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Her dark eyes lift to meet mine again, the accusation in them clear. She thinks I slipped up and lost sight of our goal. That I fucked around and caught feelings.
I draw a deep, measured breath, unclenching my fists at my sides as I remember who I’m dealing with here. I can’t lose my shit right now. I have to keep my cool.
“So that’s what this was?” I grit out, jaw clenched tightly. “A test?”
Mom waves a hand dismissively. “Not at all. I just had to act fast to seize an opportunity, and you played along beautifully,mijo.”
“As if you gave me a choice,” I mutter.
She arches a dark brow in challenge. “Would you have made a different one?”
I shake my head, turning away from her and resuming my pacing, my mind working overtime on a strategy to clean up this mess she’s made for me. “We weren’t supposed to move on them yet,” I growl, raking a hand through my hair again. “We already had a plan in place, and I had everything under control.”
“You were taking too long, Javier.”
I grind to a halt, turning my glare on her again. “I was playing itsmart, Ma. There are twenty of them for every one of us. They’re highly trained, they’re coordinated…”
“It almost sounds like you admire them,” she scoffs, cutting me off. Her carefully crafted mask slips, a flash of anger sparking in her eyes as she shoves up to her feet. “You know who these people are. You know what they did to your father, to his cause.”
She slowly starts advancing in my direction, shoring up her composure with each step and returning to her calm, aloof demeanor by the time she reaches me. “Xavier was a revolutionary, and they slaughtered him in cold blood. But eventhatwasn’t enough for them. They spent years systematically hunting down and annihilating his followers, trying to wipe us off the face of the earth.”
Mom sighs as she lifts a hand to cup my jaw, stroking my cheek with her thumb affectionately while she stares into my eyes. “They’reevil, Javi. And sometimes evil comes in a pretty package, but don’t forget that the devil’s most clever trick is deception.”
“I know who they are,” I state calmly, lifting her hand from my face and lowering it between us.
“Then you know what has to be done.”
I nod. “I do.”
Her lips draw into a smile, satisfied that I’ve once again come to heel.
“And everything was going forward exactly as planned until you threw a wrench in things,” I add.
Mom’s smile slips. “Can you really blame me for taking matters into my own hands?” she scoffs, tugging her hand free of mine and flinching back a step, like she’s offended that I’m questioning her actions. “The pack is restless. The sooner we accomplish what we came here to do, the better.”
“And how exactly will capturing one of them advance our objective?” I counter. “What’s your play here, Ma?”
She turns away from me, mumbling as she returns to her seat across the room. “We’ll use her to draw them out for a negotiation.”
“And then what?”
“The same plan as before,” she says, spinning around and sinking back down into her chair. She relaxes back, crossing one leg over the other. “We’ll provoke them to attack first, have our shooters take them out in the name of defending their alpha, and when the dust settles, we’ll pin it on the hunters.”
To anyone else, the casual, detached way that she discusses murder would be jarring, but not to me. My bedtime stories as a child starred the monsters of the six-pack alliance and her grandscheme to exact revenge on them. My indoctrination began before I could even fully grasp the enormity of her plans; plans that she’s relying uponmeto see through to fruition.
“And you’re sure the pack will go along with that story?” I grumble, rubbing a hand over my chin. Because that’s the real kicker here- this plot has always been my mother’s brainchild, and she’s never trusted anyone but me with the knowledge of what we’re really trying to do here or her motivations behind it. This plan of hers hinges on their compliance, and choosing to keep them in the dark is a risk.
“Of course they will,” she snaps impatiently. “We’ve been over this a million times, Javier. Why are you questioning it now?”
“I’m not, I just…”
“They’ll do anything you tell them to, you’re theirAlpha,” she interrupts, frowning. “And when the other packs hear about what happened with the hunters, they’ll need someone to protect and lead them. Fear is a powerful motivator. You’ll be the only alpha left to step in, and the entire territory will be ours.”
I nod slowly and my mother suddenly sits up straighter, pinning me with a stern stare. “If you truly want to avenge your father and carry on his legacy, this is where you start,” she adds, as though I haven’t heard it all before.
I could practically recite her propaganda from memory at this point.
Heaving a sigh, I scrub a hand over my face, my brain scrambling to piece together how this is all going to work now that Lo’s in the mix.
