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His eyes flashed gold, and smacked his fist on the table. It rattled on its feet, and coffee sloshed out of both our mugs. “It’s my birthright! You stole it from me!”

I sat back in my chair, unfazed. If I were a younger man, I’d remind Sean that this exact behavior was why hewasn’talpha. “It was never your right. Dad chose me to lead the clan. If you really cared about Lakeview, you would’ve accepted that from the beginning.”

“Our father chose wrong. If he had chosen me, Lakeview would have control over the entire East Coast, instead of being stuck hiding away from the world.”

I exhaled through my nose. That kind of conquering wasn’t what our father, me, or any of the other dragons wanted. Sean was power-hungry, blood-thirsty, and getting worse. “Sean?—”

“Enjoy your peace, because it won’t last.” Sean slid out of the booth, eyes still burnished gold with rage. But then that small smirk returned. “I almost forgot. I heard you’re a daddy now. Make sure you tell your son I said hello.”

I was on my feet before I realized I’d moved. My dragon burned with anger. The room went still—even the activity in the kitchen ceased as I glared at Sean.

A tiny amount of fear flickered across his face. I wouldn’t have recognized it were he anyone but my twin.

“Don’t fucking talk about my son,” I snarled. “This mess with the shipment is one thing. But if you come even close to myfamily—if you come close to Lakeview,I’ll kill you. No questions asked.’

Sean lowered his chin and met my gaze steadily. My dragon felt the hatred radiating off my brother’s dragon. The tension in the room ticked up a few degrees.

“Ace,” Striker said.

Sean straightened and took a step back. He scoffed, like this was all below him. “You don’t need to worry about that. I don’t have any concerns about your heir. He won’t matter once I’m alpha and you’re dead.”

“Fucking try it,” I growled.

“Guys.” Striker stood up and grabbed my shoulder. “That’s enough.”

Sean glared at the both of us. He bared his teeth, then strode out of the diner without a backward glance.

“Sorry about them,” Striker said to the waitress with a winning smile. “How about a slice of that coconut cream pie?”

13

HARLEY

Ihad just tucked Dylan in for the night when the front door opened.

I moved down the stairs, where I saw Stephan shrugging off his leather jacket and pulling off his boots. He looked exhausted, moving slowly like he was weighted down. But when he looked up toward the stairs, he smiled.

“Hi,” I said.

“Did I wake you up?”

I was dressed for bed in shorts and a T-shirt, but I had a glass of wine waiting for me in the kitchen. I shook my head and walked down. “Everything go okay at work?”

“Yeah,” he said. “Looks like you didn’t need to hit the panic button, either.”

“Panic button?”

Stephan grimaced. “Shit. I was trying not to call it that.”

I laughed and made my way into the kitchen to grab my glass of wine. “Good. I’m glad that’s over. Whatever it was.”

“Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that,” Stephan said. “Do you have a minute?”

I frowned. “Sure.”

“Let’s talk upstairs.”

I raised my eyebrows.