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Chapter Eleven

L ina

The sterile smell of antiseptic swathed the air, yet I found myself quietly relieved to find myself nestled in the scratchy hospital linen sheets.

The muted beeping of the monitors and the overly harsh white light surrounding me felt oddly reassuring because the hospital bed was exactly where I’d planned to be.

Over the weekend, I coordinated with Emily and Matthew for a team to target our car on the way to the airport. By sustaining this injury from my very own company, I hoped to deflect Magnus’s suspicion from me.

Matthew had warned me that the wolfsbane would leave my limbs aching, but he had seriously undersold how achy. I felt as if I’d run a marathon or as if my wolf had been sprinting through the forest for hours.

I closed my eyes, briefly letting the warmth of the cover over me ground me in comfort, but the murmur of voices from the adjacent room broke into my reverie. My heart quickened as I strained to listen, tension coiling in my stomach.

“—You should have been able to apprehend them, Stephen!” Magnus’s voice thrummed with a deep, simmering rage, echoing off the stark walls.

“There wasn’t time; the priority was protecting your future mate,” Stephen replied, his tone steady. But something about the steady pacing of his words told me that burning fire I’d sensed so often in him was dangerously close to the surface.

I flinched at Stephen’s words. Future mate. Even though that was the part I’d been playing, those words from his lips made me feel ill. But I reminded myself that my life—and my mother’s freedom—was entwined in maintaining that cover.

My heartbeat had quickened, something which the annoying beep of the heartbeat monitor echoed. With effort, I focused on breathing more deeply, congratulating myself as the beeping slowed.

With conscious breaths, I forced calm over my body, determined to take the opportunity that my being here with Magnus and Stephen in the next room presented.

“This company has been sabotaging us for years. Yet, all three attackers escaped. This was poorly done, Stephen,” Magnus rebuked again.

So, Magnus had already deduced that my shadow company was behind the attack.

Yet, even as I knew that I should be thinking about myself and how well this should divert Magnus’s suspicion away from me being involved with the shadow company, my thoughts turned to Stephen.

Magnus said that he’d done poorly, but he’d protected me so fiercely that he’d made it almost impossible for my employee to shoot me.

I hadn’t counted on how selfless Stephen would be.

He’d grabbed me and pulled me out of the car before I could stop him.

Paul had been meant to shoot me through the window, but suddenly, I’d been on the other side of the vehicle, with Stephen shielding me as best as he could.

It was only while Stephen had been shooting at one of my employees that I’d been able to angle my body in front of the window so that Paul could shoot me.

Suddenly, Stephen’s stricken face was in my thoughts as I recalled the moment he’d realized I’d been shot.

My heart squeezed as I remembered him urging, “Keep the pressure on.” A moment later, he’d been firing at Paul again.

I’d heard his shout as he shot him. I hoped he wasn’t too badly injured, but I’d been in no position to intervene as the wolfsbane was already making me feel like I was on fire.

The plan had been for them to drive away once they’d shot me, but Stephen’s overzealous, protective instincts had injured two of my guys.

Even as I hoped they were okay, I couldn’t find it in me to dislike Stephen’s behavior because it meant that he cared.

Tenderness seared through me as flashes of the drive here to the hospital came back.

His voice had reached through the darkness as he’d reassured me.

“Hold on, Lina. You’re going to be okay, Darlin’.

” I remembered the catch in his voice as if he were struggling to keep his emotions in check. As if… I mattered.

“I’m sorry I failed again to protect your mate, Alpha,” Stephen said.

Again?

What did he mean by that? Besides, he hadn’t failed. He’d gone above and beyond in defending me.

I’d seen the protectiveness stealing through every inch of his powerful body as he took the shots.

His body angled over me as he tried to shield me from harm.

My wolf surged up, a sudden excitement tripping through her as she thought of the ferocity with which Stephen had protected us and how much she needed him next to her again.

Magnus’s voice sounded again, “Well, there’s other business to talk about—”

The heart rate monitor suddenly increased in a hurried tempo as my wolf’s want pummelled through me.

In the other room, Magnus’s voice trailed off, and a moment later, footsteps brought him into the room. He was closely followed by Stephen.

“Alpha?” I croaked, feigning disorientation and only half pretending that sleep was making me bleary-eyed. The poison was still making my head too heavy. The simple effort of lifting myself up in bed slightly on my arms caused me to groan. “What happened?”

It was Stephen who answered. “You were shot, Lina. The bullets were laced with wolfsbane. But you’ve had an antidote.

You’ll be fine.” Tension was evident in every line of his body, and his expression was taut.

I ached to stroke it away, to say thank you for what he’d done in protecting me, despite it making my employees’ job harder.

“I’m sorry, my dear,” Magnus said finally.

“My son should have guarded you better.” Rather than offering me any reassurance, he took my question as an opportunity to chastise his son again.

I noticed that Stephen had set a metal dish down on one of the hospital trolleys nearby and was wiping at the wounds still covering his face.

My heart fluttered as I breathed in, trying to keep my pulse steady as I said, “Believe me, Alpha, I owe your son my life. If he hadn’t gotten me here, I might not be here at all.”

Magnus’s black look at his son didn’t lessen, but he deigned to say, “You’re safe now, I promise.”

I couldn’t help but feel angered by Magnus’s obvious indifference toward his own son’s injuries, choosing to criticize him for failing to prevent the attack rather than get the medical attention he needed.

