Page 65 of Fake It ’Til You Mate It

I think he figures that out at the same time. At the very least, he goes still, but only long enough to throw a hate-filled look at me.

“What are you doing alive? You’re supposed to be dead! Even if I failed, it was worth it to see him suffer.”

Ha! I knew it. I knew that this was all about Max, not me. “Sorry to disappoint. I’m still living.” I give him an impish shrug. “Opossum.”

His eyes nearly bulged out of his head. “You’re another rat? Like that nasty piece of vermin you let into the bakery? I thought you were a witch!”

I am. Part witch, and I wish I had more magic than I do because I’d zap Leo in the nuts for calling Gus ‘vermin’.

He shakes his head wildly. “I should’ve killed you when I had the chance! Instead of using you to fuck with Max before I stole his pack from him, I should’ve killed you! He thought you were something. I knew better. You’re nothing but worthless prey.”

And he spits at me.

Oh, Leo. You shouldn’t have done that.

Max gestures for me to take a few steps back. I know better than to even test his patience at the moment. I moved, and my mate looks directly at his brother.

“Release him.”

What?

Riordan cocks his head. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

Riordan lets go of Leo, staking a step back. Good thing, too, because Max launches himself at the wolf.

I get it. By threatening me, Leo pushed Max to the point where he had to take the disrespect as a challenge. In a shifter challenge, you fight to either submission or death, and whatever shape you begin the fight in, that’s how you better finish it.

I don’t know what Leo’s wolf looks like. In his skin, he’s of a similar height and shape as Max. There’s no denying ,though, that the Alpha has dominance on his side. While the fight is body and brutal, it’s also quick. Before I can even work up any concern for my mate, he has Leo pinned under him, body to the dirt.

In one quick motion, Max reaches into his pocket, yanking something out. It’s an injection, a shot, and whatever is in the vial, it’s thick and silvery. At least, that’s all I can see before he jabs it into Leo’s neck, thumb pressing on the plunger.

Despite the bloody gashes that Max gave him, it’s the shot that has Leo react the most like he had been harmed. Bucking his body, he demands, “What did you do?”

“I need answers. You will calm down. You will stop from threatening my mate.” He takes Leo by the back of his shirt, forcing him to his feet, giving him a small shake as he says ‘mate’. “This will help.”

“Cheater. I could’ve taken you.”

“I was winning our challenge,” Max says flatly. “There was no way out of it but death for you. That’s too easy. For the sake of the packmates I lost, I will hear your explanation.”

“Fuck you!”

“Give it time. The quicksilver should be working its way through you.”

Leo goes still. “What do you mean? Quicksilver? What fuck did you do to me?”

That’s fear in his voice, and I’m glad to hear it. He deserves it.

“Depending on the dose, a shifter can be knocked out or simply cut off from their wolf. But this is a special mixture. Once I knew a predator had to be involved, I went to Delilah.” Oh. I know Delilah. She’s the head witch in Moonburrow, and a friend of my grandmother’s. She also likes jelly donuts. “You see, Leo, you’re not the only one who can work with the witches. And yes, I know about Talia. But Delilah… she charmed the quicksilver for me. Until it wears off, you have to answer everything I ask with the truth.”

He glances at me. “I got the idea from the Can’t Resist Cupcakes. Let’s see if Delilah’s charm works as good as yours, Killer.”

They must because Leo’s face goes motionless for a moment, his eyes glassy, and then he snarls. “Those fucking cupcakes! That’s what started this whole thing in the first place!”

Huh?

“Do you know how hard I worked, how long I planned to overthrow you? To get the pack on my side so that when I challenged you, there would be no doubt that I deserved to be Alpha? And then I tried one of her cupcakes and I blurted out my whole plan—and she heard me!” Um… no. I didn't. “Of course I had to make her pay!”