Page 34 of Alpha Queen
Her eyes narrowed. "You remember me?"
He snorted. "How could I not? There aren't many females who look like you, but at the same time, have not a single male interested in her. And has no scent at all."
She swallowed hard. "It was the blockers."
"Your mom is a smart lady. Tough too. She was the one who made sure I packed up and left."
A pit opened up in River's stomach. Had her mom done that? There was so much she didn't know.
"I don't blame her," Austin said. She did what she was ordered to do. And now that I realize how much she was trying to protect, I understand even better."
"Why were you told to leave?"
"I thought everyone knew why."
She shook her head. "Cherry kept me out of the pack politics."
Austin shoved his hands in his jeans pockets. "Makes sense. Well, officially, I was accused of hugging the Beta's mate and trying to kiss her."
"Officially?"
"That's what the Beta and Alpha told everyone."
"That's not the truth?"
"The truth was, my great-grandfather was the original Alpha of the pack. My grandfather left when the current Alpha's grandfather beat him for control. My mother returned after my father died, and the Alpha was afraid I would try to take the pack back. I assured him the last thing I wanted was to lead. He didn't believe me, I guess. So he made up a reason to get rid of me."
River had no words. She walked back to her painting, starting to clean the brushes in a can of water. "Your mom is still with the pack, though."
"I told her to stay. She'd already been through enough when she lost my dad. I didn't want her to lose her pack again to leave with me. I still see her once a month. We meet for lunch. It's been tough on her."
"So we are near enough to the pack that you and your mom get together?"
Austin opened his mouth, stopped, and smiled. "Smart. Try to get me to tell you where we are. Sorry, Luna. If Titan wants you to know, he will tell you himself."
Her wolf sighed.
It had been worth a try. "Do you want revenge on our Alpha?"
"He's not my Alpha anymore, and yes, I do want revenge for what he did to me. I don't want him dead, but I don't want him to do to anyone else what he's done to me."
"And how do you think that's gonna go? You think Titan is just going to sit down and have a friendly chat with the Alpha about not kicking others out?"
"Come on, Luna, you and I both know he won't. Do I want to hurt people? No. But do things need to evolve? Yeah, they do. If violence is the only way to get it, then that's the only choice they've given us."
River stared at him, then wiped the brushes down with a cloth and set them on the table. "That's why Titan had you come fetch me, isn't it? He was hoping you would connect with me and convince me to come over to the dark side."
He shrugged.
"Sorry, it won't work."
He shrugged again. "It's worth a shot. We'd be much more powerful with you by Titan's side. And look what you had to go through just to keep you safe. You think that if everyone had known you were an Omega, you wouldn't have been sold off to the most powerful bidder?"
"You think my mom would have let that happen?"
He shrugged. "Your mom is tough, but even she can't say no to an Alpha."
"I can."
