Page 36 of Broken Souls

My stomach knots, knowing damn well he isn’t talking about cake toppers. He’s speaking literally. Giving that to a father who lost his three pups and mate in one blow… Aleric is a fucking monster.

Like father, like son...

My jaw clenching, I say, “Fine. We’ll all be there to sign.”

I hang up before he can say anything else, not wanting to talk to him anymore than I have to. My fucking father...

Fuck.

If I’m lucky, he’ll never find out I’m his son. I can barely stand him now. If he starts cracking dad jokes, I really will kill him.

Rubbing my neck, I give myself a moment to breathe, but instead of relaxing, with every minute that passes, I just get more and more pissed, thinking about all the lies Mother has told me. Thinking about all the damage she could have done between Micha and I.

Cold with rage, I stand and start stripping off my knives, removing every single temptation I have. Stepping out into the hall, I head down the stairs and to my mother’s room. She opens the door before I can knock; her sixth sense has always been sharp. She seemed damn clairvoyant when I was a kid, always knowing whenever my brothers and I did stuff we weren’t supposed to do.

I wonder if she knows why I’m here.

Her face paling, she steps back and lets me in.

“If you were anyone else,” I say as I turn to face her, my voice soft, cold, lethal, “you would be dead right now.”

“I don’t know what you’re accusing me of.”

“Do not play games with me,” I say, deliberately staying vague in case there’s anything else she has done that I don’t know about. “I’m already on the verge of kicking you out of this damn house.”

“Your brothers won’t –”

“They’re not the Boss.”

She glares at me as she bites her tongue. But I’m not the young boy she was able to break with her silence. “When I saw you laughing with Micha,” she says, each word pulled from her, “I panicked. You haven’t looked that happy since your father left.”

I don’t correct her about who my father is. I’d rather be Caden’s son than Aleric’s.

“So two days later, I messaged her anonymously, using a spell Talon taught me. I just wanted her to act weird enough to trigger your paranoia.”

My blood runs cold at her words. “And what would have happened, Mother,” I asked softly, my words flat, lethal, “if she had tried to steal it? Would you have let me kill her?”

Her face softens. “It would have been regrettable, but I will trade any life for yours. Including a breedmare’s –”

Grabbing her arm, I shove her back into the wall and pin her there, my fingers biting. “She’s myfuckingmate,” I hiss, the words coming out before I can stop them.

She stares at me wide-eyed, and I can smell the fear on her. It makes me sick, but I don’t let her go.

“You’ve bonded?” she breathes.

My grip tightens on her arm as that question rams into me. I don’t know if we actually have; Micha didn’t bring it up as a reason I should trust her. And I didn’t ask, afraid what the honest answer is.

“Yes,” I say with all the conviction I want to believe in. “If youevertry to come between us again, I’ll kick you out of this fucking house. I’ll send you to some gods forgotten town in South America, and you will never come back. You will never see any of your sons again. Maybe, I’ll send a fucking card when a grandchild is born.”

Her eyes track across mine, and I don’t blink, letting her see the truth. That if she forces me to choose between her or Micha, I will take the side of the one who hasn’t stabbed me in the fucking back. Who hasn’t lied to me over and over and over again.

“Varius, you can’t fall in love with her –” she starts.

“As you said, it’s impossible for me to,” I cut in with a sneer. “So you have nothing to fucking worry about.”

Leaving her room, I onlyjustmanage not to slam her door off its fucking hinges.

Fourteen