< Chapter 31-2
Chapter 31-2
Claim
I spent the day prepping for the alpha’s meeting and directing the guards. The council dogged my
every move, and I was late to dinner. I half expected to find the table empty, but there Kiana sat,
drumming her fingers on the table with one hand and reading a book with another.
“I brought tacos,” I said, hating the hesitation in my voice. In jeans and a T-shirt, she didn’t look like
she was playing games.
“Great. I’m starving.” Putting the book down, she straightened.
She’d set the table and put out a couple of beers. Cautiously, I sat the bag down. “What are you
reading?”
“A romance novel,” she said with a dry laugh. “Amelia’s little joke. Turns out it is enjoyable, though.”
I wasn’t about to touch that one with a ten-foot pole. “I gather you know that they’re coming.”
“Just a few days. Yeah, I hate waiting, so at least it’s not a few weeks.”
I sat down and she just stared at me. “If you pass the bag over, I can just serve myself.”
“Shit. Sorry. Tired.” Opening the bag, I doled out the tacos. “How is Razor’s Edge coming?”
“I’ve ordered new furniture and worked on the menu. And I placed an ad for employment.”
“Don’t bother with that. I’ll assign some people to work for you.”
“No.” Eyes wide, Kiana shook her head. “No, way. I don’t want a bunch of people forced to work for me. They want to work for me, or Razor’s Edge doesn’t open.”
“You could have told me that before you spent the money to buy new furniture,” I said grumpily.
She chuckled. “Worried about the bottom line? I thought this was the richest pack in the
mountains?”
“It is, because I’m worried about the bottom line.”
“Fair enough. I mean it, though, about the staff. I don’t want them if they don’t want to work for me,
and I understand that might mean Razor’s Edge doesn’t re-open. If that’s the case, I’ll turn it over to someone else. If I’m ever going to be safe here, really safe and accepted, then I’m going to have to
stand on my own.”
Stand on her own.
Slowly, I relaxed. She’d decided to stay. “All right.”
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< Chapter 31-2
“I want transparency about when the alphas come. You don’t hide anything from me.”
Claim
“Or you from me.” I lean on the table and study her. “Your father and Morven were friends. Tell me
what you know.”
Kiana paled a little and picked up her trembling hands taco. She took a few bites and chewed while she collected her thoughts. “All right. I was a child the first time that I met Morven. I don’t think he was an alpha then because he was around far too much. Uncle Morven, he forced me to call him until I got older. Then he told me to do away with the childish title. That’s when I realized he was a
disgusting pervert.”
“Did he touch you?” I growled.
“No. My father wouldn’t allow it. I told you, he wanted me pure,” she laughed darkly..
“Anyway, that information doesn’t help you. How long has Morven been an alpha?”
“Eight years.”
“That sounds about right. That was when my father promised me to him, and unlike Thornston, I think my father meant it. It was one of the reasons I ran to Wisteria Woods.”
“Did Morven kill anyone? Does he have a red wolf?”
Frowning, she shook her head. “No, he’s grey, but I know who you’re talking about.”
“The red wolf? You know who that is?!” I nearly rose out of my seat. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Kiana sipped from her beer and stared at me. “You didn’t ask.”
“That’s the wolf that took Cora. You know that, right? You’re still keeping so many secrets.”
“Maybe, but not this time. I didn’t tell you about the red wolf because I don’t know who he is. He never spoke to me, and I don’t know his name, but I have seen his wolf. Red like a fox and massive.
”
“How long did he hunt and kill for your father?”
Kiana shrugged. “For as long as I can remember.”
“And in all that time, you never learned his name? Never spoke a single word to him?”
Her hand shook. “No. He was the only wolf who scared me more than my father did.”
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