A lump rose in my throat as I took in the deep lacerations Stephen had received from the glass being shot out when he’d been trying to protect me.

“Stephen, can I help with those?” I asked, a protective urge stealing through me as I looked at the way he was dabbing at his cuts.

His intense green eyes seemed to spark with something, but it was so fleeting I barely caught it.

He shook his head. “It’s fine. You need to rest. Your body’s still fighting off the poison.”

I nodded, trying not to let the disappointment show. Something in me ached to be close to him. The need to tend to his wounds made me want to reach out to him. I needed to get myself under control; otherwise, I’d just replace Magnus’s suspicion of me for one reason with another.

Magnus’s gaze was running over me as I feigned wooziness. “You’re right, I feel so tired,” I complained.

“That’ll be the poison,” Stephen said, taking a few steps closer as if he, too, wanted to be closer. But I forced my gaze to Magnus instead as I asked him, “Will you stay a while?”

Magnus’s dark brown eyes didn’t alter at all. He was as inscrutable as ever, as he agreed, “I’ll be right outside. We’ll get the nurse to give you something for the pain to help you sleep.”

“Thank you,” I said, settling down as if soothed, yet knowing all too well that Magnus’s offer of pain medication was likely more so I didn’t overhear them than out of consideration for my pain.

In another moment, Magnus walked out of the room, Stephen shadowing his father without a backward glance.

Left in the quiet of the room, my thoughts fell to their contrasting behavior, and I reconsidered my assumption that Stephen and Magnus were alike.

Didn’t Stephen’s actions in shielding me during the attack, as well as his priority in getting me to the hospital, show that he possessed a compassionate and caring nature despite the coolness he generally hid behind?

Whereas Magnus’s cold chastisement of his son’s actions during the attack, as well as his complete disregard for his injuries, proved all too well how cold and callous he was.

A moment later, the nurse came in and said, “Let’s get you some morphine.”

I shook my head. “No, I’m all right. I think I’ll be able to sleep without it,” I assured her.

She raised her eyebrows. “There’s no need to be a hero.”

I shook my head. “I’m feeling all right.”

She nodded. “Just buzz if you need anything,” she reminded me, checking my monitors before leaving me.

As the quiet settled over the room, I heard Magnus’s voice sounding once again. “The other matter I wanted to inform you of was the fact that the board’s decided to reinstate the Omega Concord Program.”

Omega Concord Program?

I knew that if I wanted to avoid his suspicion, it was essential I kept my vitals under control, no matter what I heard.

I envisioned little Betty, hugging her to me, her faint earthy scent mixed with talcum powder after her bath.

I sank deeper into the mattress, its support prickling over me, grounding me more.

“But that hasn’t been in place since the fifties, since my grandfather’s generation,” Stephen argued. His voice had an edge of shock to it. What was this company policy that I sensed had Stephen’s control hanging by a thread?

“Now, don’t be so quick to dismiss something just because it hasn’t been used since a previous generation. After all, I would have thought I’d taught you to respect your elders’ practices. What worked efficiently for past generations might well work for our pack again.”

“Well, I think it would undermine Blackthorn’s entire ethos and exploit our employees and packmates.”

“Sometimes, a packmate’s merit isn’t in their business prowess but in their more physical attributes. Not all females can be like my intended and suited to the boardroom, but they can earn their place in the pack in the bedroom.”

Fuck.

Magnus was talking about bringing back a policy that implemented Omega wolves as breeders.

It was in our packs’ history that we’d studied in high school that two generations ago, such practices had been common, but civilized packs like the Silvermoon and the Blackthorn Packs of New York City had long been more enlightened and progressive than that.

“This isn’t a decision to enter into lightly, Alpha,” Stephen added, his voice steady as he fought to rein in the anger I knew was simmering just beneath the surface. “We need to consider the implications this will have going forward.”

“The implications?” Magnus echoed, his voice dangerously low. “The implications are clear cut. Packmates that haven’t been pulling their weight will give strength to our pack by increasing our pack’s size and strength.”

A chill swept through the room at Magnus’s words, my stomach knotting at the thought. I pictured young women from our pack being reduced to mere breeding vessels, stripped of all they contributed beyond that.

“I just don’t believe a packmate’s value should be measured by the offspring they bear,” Stephen asserted, his tone unwavering, projecting an iron control that made it clear he was fighting against his rising indignation.

For a moment, a heavy silence loomed, and it took everything in me once again to keep my breathing calm and measured.

I heard movement. Magnus’s low voice sounded, feeling even more insidious after his misogynistic suggestion. “I didn’t think you could disappoint me more today, Stephen, but once again, you’ve proved me wrong.” With that, I heard Magnus’s footsteps retreating from the hall.

I steadied my breathing, feigning calm while allowing the heaviness I’d battled all afternoon to pull me into slumber.

More than anything, it became painfully clear that Stephen was not aligned with Magnus as I had once believed.

The memory of Magnus’s cruel rebuke of him clashed sharply with the fierce defiance Stephen had just shown, igniting a troubling longing within me.

I ached to comfort Stephen, to lay my hand on his arm and whisper that he was right—that he was a far better man than his father.

But even as this urge surged, I was confronted with a harsh reality.

Embracing that desire would threaten everything I had painstakingly crafted.

Besides, the memory of Stephen’s past rejection still festered.

I was teetering on a tightrope, desperately maintaining this facade of loyalty to Magnus.

Any misstep could spell disaster—not just for me, but for my mother’s freedom. I had to ignore my heart.