Page 29 of Dragon's Revenge

“That looks amazing.” Adar winked at Delton. “Sorry, still food-oriented.”

“That’s okay. Thank you for cooking, Oliver.” Delton winked back at Adar. “Still people-oriented.”

“How did things go with the new omegas?” Oliver asked once they all had food on their plates and were digging in. “How many showed up?”

“Twenty-nine,” Adar said. “There were supposed to be more, but the Murphys refused to let their omegas go.”

Delton frowned. “I thought that clan was disbanded?”

Adar nodded. “It was. Or I should say, it is. But the Murphy alphas don’t care. They—” He suddenly stopped talking and looked at Delton, who nudged his head in Oliver’s direction. “Is this okay for you to talk about?” Adar asked.

Oliver took a deep breath. “Yes, it is, and if that changes, I’ll let you know.”

Adar studied him for a moment longer, as if to make sure, then continued, “They seem to be ignoring what happened and pretending they’re still in charge. We’ll need to liberate those omegas by force.”

Oliver’s mouth ran dry. “F-force?”

“We can’t let them stay there and suffer, so we’ll do whatever it takes to free them.”

“Duer is looking at legal options,” Delton said. “Trying to see if he can find some kind of loophole to get the authorities involved.”

Adar sighed. “I hope so. It would make things a lot easier if we had the law on our side…and law enforcement. I’m not backing down from a fight, but those alphas have no honor. They will fight dirty.”

They would. Oliver had no doubt that when it came to pure strength, Adar would be able to take them—well, one by one, anyway—but they wouldn’t let it come down to that. They’d use their magic, and how would Adar and the other wolves counter that? “You’ll need dragons to fight with you.”

“Yeah, but we’re hoping to avoid that.” He cracked his knuckles. “Though I’m dying to settle a score with Dempsey.”

Dempsey. Even mere weeks ago, that name would’ve made Oliver shiver, but now it did nothing to him. No, that wasn’t true. It still made him freeze for a moment, if only to double-check his reaction, but it no longer sent a flare of panic through him. His stomach no longer dropped and his throat didn’t tighten.

“I hope you’ll get the chance to beat the absolute shit out of him,” Delton said with uncharacteristic venom. “And I mean that with every fiber of my being. Using his status and strength against defenseless omegas is about as low as any man can sink. I’d like to see him try to fight someone his own size.”

Oliver blinked. Wow, that was unexpected.

“Actually, he is bigger than me,” Adar said. “He has an inch on me and, if I had to take a guess, a good ten, fifteen pounds of muscle.”

Delton waved his hand dismissively. “Pfft, that means nothing. I bet he’s never won an honest fight in his life. You could take him with one arm tied behind your back.”

Adar shifted in his seat. “That’s a lot of confidence you have in me. How can you be so sure?”

“Because he hurt Oliver.” Delton said it as if it was the most logical thing in the world, and maybe to him, it was. “He abused Oliver, and once you get your hands on him, your rage about that will trump any trick he thinks he has up his sleeve.”

“He has magic,” Oliver piped up. “Darn magic.”

Delton’s eyes softened. “I know, and I’m not making light of that, but I think it’s time we start acting like we believe the prophecies.But when the White Dragon and the True Alpha join forces, peace will reign. That’s what was promised to us. We know we have truth and honor on our side. We know we have the True Alpha and the White Dragon. We know we will win. Why are we not living out that truth?”

Oliver’s heart rate tripled. Something about Delton’s words resonated with him, but it was hard to let go of that fear deeply rooted inside him. “But what about Rhene? We don’t know if he’ll ever come back safely to us, to Erwan and Ainle, to his brothers.”

Delton held out his hand to Oliver, who took it without hesitation. To his surprise, Adar took his other hand, then reached for Delton’s, linking them. “No, we don’t know that,” Delton said gently. “But that doesn’t change anything. In fact, maybe it’s all part of the plan, of fate.”

“How can it be okay for him to die?” Oliver protested.

Delton shook his head. “Of course that’s not okay. It would be horrible, and he would be deeply mourned for a long, long time by a lot of people. But I bet that if we asked him, if we gave him the choice, he would give his life to keep everyone safe, to protect his mate and his son, his pack.”

Adar gasped. “The other prophecy, the one Lucia did…”

“Yeah.” Delton looked from Adar to Oliver, then recited, “When the True Alpha rises, so will your son, and he will bring justice and honor and peace, but it will come at a price.”

“What if that price is Rhene’s life?” Adar whispered.

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