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“You did,” he said gently. “I can show you. I can give you your memories back. I can give Kelly back his wolf. I’m asking you to think, to really think about this. Any element of surprise you had is gone. Come tomorrow, next week, a year from now, it doesn’t matter. You, in your righteous fury, and me knowing the real truth. It’ll all end the same. Or….” His expression softened. “Or we can finish this now, and all it would take is to give me back what belongs to me. I know mercy. I allowed Alpha Wells to crawl her way to Green Creek to show you just how serious I am and how far I’m willing to go to make sure you understand the importance of what I’m asking of you. This could all be over so easily. No one else will have to suffer. Who is missing from your pack currently? Jessie? Tanner? Chris? Are they reaching out to your little network? You’re going to find some of those calls going unanswered. While you were wrapped up safe and warm in your territory, pretending you haven’t stolen from me, I’ve done my due diligence to make sure I have your undivided attention, and I think you’ll find you’re very much alone.”
“What do you want?” Ox asked.
Livingstone smiled. “Ah. Thank you, Alpha Matheson. It’s simple, really. I want Robbie. I’ve grown fond of him.” He took a deep breath. “And I want my son.”
Mark snarled as my skin turned to ice. “Fuck you. You’re never going to lay your hands on Gordo ever again. I won’t—”
“Down, boy,” Livingstone snapped, and there was the anger I’d been expecting. His face twisted into something dark. “Your threats mean nothing to me. Gordo has made his choice, and as much as it pains me to say, I know nothing will change that. Gordo was lost to me a long time ago. No. I don’t want him. This isn’t about him. It’s about his brother. My second son. I will have him and Robbie. Give them to me and all of this will end.”
An absolute, stunned silence followed. It was as if all the air had been sucked from the room. Mark looked thunderstruck, and Gordo gaped at the screen. Ox and Joe turned to him, eyes wide.
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Gordo asked hoarsely. “I don’t have—”
Robert sighed. “Of course you don’t know. Yet another little secret the Bennetts have kept from you.” His smile was cold. “Your mother didn’t understand. I did love her, in my own way. But she wasn’t my tether. Wendy Walsh was different, unlike anyone I had ever met. She enchanted me. And when she became pregnant, I thought I could make it work. I thought I could have this. I was already a father, but this was a way to ensure my line would go on in the event of… complications.” His smile curved down as if his mask was slipping. “Abel Bennett found out, and he acted quickly. He went behind my back. He told her things she shouldn’t have known. Things I’d kept from her to keep her safe. About all of us. It scared her. And she listened to him. Abel, who only cared about his precious pack. He forced her to leave, to give up our child, and I railed against him. I told him he was making a mistake, that he would live to regret this.” His eyes widened dramatically. “But he didn’t, did he? Not for long, anyway. But by then it was already too late for all of us.”
“You’re lying,” Gordo whispered.
He shook his head. “I’m not. I swore to myself that when I was finally free, when I escaped my prison, I would find my children. I would bring them back into the fold and make everyone who had stolen from me suffer. And when Michelle found the strength within herself to free me from my captivity in exchange for the only thing she wanted more than anything else, I knew I would stop at nothing to get what I wanted. She became the Alpha of all. And I was free to search for my son.”
He ignored the roars of anger. The sounds of fury. The howls of betrayal. I couldn’t see Michelle, but I knew she was still there, I knew she was still listening. If she’d been standing in front of me right then, I would have torn her apart. Everything that had happened, all that I’d learned about the history of the Bennett pack, all that they’d—we’d—lost had been brought upon us because of Robert Livingstone’s escape.
Richard Collins.
Thomas Bennett.
Maggie Callaway.
The Omegas.
Kelly.
Me.
And no
w this.
Livingstone waved a hand at the screen in dismissal. “Yes, there it is. Such useless anger, hollow and empty. This was all because of the Bennett pack. If Abel had just let the chips fall where they may, we wouldn’t be here. All the death that followed would never have happened. But it has, and there’s nothing you or I can do to change that. I told you. I care not for the fate of wolves. I only want what’s mine. Wendy would have insisted upon it. I know it. Give Robbie to me.” The mask slipped further, and I saw the feral animal underneath. “Give me back my son.”
Gordo was enraged. “Who the hell are you talking about? We don’t have anyone! This is just another game to you, another trick to try to—”
Livingstone leaned forward. “Gavin. I know you can hear me. I can see it in your eyes. I don’t know what’s happened to you. I don’t know how you came to be as you are now, but I can help you. I can fix you. I can give you back your life so long as you return to your rightful place at my side.” His voice cracked, and his eyes were wet. “You are my son, and I have searched for you for so long.”
Nothing happened.
And then the timber wolf next to Carter rose to his feet. His claws clicked on the wood floor. Carter reached out for him, but the wolf shook him off. He stepped toward the screen, tilting his head as he looked at Livingstone. His muscles were tightly coiled, and his tail was stiff behind him. His shoulders shifted as he snorted, pawing at the floor.
“Yes,” Livingstone whispered. “You are a Livingstone. And it’s time you remember that.”
It wasn’t the Alphas who spoke.
It wasn’t the queen.
It wasn’t Gordo, who was staring at the timber wolf as if seeing him for the first time.
It wasn’t Rico.
It wasn’t Kelly or me.
