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Chapter Sixteen
Levi
“A harem?” She laughed. “That’s what you’re saying, right?”
“Yes.” I pointed to the print, drawing her attention back to the picture instead of staring at me because her eyes were a lush green forest that I wanted to get lost in.
She grabbed the photo and inspected it like she was looking for the lies. “You think these guys are all content to share a piece of her?” She traced a finger along the throat of the female. There was no denying she’d been marked. “How is this even possible? Wouldn’t it be overwhelming?”
“This proves that there were once female alphas. Why wouldn’t it be possible for her to have multiple bonded mates?” I countered, and when she snapped her gaze up to me again, I shrugged. “Males have been marking females for as long as our modern history has traced. Maybe our werewolf lines used to be matriarchically structured at some point, and it was the females who ruled, taking on harems of males with unconditional loyalty.”
“Because there were so few of us…female werebeasts…we collected the males? Trophy males? Or building an army that way?” She scoffed, but I could tell by the sparkle in her eyes that she was intrigued.
Power like that was enticing.
“I think natural-born female werewolves have been hunted to the point of extinction by wolves like Sal.”
Her eyes grew stormy at the mention of her stepbrother’s name, and I wanted to harness that anger so she felt empowered.
“You can’t deny there are more pigheaded males like him than there are open-minded ones. What if the females were once all powerful and dominated, choosing their mates to mark them instead of the other way around? Imagine what that would do to those who didn’t make the cut? The rejected males?”
“The ones with fragile egos?” She was leaning into the idea of it. I could tell by the curl of her lips. I could even see the tips of her fangs peeking from her mouth, like she wanted to take a bite…of me. And, I wasn’t going to lie, the idea of that had my body revving, my dick stiff instantly and my lust pooling in every erogenous zone I had. But that wasn’t what we were talking about here.
I tried to pull myself together enough to speak without sounding like a horny teen.
“Exactly. At some point, the tables turned—and not for the better.” I laid the print down. “I think you’re tapping into something primal when you call to us into your dreams—something that your conscious mind has suppressed for survival purposes because otherwise you’d be hunted just like your ancestors were.”
“Why the awakening now? I mean, if my primordial werebeast brain has been trying to protect me, why burst my fantasy and make it all real? Doesn’t that put me in danger?” Her budding grin was gone, replaced by the usual tension and furrowed brows.
I knew she wasn’t scared—or at least not frightened easily—but the idea of our dream encounters made her edgy. She didn’t like not being in control, and the fact that she had unknowingly beckoned us into her subconscious probably made her feel completely unhinged.
“Yes, but it also might mean that you’re ready to release the beast inside you. It might mean you’re ready to claim your mates.” I leaned closer. “The beastly part of your brain was maybe the one who called us in so we can be here to bolster you—to mark you, to build the beginning of your army.”
I saw her throat work, like she was swallowing her next words. I knew she wasn’t ready to hear this stuff, but really, when would she be? It wasn’t like we had a lot of time.
I pushed on.
“You say your uncle knows of your beast form, which likely means Sal does, too.” Based on his actions to subdue her, I’d say he definitely knew…or at least suspected and was scared. Collaring her like he had, that screamed of insecurity and fear.
“My uncle saw my shift to werebeast and out-of-control rage. He ordered my men—” She paused, closed her eyes, then started again. “His men, the ferals… He ordered them to be killed.” She touched her chest. “The loss of their lives sent me to my knees and forced me back to my human form. It’s the only time an outside force was able to beat her down, and I know it’s because I couldn’t bear it. She couldn’t hold her place, but I didn’t call her back to her cage, either. Grief made me weak. It was dangerous to have her untethered. I’m lucky I didn’t do anything irreversible to my uncle.” Charlie shook her head and opened her eyes to look at me, sorrow swirling in their depths. “I don’t know if I can do it—go through that torture. Building an army means opening myself up to that kind of heartbreak again.”
I pushed past the fact that she clearly thought of her beast as a separate entity and moved forward with my ideas. That was too complex for me to unravel right now, but I took note and filed it away for things to consider later. Charlie was going to need help melding with her beast instincts if we had any hope of her rising to alpha.
“I think Sal sold you to Kane because he thought you’d implode our clan, like a trojan horse.” I held her stare as dawning realization seemed to flash across her eyes. “I think he’s terrified of you as much, if not more, as he is scared of Kane and the Duke clan.”
“He obviously doesn’t know about this stuff.” She waved her hand toward the prints, almost in a dismissive way, like she didn’t quite believe it herself. “He wouldn’t have agreed to the sale—” She choked on that word. “If he knew…I mean…what might be possible.”
She didn’t sound convinced.
“No, he doesn’t. I can assure you that no other male alphas, which means all of them, are exploring the legacy of female werewolves.” I tried for one of Johnny’s classic grins, but she didn’t even crack a tiny smile. I didn’t know how he did it, all that oozing charisma, but it was definitely not a genetic thing. I stuck with my default—serious to the degree of boring—and got to the point. “They’ve forgotten the old ways—or were never taught about the legends. If they were, they’ve dismissed it all as fairy tales and myths.”
“Like me. I thought it was all make believe.” She sucked in a deep breath. “Dad knew. He believed.”
“He probably did, yes.” I touched her hand. “But more importantly, he had faith in you and your abilities…and so do I.”
She let my hand stay there and held my stare. I didn’t dare look away, not even when it felt like she was stripping me to my bones. After a full minute of nothing but silence and her penetrating eyes, she slipped her hand out from under mine then busied herself with the photos and the documents on the table, sorting them, seeming to scan each one. Her cheeks were rusty with color trailing down her throat and I had a primal urge to kiss her there—to taste the salt on her skin, to inhale her mossy, green-grass scent. Instead, I held steady and redirected my thoughts to what she must be feeling.
I’d laid down a load on her. It was a lot to digest, never mind accept—and a great burden she didn’t ask for.
