Page 52 of Brutal Alpha Bully

“That’s right,” Declan coos. “You keep her in line, Xeran. It’s nice to see you finally enjoying one of my gifts. That soccer ball I brought you just deflated in the garage. Do you know how hurtful that was?”

“What do you want, Declan?” Xeran asks, and to my shock, his voice is deathly calm. If it’s an act, it’s an amazing one. I feel like I might throw up, my eyes locked on my daughter, my brain unable to think of anything other than the knife that’s far too close to her skin.

Nora is clutching onto Declan, her heels along the back of the ridge, a wide-eyed, fearful pain on her face. When I find her gaze, I try to communicate everything in the way I’m looking at her.

I’m sorry. I love you. I’m going to get you out of this.

“Really, Xeran?” Declan tuts. “Mr. Strategy? I thought you’d already know what I wanted. In fact, I thought you might bring it with you.”

“Let her go, Declan. Your fight is with me.”

“Did you bring it or not?” Declan’s face falls, and when he yanks on Nora, I realize he has her by the back of her head. The thought of his hands on her, pulling her hair—it makes more magic rise to the edges of my skin, sparking.

“I brought it,” Kalen says, stepping forward and pulling something from his pocket. When he unfolds it, all I can see isa manila folder, rolled and wrinkled from being tucked in his firefighting suit. “It’s all here.”

“Now, Kalen, how can I besurethat it’s all there?” Declan asks.

“What thehellis going on?” Xeran snaps, looking back and forth between them.

“This is what I was trying to tell you,” Kalen says, slapping the folder into Xeran’s hands. “It’s what we found out about Declan, that day we tailed him.”

“When youbrokeintomy place,” Declan corrects, snarling through the smoke. Behind him, I can hear the rush of the creek far below. “Fucking weasels.”

Xeran opens the folder, but I know he can’t read it. It’s too dark, too smoky.

Kalen says, “It’s documents, financial records. Enough to prove that they were the ones starting the fires.”

“You can’tstarta daemonic fire,” Xeran says, shaking his head.

“Oh, really?” Declan asks, laughing as he uses his knife to gesture to me. “You can’t? Just ask your girlfriend how she did it.”

“Start a fire, and the daemon energy will come,” Dallas says, stepping forward for the first time. “It’s fucking obvious, and it doesn’t matter. I don’t want to stand here and talk. You give us the stuff, we give you the girl.”

“No,” Declan says, holding his hand up to his nephew. “No,you don’t make the fucking deals. Step back.”

Rage ripples over Dallas’s face, but he steps back, his jaw ticking.

“It’s more than the fires,” Kalen says quietly. “It’s faulty insurance. A whole scheme. Not only is he burning the town, but he’s taking everything from families, swooping in to buy what’s left when the fires are done.”

“You’re looking at the proud owner ofseveralacres,” Declan says, a slimy grin spreading over his face. “And it’s only right. The Sorels should own more of this town than the fuckingCambiases.”

“But you don’t just keep it,” Kalen challenges, disgust in his voice. I’m surprised—I never thought Xeran’s little brother would have it in him to stand up to Declan like that. “You sell it to human developers when you know that hurts the pack. Makes it harder for us.”

“When you make ten times the value of the lot, you’ll do it, too,” Declan says, rolling his eyes. “Colorado istrendy, nephew. That’s just good business.”

“Dallas is right,” Tanner says, sounding bored like always. “Do we have to stand up here and chat? Can we get this over with?”

Declan cuts his gaze angrily to Tanner, then rolls his eyes, turning his attention back to Xeran. “Here’s the deal. All that evidence burns. And you sign a pact, here and now, that you willneverchallenge me for the spot of alpha supreme.”

“Not going to happen.” The words come out of Xeran so fast, I’m not sure he’s fully considered them.

A wicked grin spreads over Declan’s face as he returns the blade to Nora’s neck, and this time, he actually nicks her skin, drawing blood.

I try to do something, try to reach for magic, but there’s nothing left. A scream buries itself in my throat.

“Stop!” Xeran steps forward, then stutters, stopping like he’s been slapped in the face. “… What?”

And I realize why he’s stopped a moment later when the smell hits me.

---