Page 90 of Omega Tricked
“You didn’t fall for me. I don’t believe you.” I was breathless as I held his heated gaze.
“I didn’t want to believe it either.” He clenched his jaw. “But the decisions I’ve made, they’re not logical. I’m not thinking like a survivor. I’m think like a man in love. All I worry about is something happening toyou.” He sounded resentful. “By telling you all of this, I give you power. That’s foolish. Every fucking thing I do is stupid because all I can think about is keeping you safe.” His fingers dug into my skin.
“Ouch.” I winced. “You’re hurting me.”
He let go of me immediately, and he hung his head. “Realistically, I should have executed you and Charles last night. I should already be halfway home by now. Instead, I’m in a stalemate with Charles. That’s insane. I should never have allowed that to happen. Every minute that ticks by makes me look weaker and weaker.”
“You’re many things—weak is not one of them.”
He shook his head. “My men judge me differently than you would.”
“Judge you? How?”
“Hank and Gabriele can see I’m being wishy-washy with you and Charles,” he murmured. “I’m not worried so much about Gabriele, but I’m definitely worried about Hank.”
“You mean… he might turn on you?”
“Yes.” He swallowed hard. “I think he’d love to take my place. He’s never respected me. Now that he knows Dad is dead, he’ll make a move. It’s just a matter of when. My guess is he’ll try to take me out, just to show how tough he is.”
My anger toward Lex seemed to evaporate at the idea of him dying. It made everything feel very different. “What happened to loyalty?”
“It’s a kind of gray area when there’s a power grab.”
“Gabriele wouldn’t turn on you, right?” Inexplicably, I now felt more worried for Lex than anything else.
“I don’t think so.” He frowned. “But stranger things have happened.”
Without thinking, I touched his hand. He smiled tentatively at me, and the warmth of it seeped into me, calming the panic growing inside. My feelings for him hadn’t disappeared overnight, but I was still hurt and confused by all the lies. A part of me suspected, even now, all he might be doing was playing on my sympathies. Maybe he just wanted me to convince Charles to talk to him, so he was sweet-talking me. I didn’t trust him after all I’d discovered about him. But I also knew I had a better chance of survival if he was in charge, rather than Hank.
“I don’t want you to hurt Charles, but I… I can’t make him talk. However, I can tell you the things I do know about the day of the animal attack.” I met his curious gaze.
“What kind of things?”
I grimaced. “I don’t know exactly what happened with your dad, but something really spooked Jack and Carter. And Jack isn’t an alpha easily spooked. He’s the same breed as Charles, tough as nails.”
“When was this?”
“The same day the guard was bribed.” I frowned. “Do you think it was your dad who bribed the guard?”
“Sounds like Dad.”
“Okay.” I narrowed my eyes, trying to remember what I knew about that day. “Something happened that shook Jack, and I don’t think it was just that an attempt was made on him and Carter either. Jack was used to that shit. No, something scared him. He was deeply shaken. But he wouldn’t give me any details.”
“Just how close were you to Jack?” he asked, looking annoyed.
“We were just friends. He was completely smitten with Carter.”
Some tension left Lex’s shoulders. “Yeah, that’s how Jack got into a problem with Dad—protecting Carter.”
“Really?”
He nodded and said softly, “He killed my brother, Nick.”
I widened my eyes. “What?”
He stared out across the yard. “He killed Nick, and then my dad was hell-bent on revenge. That’s why Dad was up here. Blood for blood.”
“Jesus.” It took a minute for me to absorb his words. “When does this crap end? One person gets killed, and then the other person gets killed avenging him? Pretty soon everybody is just fucking dead.”
