Page 337 of Fated to the Wolf Prince
“Not a pet project… a weapon,” he corrected, though it was without malice. “Liza, our father considered you nothing more than a means of achieving his desired outcome. A way of guaranteeing power and wealth for himself and his bloodline.”
As Liam’s words penetrated my mind, I found myself pondering the man who had given me life not out of genuine affection, but driven solely by his own self-serving motives. Knowing Liam spoke the truth only heightened the impact and made it that much more real.
Tears stung the back of my eyes. “Are you saying our parents only had me to use me?”
“Unfortunately, yes,” Liam said, regret and sympathy blazing in his eyes. “Omegas are powerful, but they’re also dangerous. If the wrong people control them, they can cause great harm. Our grandmother was an omega, and her handler murdered her when they could no longer control her.”
A violent shiver racked my body at the thought of such a fate, and I dug my fingers into the wood of the table as if it could somehow anchor me to reality amid the storm of emotions raging within me. Was this why Liam had kidnapped me? To pick up where our father left off and become my handler? What in the ever-loving fuck was a handler?
“Is that why you brought me here?” I asked, my resolve wavering with fear and uncertainty. “Are you planning on taking Josef’s place and becoming my handler?”
Liam’s face contorted with disgust as he quickly shook his head. “No, Liza. That’s not why I took you. I had to protect you. That’s why I took you from the Kellers. I couldn’t let them have control over you.”
“Ty would never do that,” I bit out. “The Kellers weren’t even aware I was an omega.”
Liam’s jaw dropped at that, and if I looked hard enough, I’d be able to watch the cogs turning in his head as he tried to process this new information.
He frowned and shook his head. “Of course they knew,” he said, more to himself than me. “They were just pretending not to. That’s why they married you to Ty Keller. They wanted to use your power for their own purposes.”
“No,” I snapped. “You’re wrong. They didn’t know. The Mims knew. My parents—myadoptiveparents,” I clarified. “When I began showing symptoms at thirteen, they took me to a doctor who put me on hormone suppressants to keep the symptoms at bay. Not even the doctor knew what to expect from me. As for the Kellers…” I closed my eyes and breathed deeply to cool my blood. “They treated me like one of their own, and when they did find out, they went above and beyond to protect me and never once tried to exploit my abilities.”
Liam shifted in his chair and avoided my gaze. After a moment of tense silence, he looked back at me. “I, uh… I had a plan.” He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.
Dread surged through me. “Which was?”
He gave a resigned sigh. “I was planning to kill the Keller pack.”
My senses were jarred, as if I had just been punched in the face. I gasped for air, my chest tightening. “You were going to kill them?” I choked out in horror.
“Only because I believed they’d kidnapped you and were trying to turn you into their own weapon of destruction,” he said defensively.
I shook my head. “That doesn’t make it right, Liam. They’re my family. Ty is my mate.” Then I remembered something else—something he likely didn’t know. “We’re fated, Liam. Ty and I are fated mates.”
He groaned and twisted his hands through his hair. “Well, that definitely does change things. There’s no way I’d be able to kill Ty now. Not without killing you, too.”
“Damn right you can’t,” I hissed. The room vibrated again, but I couldn’t bring myself to care. For a moment, I considered giving in to my power and bringing the whole fucking house down, but maybe not yet.
My head swam as I tried to process everything Liam had just revealed.
“Is this what you do, Liam?” I asked barely above a whisper. “Take matters into your own hands like our father?”
“Sometimes it’s necessary,” he said, unapologetic. “But I’m not our father, Liza. I’m just trying to protect you.”
“By kidnapping me? By hurting my family?”
“Your mother was never supposed to be hurt,” Liam said, smacking his palm on the table. “As for taking you, I did it to protect you, to save you from a fate that would have been much worse. I won’t apologize for doing what was right.”
I wanted to argue, to keep lashing out at him, but… he believed he was doing what was best for me, even though it went against everything I had ever been taught. It didn’t make it right, but it was getting harder and harder to stay angry at him.
“Can you really protect me, Liam? Or are you just dragging me into the same darkness that consumed our father?”
For a moment, Liam didn’t answer. Then, with determination lacing his words, and his eyes full of sadness, he said, “I’ll do everything in my power to keep you safe.”
I studied him, looking for any sign of deception, though I saw nothing but the truth. I was certain that no matter what the future held, Liam would do whatever it took to protect me, even if it meant following in our father’s footsteps.
Slowly, the house stopped rumbling, leaving a tense silence hanging in the air. Liam watched me intently, as though waiting for another outburst, but I was spent, the anger that had fueled my power now replaced by a hollow ache deep within.
“Wait a minute,” I said, suddenly remembering something that had been bothering me. “You. You’ve been talking inside my head… even back at the Keller Estate, right? How did you do that?”
