Page 102 of Claimed

“No, son. You mate next. Would you want someone standing in the way of that? Would any alpha here allow anybody to get in between them and their mate? We don’t know this guy. We don’t know what led him to think we’re their enemies.”

“Tyson Savage killed my old man,” Wyatt puts in. “That’s where all this started. I might be willing to talk it out. Look for resolution.”

He’s full of baloney. I’m trying to find my voice to warn them not to believe anything he says, but it’s not necessary because Tyson proves he’s perceptive.

“I don’t know you, man,” Tyson says. “I don’t know who your father was. Your sister told Grey this, but I was in another life back then. My uncle used drugs to send me into the red haze for fights for money. I don’t know any of these details. Whatever I did to your family, if it wasn’t deserved, I apologize. But I apologize to your sister, not you, because what you’ve pulled is bullshit. Using a woman in your pack to enact your revenge? Treating your pack badly? She told Grey that you’re a dictator, that you’re abusive. You need to be usurped. Maybe one of our alphas should take over for you if you have nobody who –”

Yes. That!

“Whoa whoa. Seems like there’s been hurt on both sides,” Dr. Blakely interjects.

But I’m still thinking yes! Yes, Tyson. Have someone from here take over our pack.Please.

Dr. Blakely suggests it’s all tabled until a tribunal can happen.

Sherry accuses my brother of lying. And I don’t know if he is. But I suspect that identifying Sherry Creed as his fated mate is the one and only thing he’s being honest about tonight.

Arguing continues with Erica declaring, “This is the fucking twenty-first century, people.”

Wyatt’s response is, “If you want your witch sister, these people will let me be alone with my mate. Non-negotiable. I’ll stay with her in that cabin if needed. But she’s mine. I want what’s mine. We’ll sort the rest of this out later. In fact, I’ll show any who wants to watch that she’s mine. Prove I’m telling the truth. But we have seven minutes to meet my rendezvous so…tick tock.”

Tick tock?

“Wyatt has a thing for explosives,” I blurt, miraculously finding my voice. Finally!

The first time he played with explosives he blew our house up and we had to move into the mobile home. I thought Father was going to kill him.

If looks could kill, Wyatt would have me dead right now. But now I know I’m right. And so does everyone else by the way Wyatt glares at me.

Things go haywire from here as Erica urgently demands to know where her sister is because the buzzing and ringing of the phones has stopped. She threatens Wyatt while Riley aggressively demands answers, looking about ready to lose his cool.

Greyson is buzzing with anger, and the bleeding has stopped flowing from his eyes, but his face is blood-streaked as he holds my trembling body close to him protectively.

My brother snidely replies with, “Tick tock. Take me to my rendezvous point, let me take my mate, and I’ll give you the redhead and stop bad shit from happening.”

“A lot of the pack is downstairs? Why?” Tyson asks. “I smell them.”

Grey explains, “I called for code red when Mimi told me why the phones went nuts. We put all non-alphas downstairs to keep them safe. Gus, Andy, and six betas took off to go door-to-door to tell people not here to get secure. The Youngs are here as they might be able to help. Bailey, you shouldn’t be up here.”

Bailey doesn’t move. She looks glued to the spot.

“This place doesn’t feel safe,” Erica tells Riley.

“No. It doesn’t,” Erica’s dark-haired sister agrees.

“Six minutes,” Wyatt announces.

“Save this fight for another day,” Dr. Blakely advises. “You girls want to petition to have new rights, that’s your choice to initiate and you can discuss that with your pack after this is over, or petition the SCC if you want new laws brought in for all shifter females, but...”

“Enough with the longwinded shit, Mitch,” Riley throws a hand up. “Why is the clock ticking, fucker? What did you do?”

Wyatt laughs.

Jase and Sherry’s father approaches slowly, getting closer to Wyatt and Sherry. “Meadows, if you’re telling me you’re my daughter’s mate, you’re going to be connected to me and my pack. That’s reason enough to cooperate and ensure nothing harms us.”

“I didn’t know your daughter was my mate until ten minutes ago. My phone’s fucked so I can’t call anything off. I need to meet my guys at the rendezvous point.Like now.”

My brother is, unsurprisingly, not showing Sherry’s father any respect whatsoever.

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