Page 183 of The Alpha's Second Chance Mate

Avery made a sound that was a cross between a whimper and a sigh. “What if he hurts Ashton? I can’t let that happen just because I don’t want to pretend to flirt with him.”

Anger surged through me when she shivered, and I realized I could kill Kyle if it came to that. It was no longer a distant possibility but more of a certainty. Anyone who made my mate feel this way and possibly hurt my son deserved nothing but death. When and if the time came, I’d be ready to do what needed to be done.

“If he hurts him, he’ll end up dead. I’ll make him pay, Avery.”

“If he touches a hair on Ashton’s head, you may not get the chance. I’ll fucking kill him myself.”

The ferocity of that statement surprised me. It reminded me of the aggression in wolves, and I wondered what kind of wolf she’d be if she were a shifter. If I had to guess, she’d be one hell of a force to be reckoned with.

We spent the next few hours doing nothing, which only amped up my anxiety. I hated being idle, always had. The most I could do now was sit and watch Zayde work magic on the computer. It all looked like gibberish. I stared at his screen as he wrote line after line of code, and not a damn bit of it made any sense to me.

When Langston called, I jumped at the chance to do something and answered the phone as quickly as I could.

“Scotty’s all settled,” Langston said.

“Any hiccups?” I asked.

“None. Clean sailing. I took a few extra precautions.”

“Those being?”

“Disabled the Wi-Fi in the cabin, cut the phone lines, told everyone to keep their phones on them and away from our guest at all times, as well as the keys to the car. I don’t want Scotty getting cold feet and trying to contact Kyle.”

Next to me, Avery pulled her feet onto the couch and hugged her knees, staring blankly at the cooking show on the TV. She still had that dark, distant expression on her face. I stood and walked down the hall and out of earshot.

“Avery’s not looking great. I think the toll is finally dragging her down. That call with Kyle must have been the tipping point.”

“Shit,” Langston hissed. “I was worried about that.”

“We need to end this soon,” I said. “Trent and I are thinking of challenging Kyle for leadership of the pack. A duel to the death.”

“There’s one problem with that plan,” he said.

“What’s that?”

“A challenge requires acceptance. Kyle won’t expose himself like that. His entire plan is to do this in the shadows. He doesn’t even want you to sign the pack over to him but to Dallas, right?”

I let out a low growl of frustration. “I suppose you’re right. I hadn’t thought of that.”

“Best-case scenario. Unless he, for some reason, decided to openly pursue the pack leadership, you’d have to challenge Dallas.”

“Shit,” I muttered.

“But,” Langston said, his voice lifting as if he’d thought of something, “maybe we can use psychology against him.”

“Yeah? How do you want to do that?”

“It would require Avery to keep playing the game. Staying on his good side the next time he calls her. If he’s still infatuated, and she plays it right, she might be able to talk him into challenging you.”

“Fuck,” I cursed. “I told her she wouldn’t have to do that again.”

“Just run it by her, see what she thinks. We don’t want to force her to do anything she doesn’t want to, but this might be the best way to kill two birds with one stone.”

I peered around the corner to check on Avery. She was still staring at the TV.

“I’ll see how she feels about it and will let you know,” I said. It didn’t sit well with me, but it might be our best option.

“Good.”

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