Page 28 of Broken Wolf Heart
“What happens next?”
His amusement fades to concern as he sees my expression. “What do you mean?”
“This whole alpha thing… I didn’t kill Franco.” His concern turns to guilt, and I have my confirmation of what I suspected from the moment Dutch interrupted our ceremony with the news. “But you already know that since you killed him.”
His gaze snaps to mine. Whatever he sees there, he doesn’t bother trying to soften it. Or pretend I don’t already know. “Are you pissed?”
“I was at first,” I admit quietly, “about telling them I had power that I didn’t have.”
“But not about me being the one who did it?” he asks warily.
“No.” I sit up, still bare but not particularly shy about it. We’ve both seen too much of each other—good and bad—for modesty to matter anymore. “Franco was never going to change. And I don’t think for a second you did it without a good reason.”
His shoulders tense. He looks away.
“I had to,” he says. “He threatened to hurt you.”
The way he growls with each word spoken is more proofthat, when it comes down to it, Grey will let a lot of things slide. Almost anything, really—except someone threatening me. It’s the only thing he’ll never show mercy for. I saw it with Dom. Even when Grey thought I’d betrayed him, he killed Dom for hurting me. I saw it with his father too. A man he’d never intended to go up against again—until Vincenzo tried to use me. And now, with Franco, there was never going to be another outcome once my safety became an issue.
And I can’t possibly be angry at that. Not when he’s the first person to ever protect me that way. And not when I’d do the same thing for him in a heartbeat. Hell, it’s the whole reason I made the deal I did for my wolf. Not to protect myself, but to protect him.
Grey deserves someone to fight for him the way he’s fighting for me. I’m determined to be that person.
“You could have just told them the truth,” I say. “You’d be the high alpha by now.”
But he shakes his head. “No, they wouldn’t have voted me in unless I also killed my father. Too many questions of loyalty otherwise. They’d think my dad put me up to it as a consolidated power-grab.” He grimaces.
I don’t argue because he’s right; that’s exactly what his father wanted him to do from the start.
“Can I ask…what’s stopping you from going after your dad?”
“Nothing, believe me.” Murder swims in his eyes, a promise that he won’t break for anything. “But this way—with you getting the credit—the pack sees you as strong. That’s the only way you survive this. The only way they don’t tear you apart. For you to be on the throne, calling the shots. I won’t go to war with my father and his pack until I know you’re safe.”
He looks back at me, pain and regret reflected in his eyes. He didn’t want to do this to me, but he saw no other way. And when he puts it like that, neither do I. Still….
I nod slowly. “I get it. But next time, don’t make that decision for me.”
“You were locked up. I was losing my fucking mind when my father took you, and I…” His tortured eyes meet mine again, and he blows out a breath. “I swear. No more playing savior behind your back.”
“Thanks,” I say.
A beat of silence passes, and then his tone changes as he says, “I’m glad you’re not mad because that promise goes both ways.”
“What do you mean?”
His expression shifts—sharp, wary. “Tell me the truth. How did you access your wolf?”
I freeze.
The moment stretches too long, and my silence is its own confession. But he gave me the courtesy of an explanation, so I do the same.
“Your father gave me a serum to trigger the change.”
“A serum.” He huffs, and I brace myself for anger, but his tone is gentle, and instead I feel guilty when he adds, “It could have killed you.”
“You’re right,” I admit. “But he had files from when I was a baby. That fever I told you about… the records showed they gave me something called Aconitumex.”
“Wolfsbane,” he murmurs.
