Page 58 of The Alpha’s Heir

That wasn’t true. I’d met plenty of humans outside the wall who’d come to visit and then stay with our packs. Alpha Kera came to the city to trade, and so did other traders. Alice said herself that Ethica was progressive. So who was lying here?

“It’s not everyone,” Roman said, seeming to read the questions on my face. “There are a select few troublemakers who can’t let go of their purist ideologies.”

That was something I could understand.

Maybe I could help.

What would Kera do?

Kill them all.

Maybe this is a task better suited to Aunt Coral.

She wouldn’t do anything nearly as fun.

I turned to Helen. “I should help. It might not be the best idea to keep hiding me away. Let me meet the public. I can answer questions, volunteer my time—”

“No,” Roman seemed to growl, lowering his voice when we all looked at him. “It’s not possible. The security behind events like that would be a logistical nightmare, especially with such short notice.”

I tried not to let his quick dismissal of my plan hurt as much as it did. This wasn’t a romance novel. I had to keep reminding myself of that.

“It doesn’t matter anyway.” Helen sank onto the chair across from her son. “It’s not just Megaera that the public hates.”

“You can’t mean me.” Justus slapped a hand over his heart. “The paparazzi adores me.”

Helen’s jaw clenched so hard that her teeth cracked. “The voters are going to have a field day with this. It couldn’t have come at a worse time. Election years always have everyone fired up. Why couldn’t these gods of yours been more accommodating?” Her gaze cut to me, like this was somehow my fault.

“I tried everything to sell the public this love story, but no one is buying it,” she said.

I was still trying to process everything I was hearing and how easily Helen admitted lying to the people she was supposed to lead. Behind her makeup were life lines that mirrored Alpha Kera’s age, but she was nothing like my aunt. Kera had taught me to lead with honesty. To trust the shifters who put their trust in me. In turn, the pack was loyal to their Alpha.

If purist humans hated my kind so much that they’d revolt because of us being married, what chance did I have of convincing my own mate we were supposed to be together after all this had blown over?

I stared at Roman, willing him to look at me.

Is that why he was fighting so hard against our mate bond? Did he not want to be with a mutant either?

I swallowed down my fears and the hurt that came from them, asking Helen, “Did you try telling your people the truth?”

She burst out laughing. “We’re a science-based society. I can’t even get my own son to take this seriously. How do you think I’ll convince an entire population that the gods we told them don’t exist are now coming back to ruin us all?”

There’s about to be undeniable evidence.

“So you have to get them to believe a story?” I asked, still not quite understanding.

“Now you get it.” Helen raised her glass. “If I could’ve just convinced them that this marriage is what they want to see, then we all could’ve lived in the little delusion instead of bringing in the big guns of the military to force them to behave.”

She took another long drink.

I had to believe that somewhere deep down she actually cared for her people, and that was what motivated her to think of manipulating them this way.

She probably doesn’t, my wolf growled. But help them anyway. For Roman.

I definitely didn’t want my mate out there somewhere fighting to protect me—not that it wouldn’t be hot, but it’d be for the wrong reasons.

“That’s because your story sucks,” I said.

My tone came out sharper than I intended, but another wave of frustrated heat passed over me when I thought of how stupid they all were.