Page 29 of Crossed Fates

“Interrupt me one more time, and I’ll stop talking.”

I fought the urge to grin and waved for her to continue again.

“I thought he was the boss because of all the rumors about him and his auctions. But apparently, there’s another boss. Which I could have asked him about had you not killed him.”

“Had I not killed him, he would have morphed into a giant, fire-breathing shifter thing, and as I’d already lived through that once, I wasn’t keen on doing it again.”

She gaped at me. “What?”

Hmm, shock.I’d felt the same way when I’d seen the creature in action at Blood Thirteen, which meant she definitely hadn’t been involved that night.

My suspicion ebbed a little. She seemed to be telling me the truth, and my gut told me I could believe her.

“It was a real shitshow,” I muttered, referring to Blood Thirteen.

Makayla’s expression turned pensive as she absorbed the new information.

It’s probably the fire-breathing-shifter thing tripping her up.

She nodded and shook her head twice. Then finally said, “Well, I’m guessing the silver package is the one delivered to your brother.”

“And Alpha Davies as well,” my father announced in his deep voice as he stepped around one of the gigantic hickory trees I used to climb with Tyler as kids. “Alpha Hendrix and Alpha Warren have also passed.” His blue eyes gleamed with disappointment as he stared down at me. I’d seen that look a hundred times before, but somehow it weighed more heavily on my mind today.

This isn’t the son I raised.

Alphas hold the pack together.

You can’t let them see you like this.

You can’t be weak.

The words rang in my ears despite having heard none of them aloud. I didn’t want to accept their truth, but I couldn’t run away from this life anymore. I had no clue how I would ever live up to Tyler’s memory. How I would earn his place and unite my pack.

Start with solving his murder.My wolf responded positively to that thought. He didn’t understand the words, but he would feel my need for vengeance. I knew he sensed the absence of Tyler’s wolf. And like my brother and me, there was love and respect between them, mixed with the innate need of an alpha to dominate and lead.

“Alpha Davies… is a fourth alpha?” Makayla commented, drawing my father and me from our silent conversation.More like scolding, I thought bitterly.

He bobbed his head once. “Yes. We just received the call. Tyler”—his voice wobbled the tiniest bit, then he straightened his shoulders and the confident alpha returned—“Hendrix, Warren, and now Davies.”

“So someone is definitely targeting alphas, then,” Makayla said.

“Yes, it would seem so,” my father agreed. He cocked his head to the side and studied her, tension building in the awkward silence.

My father’s blue eyes drifted from Makayla to me, and he raised a dark eyebrow. “Are you planning to introduce me to your mate or continue ignoring her and letting her wander into other houses uninvited?”

I bristled at my father’s jab. He’d insinuated that Makayla hadn’t been welcome in Tyler’s home—my former childhood home. But I was his brother, and as my mate, that should have automatically made Makayla part of the small group of friends and family.

In addition, I’d wanted her there. And Ihatedthe truth of it.

I don’t want a mate.

I don’t want to need or be needed.

I don’t want this fucking life that’s being forced upon me.

But despite my desire to reject her, she was my mate, nonetheless, and it infuriated me that my father would make her feel unwelcome. Even if the provocation had really been directed at me.

I sprang to my feet and turned to offer Makayla my good hand—I’m notalwaysan asshole—but she’d already risen to her full height.