Page 197 of Claimed

My brother looks down and smirks again. Smirks?

“Adelaide?” Brody inquires.

Addy shakes her head and wraps her arms around herself.

“Anybody else?” Brody asks.

Jase and Sherry’s father calls out, “My daughter won’t have any words for or against this vote. I’ve just had a message.” He waves his phone in the air and pockets it.

Wyatt’s expression drops, but then hardens.

Yeah. Your fated mate hates you, Wyatt.

“Aphra?” I call out and gesture to my brother.

Aphra looks around. “I’m not part of the pack. But… thank you for bringing me here. Jason said I could get my bearings and go from here.”

“I’ll bring Rikki over tomorrow,” Riley pipes up. “You two can talk.”

“You’re welcome to join the pack I’m building,” Brody says. “If you want your daughter to get to grow up around other shifters.”

“Thank you. I’ll… think about it. I appreciate the offer. As for Wyatt? I have nothing to say to someone who kept me captive and abused, violated, and tormented me in ways that I’ll neverforget, including twisting my beautiful magic by making me do things that were dark and ugly. But Stacy… I want you to know I never intended to sell you out to Soleil Young.”

“I could tell,” I reply.

Her eyes warm as she keeps going, “I needed help and I couldn’t go to my coven, so I knew about the Covenless Coven and found my way there. They took me in. Sheena made the connection between Soleil’s past and your mate while I was recovering. And Soleil told me she’d get me my daughter back. She told me she’d strike a deal with your brother but that it would not prevent me from seeking revenge on him later. Earlier today, Sheena told me she sensed your people were near, so I used a blend on him to knock him out in order to buy time. Though, based on Sherry adding the lyco-toxicant I formulated to his whisky, clearly that was unneeded.”

“But it certainly did help,” Jase calls out.

“I made that formula for him when he forced me. I never knew his plans, but I had no choice. He took all my choices from me. I was hurt when I escaped your brother, I was on the run for my life and for my magic, because the things he was forcing me to do were dangerous, were things against every facet of my training, dark magic things. If I’d gone on much longer doing those things, it would’ve permanently altered me. I want to thank you all for looking after my daughter. I knew you, Addy, and Misty would look after her until I could find a way to get her back.” She smooths Halla’s hair and kisses her head. “Halla told me you’d read her stories and sing her beautiful lullabies, that you’d brush her hair and even share your food with her to make sure she had enough to eat. Thank you for that, Stacy.”

“My pleasure. We all love Halla.”

Halla smiles her beautiful beaming smile at me and hugs her butterfly shyly when she realizes how many sets of eyes are on her.

Aphra smiles, too, and shrugs. “So, no, I don’t have anything to say tohim. I just want to thank you all for everything as well as to apologize to anyone here who had to suffer due to my magic being used as it was never intended to be used. That’s all.”

“We’ll talk more later,” I say.

She nods.

“You’re welcome here for as long as you need,” Grey tells her.

She looks relieved. “Thank you very much. My daughter is part-shifter, and I would love for her to learn how a healthy pack operates so I’ll talk more to Brody about his offer. And I have nothing to say tohim. Except, I’d say to all of you that I also like Stacy’s idea of him being sentenced to a life of hard labor since it seems like he’s never worked a day in his life, instead forcing everyone else to carry him.” She kisses her daughter again and shrugs.

Wyatt laughs low.

“I think Aphra should get a vote,” Eloise says. “Just sayin.”

“No thanks,” Aphra says, “I’m just happy to watch justice in action.”

“So, I think we should gear up,” Brody says. “We’ll talk about the ballot choice ideas and then maybe can you print them all up for us, Bailey?”

“Sure can,” Bailey responds.

But my brother shakily stands and I can feel the energy in the room shift as every alpha male’s spine straightens. My brother pulls his wallet from his back pocket. What is he doing? Heproduces a folded up zippered sandwich bag and Malachi, being the closest to him, tries to grab his arm but Wyatt’s elbow comes up and catches Mal under the chin, knocking him backwards while Wyatt stuffs something into his mouth.

“What is that?” Jase demands.

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