74
Tony
I looked at Matt, waiting for him to understand. His jaw trembled. His eyes flashed. Then, he spoke.
“Y-You mean… that she’s not coming back because she doesn’t feel safe here?”
I shuddered and nodded. “And while nothing else happened since she was poisoned. I can’t help but think that she has good reason to fear being here…”
Matt growled. “But… But I--- But we—”
“I know.” I huffed. “But it’s the truth, isn’t it? We couldn’t even keep her safe in the den. The fact she was taken from the venue is a whole other issue… as much as I don’t want to admit it, Matt, we… we can’t protect her.”
Matt shuddered and dropped onto a rock. “I… I don’t know what to say, Tony. I don’t know what to do… Between this and Dad…”
I swallowed and started to pace. “We still have time, Matt. He’s not free yet. Let’s focus on dealing with the safety of our den so we can get her back.”
“It doesn’t feel like we do—”
“Don’t start with that!” I growled at him. “This isn’t the time to be weak.”
He surged to his feet, growling at me. “Where the fuck do you get off calling me weak?”
I glared down at him. His eyes glimmered, and I felt my fury growing. Every moment since the moment Dad was taken from the compound seemed to boil through me.
“Tell me I’m wrong.”
“I would do anything for our mate—”
“You’ve run away from your duties to the pack,” I said. “Because you couldn’t stand to do it.”
He glared at me. “Fuck you, Tony.”
“You couldn’t do it because of mom and dad.”
He growled. “You’re picking a fight.”
I growled at him. “I’m telling the truth.”
“You’re imagining it.”
“Tell me, I’m wrong.”
“What the fuck does it matter?”
“If we’re going to stay alphas of the Blue Moon Pack, if we’re going to bring Lucy back, you have to shoulder your own fucking weight,” I said. “You… You have to…”
Matt’s brow furrowed. “Tony…”
I gripped my fists. My stomach turned, but I looked at him. I had to make him understand. If he didn’t understand now, all these years would mean nothing.
“I… I can’t fight Dad alone, Matt.”
He blinked, and his eyes widened. I saw the moment he understood what I was saying.
He shook his head. “There’s no way. The-There’s no way they would be that stupid. There’s no way that they would come back and even think---How could you—You can’t be serious!”
His jaw clicked closed as I stared at him. I felt his emotions heaving through our bond. He was distressed. He was panicking, and I felt terrible. I had been protecting him all this time and it was coming back to bite us both.
“There’s a reason why most of the supernatural community feels the way they do about werewolves. A lot of it is prejudice, but it’s not without reason, Matt. People from within our own pack helped poison and kidnap Lucy. That was before there was any sign that the Council was going to release him. Think of what kind of chaos will happen when everyone finds out.”
Matt clenched his jaw.
“Think how quickly they’ll fall back into old habits, back into fearing him and basically worshipping the ground he walks on if we don’t make it clear that we’re the heads of the pack and betrayal won’t be tolerated.”
Matt shuddered and shook his head. “T-Tony, I don’t know… I don’t know what to say. I don’t know what to think…”
I stood in front of him. “Lucy will never come back to us if we can’t protect her, Matt.”
He opened his mouth once, twice, then dropped his head.
“Do you… Do you really think she left because she didn’t feel safe?”
There was a deep sense of uneasiness coming from him. It felt like it had just welled up out of nowhere.
“What other reason could there be?” I asked.
“I… I don’t know.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. He wouldn’t meet my gaze, but I could feel his anxiety rising.
“What… What is it that you know?”
He shook his head. “I don’t… know anything. I just… wonder if something else happened. What if she got in contact with someone? What if she left for a different reason?”
“How was she supposed to get in contact with anyone when she didn’t have a phone?”
His lips twitched. “We don’t know if she didn’t always have a phone. What about when she was with the doctor?”
I bit my lip. I hadn’t thought about that. “Maybe, but she’s our mate, Matt. Yes, she’s just a half-breed, but you saw the mark on her chest. She’s not just any half-breed. There has to be more to it than what he was saying. Even if there is someone else involved, we won’t know until we find her.”
He nodded slowly. “If… I know she kept saying she didn’t want to, but knowing that it all happened right after the mating ceremony… It was probably… I don’t know, Tony.”
“We don’t know all of what White Moon wolves are capable of… let alone Moon Goddesses.” I let out a breath, shaking my head. “We can’t let this get out. We can’t let him find out, and we definitely can’t afford to have our den be unsafe for our mate.”
Matt went pale. “If… If he found out… What do you think he would… Would he be a threat?”
I thought back to the moment she asked about him. The fear in her eyes shook me. I took a deep breath.
“I think until we’re sure he’s not, she’s never going to believe he’s not.” I looked at him. “I need to know that you’re on my side, Matt. That… That I can count on you to back me up because if I can’t, then we’re both screwed.”
His jaw shook, and he looked up at me. His eyes widened. “Your… eyes.”
“This spell is the only thing keeping me… calm right now. So, either we yank them all in line before he arrives or… Or it might be me going to prison for murder.”
Matt went pale.
“Except there won’t be anyone to stop me,” I met his gaze. “You know that, but he doesn’t.”
Matt shuddered and drew back. I couldn’t say if he felt the power I was harboring or if just the thought was freaking him out, but I watched the terror roll across his face.
“When you said that… you couldn’t fight dad on your own…”
“Politically,” I said. “Unless you’d like me to be adding him and who knows who else to that row of graves.”
Matt shook his head. “But… we’re twins, Tony. We’ve always been… equal, haven’t we?”
I looked away from him.
“Haven’t we?”
I let out a deep breath and rolled my shoulders. I looked at him. He went still. His eyes jumped around my face. I stared him down and let my wolf surface. I let all the power I had been suppressing for years surface. Matt stepped back several steps. His eyes widened as I felt the air heating around me.
“This is… just what it’s like still under the spell,” I said. “Imagine what it will be like without it.”
He shuddered and nodded. “I get it. I… I get it. I’m on your side, Tony. I promise. I’m always on your side.”
He fidgeted and shifted his weight nervously in his seat before standing.
“I… I’m sorry. I just… you’ve always been better at dealing with the pack, I just.” Matt turned his head. “It doesn’t matter. I’ll… be better. What’s the plan?”
I took a deep breath. “We need to figure out how she could have been taken from the estate without anyone knowing. Who turned blind eyes and why.”
I sank onto a rock nearby. “Beyond that, we do need to find out where Lucy is.”
“We need a cover.”
I nodded. “Agreed. And the rest?”
He winced. “Nanny said that… well, there was a moment in the kitchens with the kids and Lucy.”
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
“I didn’t think anything of it,” he said. “Now… I wish I had said something sooner.”
“Out with it, Matt. What happened?”
“One of the kids told Lucy that their mother said that only real wolves get steak.”
My eyes bulged, and if I could shift right now, I would have been streaking back toward the house, ready to rip someone to pieces.
“It’s because she’s a half-breed,” I growled. “Those—"
“We can’t jump to that conclusion yet,” Matt said, wincing. “I really hate being the voice of reason.”
“What else?” I asked, getting to my feet.
Then, I thought of the lunas and their daughters who had come to visit.
“I bet those women had something else to do with it.”
Log in with Google Account
Chapters
Favorite
Settings
