I mean, it’s one thing if you’re into that sort of kink, but to have it thrust upon you, pardon my pun, that isn’t right.”
Sarah laughed and wiped at her nose.
A new thought occurred to me. “Sarah, did you know Travis thought there was a mole in the contest? That my room break-in and his almost-poisoning were the work of that person?”
Sarah rubbed her forehead as if she had a headache. “Could my family have tried to sabotage the front-runner—you—in order to increase my chances? And when that didn’t work, and I didn’t get a charm, they tried to go after him?”
Spelled out like that, it sounded even more sinister. “They would do that?”
Sarah gave a mirthless laugh. “With my family, anything is possible.” She paused, looked around, and lowered her voice. “Did you know we’re distantly related to the Crutchfields?”
My jaw dropped. Travisdespisedthem. “The ones who own a few sketchy businesses in Wickedville?”
“The one and only. I didn’t know until I ran into one of them downtown and recognized his scent as part of my pack.” Sarah chewed thoughtfully on her lower lip. “So what else did that woman tell you?”
“Her name is Lavinia, and she claims she’s married to Travis’s half-brother, Merrick.”
A tiny muscle in her jaw pulsed. “Lavinia?” Sarah cursed under her breath, so I knew she was really pissed.
