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“How dare you?—”

“You’re a joke. You’re a failure. You have topaypeople for their loyalty. And even then, they turn on you. You’re barely an alpha at all.”

“You don’t know anything about being an alpha!” Sean bellowed into the phone. “I’ll show you what being an alphareallymeans, Ace. It’s aboutpower.And I’m more powerful than you could ever imagine. You’re going to suffer for this,brother.”He spat the word like it was bile. “I’ll drain every drop of life from your body, and I’ll make sure it hurts. I’ll show you all what a true alpha is, and prove once and for all that our idiot father was wrong.”

“Are you challenging me?” I growled.

“If you want a challenge,” Sean snarled, “I’ll give you a fucking challenge.”

The line went dead.

I set Forrest’s phone down and powered it off. Then I leaned back in my office chair, closed my eyes, and took a deep breath to settle my dragon.

I’d gotten what I wanted. I’d pushed him to the brink.

Sean was going to challenge me.

No sneak attacks. No kidnapping. An honest, honorable challenge, where I’d be forced to kill him to put this all behind me. For my clan, my son, and my mate.

There was no relief. I only felt grief. Grief for the brother I’d never had.

48

HARLEY

Iwoke up before my alarm. The sun was streaming in through the half-opened curtains, falling in golden stripes across the bed.

The bed, which I was currently occupyingalone.

I sighed. That’s probably what had woken me up. I was getting too used to rousing into Steph’s arms and nuzzling his chest. Exchanging lazy morning kisses before we went downstairs to make coffee. Without him, the bed was too big and too cold. I rolled over with a huff, wanting to press my face into his pillow to capture a hint of the musky scent of his skin, which was when I spotted the note. I grabbed it and sat up.

Went okay,the note read in Steph’s tall, slightly messy handwriting.Couldn’t sleep. Meeting at the clubhouse this morning. See you later.

He’d signed itS, with a little heart with a rectangle around it. I blinked at the illustration for a moment, then realized it was an ace of hearts.

Smiling, I brushed my thumb over the signature. Too cute. I’d have to keep this one in my wallet.

I didn’t like waking up without Steph, but at least he’d let me know he was okay.

My alarm was due to go off in just a few minutes, so I went ahead and cut it off, then climbed out of bed. I stretched my arms over my head, pulled on one of Steph’s shirts, and then padded out into the hall. I drummed my fingertips against Dylan’s door, then pushed it open.

“Dyl,” I said quietly. “Time to get up.”

He groaned. “Already?”

“Yup,” I said. “If you want to make it in time for soccer practice, you better get up. I’m gonna start breakfast.”

Dylan pulled the covers over his head. “Five more minutes!”

“Don’t fall asleep,” I said with a laugh. I left the door open and went back downstairs. I put on the coffee, then heated the skillet and tossed a few slices of bacon in. Just as I had planned, the scent of the bacon lured Dylan out of bed and downstairs.

“Is Auntie Mia coming over?” he asked, rubbing his eyes.

“Yes, she’s going to drive you there. With Uncle Hawk, too.”

“Yay,” Dylan said around a yawn.

The soccer outing had been Mia’s idea. She’d played in college, and now she coached a team, but she also did more casual, smaller lessons with kids of all ages. She’d invited Dylan to join one of these sessions so he could get some playtime with kids his age. He enjoyed playing with his baby cousin, but I knew he was longing to talk to some kids who could actually form sentences.