Page 68 of Untamed

Mr. Livestrong smiles. “We have to get her to listen. Like the rest of that family, she’s stubborn as hell.” He slows the SUV as we approach the Council building. Stopping by the side of the road, he puts the car in park.

His walkie-talkie chirps, and a crackling voice comes over the line. “Lydia arriving now.”

My wolf stands, tail swishing. Lydia Greystone is threatening my family, me, and my mate. My animal instinct wants retaliation. Now.

Johnathan picks up the walkie-talkie and presses a side button. “Lead her to the meeting room and watch from the outside.”

Jonah lowers his voice and leans toward my wolf. “Since we run security for her as well, Dad’s getting her alone so we can talk privately. None of our team knows what we’re about to do.”

Well, that’s useful. I was envisioning us running in and having to take the guards out, but I forgot that I’m literally paired with a member of alpha security. The less people who get hurt, the better. Hope starts to build inside me, and my wolf’s tongue lolls out of her mouth in anticipation.

Mr. Livestrong pops the rear door open. “Five minutes,” he says to Jonah.

My mate nods, then hops out. My wolf follows after him, and they make their way into the tree line. Instead of shifting like I assumed he would, he leads her further into the woods. He jumps down an embankment, moves some branches, and uncovers a steel door hidden in a rock wall. He grins over his shoulder. “Emergency exit for the alpha. It leads straight to a secret door in the meeting room.”

Holy shit. Did he and his father figure all this out when they were on the phone earlier? I’m impressed.

The tunnel has a dank, dirt floor with concrete walls and ceilings. Jonah jogs down it, and my wolf is on his heels. They get to a wooden door, and Jonah holds his ear to it. With my sensitive wolf hearing, I can tell it’s quiet on the other side until hinges creak and voices rise up. One of them is most definitely Johnathan Livestrong’s while the other has to be Lydia.

Jonah peers down with a strained face. His muscles ripple as if he’s one step away from turning. “Please,” he begs, “stay behind me.”

My wolf nods, stomach in knots, and he pushes the secret door open. She slips out after him, sticking to his side like he said.

Lydia turns, jumping at our intrusion. When she sees Jonah and then finds my wolf at his hip, she growls, fur rippling down her arms. “What is this?”

Jonah’s dad reaches his arms out in a placating gesture. “Calm yourself, Lydia. We’re here to talk.”

She sneers, backing into the desk. Her gaze darts around at the three intruders until she focuses on my wolf. “You are a shame to our race.”

A snarl rips from my wolf’s throat.

Jonah moves in front of her. “You will speak to my mate with respect.”

“She threatens your line, and yet you would stick up for her?” She turns from Jonah to Johnathan. “And you’re backing him? Johnathan, you must show your son that this isn’t the way. Her family tricked fate. She needs to leave, if not more. That will be for the Council to decide.”

Jonah snaps, his fingers tightening into my wolf’s nape. Fur ripples over his arms; his teeth elongate. I can smell how close his wolf is to the surface, and my wolf practically paws at the floor in anticipation, ready to take this bitch out. If it weren’t for Jonah’s steady hand on her nape, she would’ve already lunged.

“Calm yourself, Lydia,” Johnathan barks. “He’s full territorial, and you’re bound to get yourself killed. We came here to talk. Not to fight.”

“There’s nothing to discuss. All you’ve done is further ruined your family’s reputation. How dare you confront someone in the alpha’s bloodline like this?”

I nudge Jonah to get him to talk. He studies me, his eyes a wolfy yellow before he peers back at her. “How dare you threaten one of your own?”

Lydia glowers. Her breathing deepens. A sickening feeling in my stomach tells me there’s about to be a fight. Jonah won’t be able to hold back if I’m threatened. I’m muzzled in my wolf form, and if I shift, Jonah will go apeshit, and we’ll have even more to deal with.

“She’s a Greystone, Lydia,” Johnathan finally announces. “You have the proof that she’s not from a mated pair, but how easy will it be to prove she’s a Greystone? Think about what this scandal will do to your family.”

Her wolf retreats, and she throws her head back, her musical laugher threading through the room. The hair on my wolf’s nape stands. I can’t believe I’m related to this woman. We couldn’t be more different.

“You laugh,” Jonah warns, “but we know it to be true. We’ll get the necessary tests to prove it.”

“I don’t need to know who she belongs to. All I need to know is that she shouldn’t exist.”

“Think about it,” Johnathan commands. “She paired with my son. They’re true mates. If Kinsey was from a family lower in the pack, by all accounts of what we think we know about pairings, that shouldn’t have happened.”

I growl at that, but it does work in my favor so there’s not much I can really say. Mating with Jonah proves more than one of my pack’s theories wrong. Since I didn’t come from a fated pairing, I shouldn’t have been able to mate with anyone. I knew that everything we were ever told is wrong. Whether the pack knows it’s wrong is yet to be seen. They could be perpetuating the lie for their own purposes. Even Jonah said that Lydia was a purist. Maybe their family wants to keep the blood lines pure by all means necessary?

“What I know,” Lydia hisses, “is that her mother went outside her bond. She’ll be punished to the fullest extent, and this mutt will be cast out where she should’ve been all along.”

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