Page 156 of Chaos At Second Sight

Alpha Jonathan lowered the newspaper resting across his knees. His eyes lit up when he spotted me behind his son.

“Good evening, Yvaine. How are your studies going?”

A familiar force crashed into me from behind. Strong arms wrapped around me, squeezing some of my insides out.

“Bella!” I twisted around and hugged her back.

She beamed at me. “Finally! What took you two so long?”

“We got…distracted.”

Bella’s knowing smirk widened immediately. “I’m happy for you but I don’t ever want to know.”

On a normal day, I’d laugh. Not today.

Logan and his dad were busy in a glaring contest. Probably mind-linking since their eyes had glazed over…

“Not here, son,” Jonathan spoke aloud.

“But she was⁠—”

“Logan. I said not here.” The Alpha’s voice wasn’t loud; it didn’t need to be with its quiet authority. Several heads turned instinctively toward him, conversations faltering, chess pieces pausing halfway across the board.

Logan’s jaw creaked. No, his claws had pierced the timber wall beside him.

“Where then?” he hissed, splinters curling beneath his fingertips.

Jonathan held his gaze, inclining his head toward a dark-green door tucked near the fireplace. Logan marched over, looking ready to step into a fighting ring, as we followed. Bella glanced at me, bewildered.

The Alpha closed the door behind us with a quiet click, but the sound felt louder than a slam.

Logan immediately spun, arms folded so tightly across his chest the muscles in his forearms stood out. “Why did you let that rogue in, Dad?”

“What are you talking about? We have around-the-clock security!” Bella looked between them. “A rogue couldn’t possibly get in.”

“No.” Logan didn’t turn from his father. “Not unless someone let one in.”

The room seemed to shrink around us, all eyes on Jonathan. The air itself felt like it was holding its breath, and even the grandfather clock in the corner sounded intrusive.

Jonathan slowly removed his reading glasses, pinching the bridge of his nose before meeting his son’s blazing stare. “Francisca requested sanctuary, acceptance into the pack.” He took a long, slow inhale, as if to prepare us and himself. “And I granted it.”

“What?” Logan’s voice came out almost inaudible. “You did what?!” The office shook with his fury.

“Mom’s back?” Bella whispered, looking small and insecure for the first time since I’d met her. “Why…why didn’t you tell us?”

I reached for her hand. She gripped mine so hard her long blue nails dug into my skin.

I shuffled under the intensity in the room and took a moment to decipher the emotions racing through the mate bond: confusion, frustration, and a terrible anger. Logan’s right eye twitched—not a surprise, considering how much Lucien hated seeing his sister in distress. I moved to go to him, but Bella’s hand didn’t let me.

Jonathan rubbed his face. “If we could all just sit down and discuss this as a family…”

“What family?” Logan snapped. “You let that hideous woman in without asking for our⁠—”

The office door slammed against the wall as Bella fled.

“Damn it!” Logan drove his fist into the wall, leaving behind a jagged hole similar to the one forming inside my chest. “You see, Dad? Bella and I always end up paying for your weakness for that woman!”

His fingers curled into long, black hooks. I hurried to him and reached for his wrist.