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Travis hit the mark with that one—I’d give him that much credit—but the missing piece that made his whole statement rather stupid was the fact that Lauren was a Tainted Time Keeper. He and the rest of them believed Lauren was a slut and fucked those of power and importance to create these temporary alliances and favors, but that was far from the truth.
She was using sex to feed off these individuals' energy.
That was exactly how she’d been able to keep this up for so long. It made perfect sense as to why she was still willing to help Lexianne with her hidden plans. Sex gave her the energy she needed, and her reputation meant nothing to her because she was just an imposter.
After all, the real Laura of Fox Moon Pack was a sacrifice and a demon forced to be a part of the pack I created.
Lauren’s entire face was flustered as she struggled to come up with a comeback.
“I rest my case,” Travis declared before he looked over to Amber. “To explain my previous statement, we made a bargain a few years ago.”
“A few years ago?” Nathan questioned with an arched eyebrow. “You’re not one to keep bargains, Baker.”
“Now, Alpha Nathan. Don’t go throwing me under the bus like that,” Travis whined but his eyes glinted with amusement. “How’s your father doing?”
I saw the twitch of Nathan’s right eye, which matched the twitch of my left one at the question.
“Breathing,” Nathan cut to the point.
“Thank goodness,” Travis dramatically sighed in relief. “It would be rather problematic if he died from whatever plague got him. His decline in health even got the Empires quaking in uncertainty. Guess that proves your pack is a lethal force in Hollow City. Gotta thank you father for that, honestly. A few years ago, your pack was a bit of a mockery with the talks of your older brother taking over.”
My fists clenched at his words while I watched Nathan tip his head up further while dipping it slightly to one side. “What could you possibly mean by mockery?”
“You never heard those talks? Actually, that would make sense. Your brother is older than you after all,” he stated more to himself than those around the table. With a chuckle, he continued with, “Admit it. Your older brother was soft as fuck. Sure, he carried brut force, intelligence, and negotiation skills that could have made him into a really powerful Alpha, but no way could he handle brutality and inhumane torture tactics you wolf shifters have to execute these days.”
He lifted his head to shake it from side to side while he moved his hands in a spinning gesture.
“He disliked how females were being treated like sex slaves and wasn’t he the one offering to make some sort of law to stop the slaying of weak wolves? Like c’mon. He should have run for president in the mundane realms rather than believe the merciless Shade Moon Pack would dare let go of their reputation to become a pack of equality,” he belittled as if he knew I was present to hear it all. “Even Mother Moon was against it. Why else would his own mate reject him before pushing him off a fucking cliff?”
He laughed uncontrollably at that one, and all Amber could do was nervously laugh with him as her hands ran through her orange locks.
“Are you finished?” Nathan asked with a deadly stare that had Amber sitting up a bit taller while Travis shrugged.
“If talking about the truth of what your older brother appeared like to the rest of the world bothers you, don’t ask to know about it,” Travis suggested. “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.” That led to a moment of silence before Travis sighed once more. “Why is this doll pointing a knife at my face?”
“Wait, what?” Amber gasped before it seemed like the other three noticed that Momo literally was pointing a knife in Travis's face.
“Oh fucking hell.” Nathan moved swiftly to grab her before she could commit the ultimate deed of stabbing her butcher knife into the con artist's eye. The fact that he didn't move only confirmed what I needed to know.
This person is simply an imposter. No way is it him.
No one would sit there and wait for a doll to stab them in their eye. It didn’t matter how cynical they were. Healing an eye even with your shifter traits was a pain in the ass and it cost time to regenerate and recover from.
Time in Hollow City means money, and no way would Baker lose out on those golden coins on this familiar’s behalf.
“It was going to stab you and you didn’t even flinch,” Lauren grumbled.
Travis shrugged. “An eye for an eye,” he hummed in delight. “If she did take my eye out, I’d simply have to ensure I take the eye of her mistress. That would be a nice organ to have in my possession. The lab would enjoy analyzing that.”
The gleeful tone in his last statement caught my attention—as it did the remaining three at the table.
“Lab?” Nathan questioned.
“I do laboratory studies on diseases that affect shifters as a side gig,” he revealed. “Good way to get free packs of blood and discover what’s currently taking down various shifter races.”
“You make it seem like you can’t afford to buy packs of blood to keep you sane,” Amber noted as she gave him a side glance.
“Well, who’s fault is that?” he offered back. “You were my host whenever I came to visit your father’s pack and offered me your blood in exchange for amazing sex since your fated mate at the time couldn’t meet your sexual desires.”
