“No.” I raise my hands so he sees I’m unarmed. “How did you get in here?”
“It wasn’t easy. Knightly’s always been thorough. I was hoping to prevent bloodshed, but shit happens,” he shrugs. “My name is Garrett Rizen. I’m your uncle. We’ve met a couple of times. You were very small then. I’m not sure how much you remember.”
“The man at the gas station. My dad’s friend from the Marines said,” It clicks. The tone he used just now. He’d use it on my dad like my dad was somehow beneath him.
“Is that what that fuck told you?” he laughs. “I guess it makes sense.”
“Why are you here?”
“Well, I was going to wait until they shifted. But I got a call this morning from my King. You know how it is. One follows the orders they’re given in the guard. It’s unfortunate that you shifted. I didn’t want to kill you. You are all that’s left of my sister, and I loved
her.”
“You don’t have to do this. They’re five,” I shake my head.
“Fuck, you even sound like her. ThEy’Re Five,” he mocks. “I killed your mother. What makes you think I fucking care?”
“I don’t understand. I don’t pose any threat to you. I haven’t even contacted your family because I want nothing to do with you. I have a home. I don’t need you.”
He doesn’t like that.
“Don’t you?” he scoffs.
“Please, let him go. He has nothing to do with this. He can go upstairs with the twins. They’re making a video for their dad. He can help. We can sort this out,” I glare at Cev when he shakes his head.
“Here, upstairs. It doesn’t matter.” he releases Cev. He stumbles to me, and I immediately pull him behind me..
“Go help the twins,” I tell him.
“Phoebs,”
“Now,” I growl. “Don’t freak them out. Just help them set up the green screen.”
“Okay,” he choked out and scrambled away.
“Have a seat,” he reaches for a glass and pours himself a drink. “This is a fifteen- thousand–dollar bottle you two are sipping on casually.”
“I didn’t know that. It was a gift from my mate, but it doesn’t surprise me.” I sit across
from him.
“Let me ask you something,” he says, taking a sip and setting it down to stare back at
- me.
1/4
Every alarm in my body is blaring. I can feel Midnight wanting to come forward. It’s like she’s pacing along the border where our consciousness meets. She hasn’t attempted to come forward but is very close to trying.
“Sure,” I agree.
“How the fuck are you alive? You weren’t supposed to get off that reservation. I sent that fucking useless cat to kill you and your mother,”
“Your guess is as good as mine.”
“Where have you been all this time?”
“I lived in Paris for a while,” I clear my throat when my voice breaks.
“Look at you. One of the most powerful alphas, and you’re scared,” he laughs.
“May I ask you a question?”
“What?”
“Is he my real father?”
“The human?” he scoffs. “Of course not. Your mother was an alpha. She would never lay with a commoner. Clearly, she didn’t pass that sense to you.”
“Then why was I with him?”
“Your father had just been tagged compromised. His entire career as a royal guard went up in flames because Tech Lockwood has little dick syndrome. He didn’t like that his daughter was saved by the man who deflowered his little whore of a mate. Your life and your mother’s life would have been much worse than poverty with a bunch of meat sacks. I think he had a kid, and she went feral. Now she’s a dead bitch just like you’re about to be,”
“Why do you want me dead if you’re my uncle?”
“Do–What the fuck is Arnold teaching you?” he scoffs. “You ever consider that he’s grooming you to be his son’s breeder?”
“What?”
“I know your story. One night, stand with a rockstar, and you go on the run. It’s not that simple for wolves like them. Did you know that Arnold Knightly has killed over two hundred and fifty women to produce the small army of children he has? Did you know that your mate seduces alpha females just so that Arnold can come in and kill the heirs to add territory to his own? Or how about all the people that go missing at his shows to have test subjects for blood experimentation at the ranch you have been hiding in?”
“That’s not true.” what the fuck?
“I almost want to walk away from here so they can break your heart. You’d be a lot more willing to die for me,” he laughs.
2/4
86
“You want to be the alpha,” I conclude.
“Am I that obvious?” he grins.
“What are you waiting for then? Why the interview?”
“Forgive me for wanting to see what my niece has made of herself. Up until a couple of weeks ago, I thought you were dead,” he waves his hands up and then reaches for his coat.
I take the opportunity to throw the glass with wine in it at him. He pushes back and falls back on the stool. I grab the bottle and bolt toward the front door. I make it halfway when he grabs my sleeve. I spin around, duck out of my sweater, and then swing the bottle in my hand. It shatters against his face. I almost make it to the door when he grabs my ankle. I hit the floor check first. I immediately try to get on my back, not wanting to be caught with my back to him.
He’s on me without hesitation. My body is protesting from all the training. I raise my feet to keep him from going for my throat. I have one hand on his face while I try to fight him off with the other. My fingertips begin to ache, and I watch as dark claws start to come out. I curve my fingers to try and scratch him, but I can’t move very much. It doesn’t seem to be very effective.
He pulls away and starts to punch my arms. I cry out, trying not to let go, but I can’t. His massive hands wrap around my throat, effectively cutting off my breath. This isn’t my first time being choked in my life. Shit, this week. I’m freaking out.
-Stop panicking, Phoebe.- Midnight growls.
I let go, and for a moment, he doesn’t know what to do with my resignation. I take the advantage and go for his face. My claws cut through his face like butter. I cry out when his fist hits me dead in the eye. I put my arm in front of me so he doesn’t go for my throat again, and just as his mouth opens up to show his growing canines, the door bursts open, and a massive wolf takes him off me.
I roll onto my belly as Mr. Knightly pulls him out the front door. I stumble to get to my knees and slam the door shut. I lock it and pull in lungfuls of air.
“Phoebe?” I hear Cev call out for me.
“Stay upstairs with the kids,” my voice comes out raspy.
“I can smell your blood,” he whines.
“Please,” I growl.
“Okay, okay,” he says, and I hear the door shut.
I sit back against the door, trying to catch my breath as my body starts trembling. I remember exactly the last time I was in a position like this. I was seventeen. I had been staying the night at my friend’s house because the days leading up to the full moon were the fucking worst. I don’t remember why I went back to the house that night, but it was the night I knew I had to leave.
3/4
86
She kept screaming it in my face. Now that I think about it, she had been terrified.
“Leave, Leave. I don’t want you to come back. Leave.”
Those words have played in the back of my head since I left. She didn’t kill me. Melissa had plenty of opportunities to end me, and she didn’t. Why? What the fuck is happening? Why was I with those people?
“Phoebe,” Mr. Knightly’s voice comes from outside. I unlock the door and scoot away from it. He barges inside in a pair of basketball shorts. He falls to his knees in front of me and gently reaches for me. He smacks his teeth when I look up at him. “I am so sorry. He shot the guards from a distance. It took me some time to find his snipers. The good news is, I was here when he attacked, making it a pack issue.”
“You are literally the nicest man ever,” I break and crawl closer to him, trap my arms around him. “No one can ever make me h
