Chapter 42-2
Claim
“You don’t have to stay here and wait. In fact, I’m not sure I want you to wait for him at all. I talked
to Finn. He’s willing to meet with Claudine, but not until tonight. Why don’t you and he work at
Razor’s Edge, and I’ll come get you for dinner.”
“Thank you. I’m getting jittery waiting around here,” she sighed. “Now I’m going to be jittery waiting
around the restaurant.”
“Is there anything I can do to make you less jittery?”
“Sure.” Raising her head, she smiled at me. “You can tell me what you’re thinking when you look at
me with such annoyance.”
“I’ll see you tonight.”
Another car pulled up, and Kiana rolled her eyes. “There’s my ride. If there’s a dress code for this dinner tonight, you’ll have to give me some time to change.”
Bridget and Amelia climbed out of the car and scowled at me. They both made it clear this morning that they didn’t want to babysit the mate while the other alphas were here.
Kiana could clearly tell. “Well, this should be fun. I’ll see you for dinner tonight so we can play the
happy couple.”
With a sour note, she waltzed away, and I blew out my breath. I wanted to keep Kiana close with Morven coming, but she didn’t need to see him. Maybe I was an idiot for even making her see him at dinner, but I wanted him to know that she was under my protection.
For the rest of her life. Even if she wasn’t here.
Hours later, Morven still hadn’t shown. London, Claudine, and I sat around my conference table and argued without him, although there was nothing that we could do without a vote of all the alphas.
“Are we not putting too much trust in the Darkwyn coven?” London growled. “Would it not be best to kick them out to the mountains?”
“And how do you propose we do that?” Troy asked dryly. “We don’t own the whole mountains, and I imagine that might upset our own witches. Besides, they’re the ones warning us that something is brewing.”
“Or sending us on a wild goose chase,” London argued. “One witch is dead and another was terrorized. Maybe they are behind it. Amassing more power to take the mountains for themselves.”
Claudine raised an eyebrow. “Does this have anything to do with the week you spent at the coven
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< Chapter 42-2
den?”
“Excuse me?” London glared at her. “And how do you know that?”
Claim
“I have my sources.” Claudine grinned and inspected the ring on her hand and frowned. “All of this
is pointless. We can’t make a decision without Morven. Just where the hell is he?”
I had the same damn question. There was an unsettled feeling in the pit of my stomach for some
reason.
Morven did nothing without a reason, so if he was late, he had something up his sleeve.
“Call him again,” London insisted. “Maybe there was an incident.”
“Like what, they ran out of gas?” I tried not to growl. None of them trusted each other, so they all.
knew that Morven was up to something.
“He has a history with your mate, doesn’t he?” Claudine asked with an innocence that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Do you think that would be a problem?”
“Claudine, you do hear the most interesting things, don’t you?” I tried to keep the fury out of my voice. “Perhaps you’d like to expand on what you’ve heard or explain where you heard it from?”
“Just whispers in the wind.” She waved her hand. “It’s nothing to worry about. Many wolves have enjoyed themselves before they found their mates.”
My wolf rushed to the surface, but London cleared his throat before I could launch across the table and snap Claudine’s neck.
“And here, I thought your focus would be on Finn,” London said neutrally. “He is here, isn’t he? I’m certain you’ve missed him.”
She hissed, but before she could do anything, the door opened, and Jenson raced in. “Alphas. Sorry for the interruption.”
“You couldn’t even knock?” Claudine complained. She still had fury in her eyes as she looked at
London.
“Is it Morven?”
“No, there has been so sign of him. My contacts have gotten back to me about that other thing.”
Shit.
“And?”
“Your mate,” Jenson said without his usual snarl, “is in danger.”
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