Page 26 of Targeted By Temptation
Viktor's gaze connected with mine, and I sensed he was daring me to look away.
“You don't have a say in this, Grey. Kalen's debt must be paid.”
“I don't give a shit about that.” I stepped forward, sensing my brothers moving with me. “Reign is my mate. He's not responsible for his father's mistakes.”
“Ezra.” Boaz was at my shoulder, but he was looking at Viktor. “Let’s hear what the Alpha has to say.”
“There’s nothing to hear. Reign stays with me.” Boaz may have been my brother and Alpha, but he’d found his fated mate. He must understand I wasn’t handing Reign over to the people he’d escaped.
Kalen spat on the grass, a disgusting habit, but it was him signaling what he thought of me especially. “Do you have any idea what you've cost me? What will Viktor do to me now that the arrangement is broken?”
I wasn’t certain who Kalen was talking to. Me, his son, or all of us.
“You should have thought of that before you sold your son.” There was steel in Maynard’s voice.
“I didn't sell him.” Reign’s father scuffed his foot on the grass. “It was an arrangement, one that benefited both Viktor and myself.”
“Oh, come on, Kalen.” Viktor scoffed. “You sold your son. Let’s not pretend this was anything else. You have debts and a past that was catching up to you. Giving me your son so he could marry Hawthorn would have cleared your debts.”
Kalen lost his outrage and blood drained from his cheeks. He avoided looking at Reign who whimpered, and I whispered that I’d make this right.
“What debts and what’s in your past that’s so heinous you were willing to give up your son’s happiness?”
Reign’s father put his hands in his pocket and stared over our heads. My wolf wondered if he was hungry and wanted an apple or pear.
Viktor turned his attention to me. “Kalen made some unfortunate enemies over the years. He owes money to people who don't forgive debts. When he came to me, I saw an opportunity, and I seized it.”
This was what my brothers and I had talked about. That Viktor had a hidden motive for wanting Reign married or mated to his son.
“An opportunity for what?” Boaz asked.
Viktor was quiet for a moment. He looked up at the clouds and then at Reign. “I needed someone who could shoot.”
“What?” my brothers and I yelled.
That made no sense. We were shifters with a fierce beast in our belly. While Reign may have been a good shot—I was probably better, and Maynard was a hitman for fuck’s sake—a human’s sight, hearing, and reflexes were no match for a shifter’s. Viktor had to have another reason, and he was hiding behind this BS. But how did he expect to get away with it? We all knew he was lying.
“I can shoot,” Reign found his voice. “It's a sport. I competed in college. But I don't understand what that has to do with your son and me.”
Viktor waved his hand as if to swat away Reign’s argument. “I need your skill.” He looked at each of us in turn. “One that all of us need, if I’m honest.”
“You’ve got to explain,” Boaz insisted. There was a testy edge to his voice, a sign he was losing patience.
Viktor crossed his arms. “Tell me, Alpha, have you heard the name Calloway recently?”
All five of my brothers went rigid. Maynard bent as if he were out of breath. Riggs cursed, and I lost the power of speech.
“Why would we? Didn’t he go to prison? He's been locked up for a while.”
“Was. Hewasin prison for a short time,” Viktor corrected my brother. “He escaped three months ago, I assume by using his extensive connections and greasing the right palms, but there were some odd stories surrounding him. I disregarded them as fantasy. And now he's out there, somewhere, rebuilding his empire.”
Thiago fell to his knees, mumbling that if Calloway was free, he would make his presence felt soon enough.
The name Calloway was enough to make any shifter's skin crawl. I scratched my arms as if to rid myself of what I’d heard.
“Who's Calloway?” Reign tugged at my arm.
“A hunter.” I hated saying that word. “But he’s… well, he has special skills.”
