Page 64 of Broken Wolf Heart
I stare out the window, fists tight in my lap.
If my father hurts her, he won’t have to come for me. Losing her will rip out my fucking heart and render me lifeless the moment she leaves this world. The only piece that has ever mattered on this board is the queen.
13
LEXI
Ipace in front of Franco’s old desk, polished wood glinting sharply beneath the overhead lights in the study. The vaulted ceilings echo my every move, amplifying every step I take, every breath I force myself to draw. The grandeur of this place feels oppressive, like it’s still fighting against me, still whispering that I don’t belong.
No one else has challenged me or spoken against me since that first meeting, but the house is constantly full of people coming and going. Security changing over their shifts or doing patrols. Lieutenants reporting in. Andy meeting with various leaders or city officials. The house feels more like an office than a place to live. And I’m on display the entire time. I’ve already shaken more hands and made more small talk than I’ve done in my entire life combined. And that’s just since returning from the lab.
I immediately shove aside thoughts of what happened there. It’ll only upset my wolf, and I’m barely leashing her as it is. She feels suffocated inside these walls. She wants the forest again. Freedom. She wants me to shift.
Later, I promise her.
She snarls back at me.
From a chair near the fireplace, Andy flips through the pages in front of her, scribbling quick notes with narrowed eyes and tight lips. All morning, she’s been grilling the pack leadership—interviewing them, determining who stays loyal and who needs to be culled. Whoever doesn’t pledge their loyalty—and prove it—will be banished from Indigo Hills.
It’s brutal and cold but necessary.
I still can’t decide if I admire or fear how easily she slips into the role I’ve given her. Sentencing her pack—her people—to banishment can’t be pleasant, and yet she hasn’t questioned it. Or me.
“You’re pacing again,” Andy remarks dryly, without looking up. She flips a page, sighing heavily. “You’re also making me dizzy.”
“Sorry,” I mutter, forcing myself to stop and drop into the chair opposite her.
I glance at Razor, standing silent and stoic against the wall by the door. His eyes dart to mine briefly, assessing, reassuring, before returning to his careful watch. Knowing Razor is here, guarding me, should be comforting, especially considering I don’t know who I can trust in my own pack yet. At the same time, it reminds me how vulnerable I am—how much I still need protection from others, even after everything I’ve gone through to access my wolf.
I need to get her under control.
Before she gets me underhercontrol instead.
“You look like someone waiting for the firing squad,” Andy says quietly, finally setting down her pen.
I sigh, bracing my hands on the back of Franco’s chair—my chair. Ugh. “Maybe I am.”
She tilts her head, giving me a considering look. “Want to talk about it?”
I open my mouth to answer but am cut off when a packmember appears in the doorway. He’s in a security uniform, but I can’t remember his name. I need to work on that. “Alpha,” he says, offering me a respectful dip of his head. “We’re finished with the shift change. Do you need anything else before my team and I head out?”
“No, we’re fine,” I say a little more sharply than I intend.
Razor snorts.
The guard glances at Andy then Razor. Neither one offers any kind of explanation, so he clears his throat and says, “Right. I’ll, uh, see you tomorrow.”
When he’s gone, I find Andy looking at me with an arched brow.
“This house is just so freaking crowded,” I snarl.
She offers a tiny smile like she gets it. “They’re more scared of you than you are of them, Lexi.”
“I doubt that.”
Andy shrugs. “Believe what you want, but I see it in their eyes when I interview them. You killed Franco. And then you executed his generals in front of the entire pack. Some might resent you, but most are smart enough to respect your power.”
Right. Franco.
