“Indeed,” Tobias said, voice a low rumble. The edge of his impatience flared, the bond crackling with the unspent energy of it. Chest rising high as he took a deep breath, expression fixed into the neutral aloofness of any Alpha, Tobias pinned Meghan under the intensity of his gaze. “Let’s talk about what’s been going on.”
“Yes, please, sir.” Despite her earnest tone, Meghan shifted her weight in cramped twitches under his attention. A fine trembling shiver racked her frame, eyes trained upon the glossy finish of Tobias’ shoes.
“I have reason to believe someone is out to undermine me. While this in itself isn’t unusual, given my position in Alderbrook, it is strange how they’ve gone about it. A challenger would face me directly, but whatever this is, they’ve decided to go after my mate and children. Attacking an Alpha’s family is low, underhanded. A device of the weak.”
“Oh, sir! You don’t think someone is really out to hurt them, do you?”
“Given everything that’s happened, I would say so.”
Meghan flinched from the growl underlining Tobias’ response. Even still, her soft features pinched, lips thinning into a hard line. While it could be passed off as further reaction to a dominant Alpha’s harshness, there was something perturbed about it to Quinn’s eye. When his arm came from around her, Quinn wrapped her fingers around the edge of Tobias’ jacket, holding on as his impatience lessened the stranglehold he kept over her.
“Someone had my pregnant mate kidnapped. Tried to take my son,” Tobias continued, leaning forward with clenched fists braced against his knees. “They’ve been poisoning my mate. I would very much say someone is trying to hurt them.”
“Forgive me, Mr. Kahler, I didn’t mean to imply anything,” Meghan whispered in a hoarse croak. Gaze skittering around the floor, she huddled further into the chair with pinched eyes and a downward turn of her lips that pulled her whole face into a dark cloud of misery.
“I’m sure you didn’t. Especially not with this.” Tobias shoved the laptop he’d placed on the table around, slapping a key to send the paused video into motion.
The sharp angle sent a glare across the screen, saving Quinn from having to see it yet again, but by the sudden smoothing of Meghan’s features, she could view it just fine.
Her reaction wasn’t immediate. It began in gradual steps, speeding up as the video continued to play. Eyes widening by degrees until the whites showed around the brown of her irises. Lips first tensed, then slack, ending in a strange curve at something she saw on the screen. A terrifying avalanche coming to the surface.
Whatever veneer Meghan kept in place, it fell away in ragged pieces as the footage came to an end. The dry husk of soft sweetness peeling back to show the creature beneath. Dragging her gaze up to meet Tobias’s, Meghan pricked her eyebrows high and canted her head aside. The soft brown of her eyes turned glassy, an opaque surface that let nothing but a crazed gleam free of its reflection.
“How could you,” Quinn whispered as the eerie silence stretched on far longer than she could tolerate. “You were my friend.”
“I would never be a friend to a whore like you.”
Quinn blanched. Shied away from the modulated tone that dripped with venom flowing from Meghan’s now pale lips. Clutching at Tobias’ arm, she held on for support as much as protection from the rage that swept across Meghan’s face. Festering and evil, it twisted her mouth and narrowed her eyes to slits. A true monster in human skin for a moment before she tucked it away behind the screen of sneering calm.
“How can you say that? You’ve always been there—”
“Someone had to save these children from the likes of you.” Meghan’s lips tipped at the corners, the tight slant of her smile serrated as she slid a cruel gaze over Quinn’s cowering form. “It’s a wonder I even managed to keep them alive this long with you always there.”
“I would suggest you be quiet, before I change my mind on how to handle you, woman,” Tobias said through a growl that caused the hair on the back of Quinn’s arms to stand on end.
“It’s the truth and it’s about time she heard it. She’s never been a good mother to them. Even that precious boy knew she wasn’t fit for him when he was just a baby! Her own daughter seeks me out before her. What does that tell you about your bitch?” Meghan laughed, the shattered echo of humor flying through the room in a wild, jittering race.
“That’s not true—”
“Like you would know. Always flat on your back, ignoring them. You went off and spread for utter strangers, abandoning that sweet boy in the freezing cold, and for what? To come back and ruin it all when they’d had their fill of you. I heard what happened. I saw the marks on you. Don’t pretend you didn’t enjoy it. Adam was doing just fine without you, happy as could be without your whore face to look at every day!” Ending on a screech, Meghan launched from the chair.
Tobias followed before Meghan could even take that first step, though she fell back to pace the long wall behind her. Tearing at Tobias’ arm, Quinn pulled herself up behind him, both arms wrapped tight around his waist to keep him still as Meghan continued her tirade. What demon possessed them both that she wanted to hear the vitriol tumbling pell-mell from Meghan’s lips was unknown. The need remained, and she would see this thing that had once been her friend unravel before her. Needed to see the monster she’d trusted with everything come into the light to prove something she didn’t understand.
“That poor little girl. To have only you as such a tiny soul! Not even the decency to feed her at your breast, too busy doing Gods’ knows what with whom to even look after her properly.” Swinging around, arm outstretched, a trembling finger found Quinn unerring. A sneer painted across her lips, making the once kind softness brittle and hideous. “We can only pray she won’t be like you, marked as she is with your whore hair. She’s young enough. She won’t remember you for long after you’re done and gone for good where the worms will be the only things squirming inside of you. Thank the Gods they saw fit to make you sterile, useless for anything but a wet hole for whatever beast crawls between your legs. A true blessing for humankind!”
“Enough,” Tobias yelled, a single step forward sending Meghan scuttling back.
Splayed hands braced against the wall, Meghan’s chest heaved as she caught her breath. Hair a wild halo around her head, the light caught the crazed luster of her eyes before she shuttered it away. Hidden from sight as she stood to her full height and faced the Alpha before her. Staring at Tobias with a blankness that was somehow even worse than the torrent of terrible words.
“Who put you up to this,” Tobias asked, the vicious chill of his words no longer effecting Meghan, the total stranger across from him daring to curl her lips into a smile that showed too much teeth.
“For someone so accomplished, you truly are an idiot!” Meghan crowed, head thrown back in ecstatic humor while she clapped her hands together hard enough for it to turn her palms ruddy pink. Gasping for breath, she added between her airy giggles, “No one put me up to this. You did this to yourself, you disgusting cretin.”
Tobias stilled. Not the sudden quiet of the predator ready to pounce, the bewildered chord strumming along the bond leaving Quinn breathless as she clung to his back. He had no more idea of what was going on than she did.
“What do you mean by that,” he asked, cautious as he swept an arm back to push Quinn further behind him. Protective as he angled his body to block her from Meghan’s view.
“He was so good,” Meghan cried, pounding against her sternum with heavy fists that threatened to break the sturdy bone as thick tears stained her cheeks. “So very good and you killed him. You! You, who were nothing more than worthless trash yourself! Just another gutter lord clawing his way up the ladder, but you killed him. He was so perfect. So good.”
