Chapter 4.-2
“She is Chalmer Basin now,” Larson interjected. “She is mine.”
So Nyx hadn’t gotten what she wanted last night. Did she know who I was last night? I hadn’t told her that I was the new king, only named my previous clan. Since she couldn’t get Larson, had she set her sights higher?
I was careless last night, and so close to my goals. I hadn’t become king to throw it all away over a redhead in a lace dress. Fury replaced my obsession, but I forced it to cool and harden. I would not lose my head over this. I hadn’t given a shit about her sexual past last night, and caring about it now meant last night meant more to me than I wanted to admit.
She’d used me. I knew she’d used me. It was pointless to care about being another notch in her
bed.
Still, I couldn’t abide a wolf who couldn’t respect their mate. Loyalty was our strongest trait, and clearly, she wasn’t capable of it.
Forcing myself to relax in the chair, I focused on business. “Tell me about your clan.”
When Larson and his soon-to-be bride left, I returned to my room to discover that it wasn’t empty. Duke turned from the window and frowned. “I don’t think bleach will be enough. You may have to set it on fire before the hotel can let anyone else sleep here.”
He wasn’t wrong. The sheets had been changed, the carpets and upholstery cleaned, at my request, but it still smelled of sex.
And her.
“You were at the ball.”
My second-in-command and oldest friend raised an eyebrow. “And you were not? I was told you played the hero to the humiliated beauty in the bold dress. Did you enjoy yourself?”
I shrugged. “What did you learn?”
“Of the girl?”
“Of the clans, Duke. I know all I need to know about the girl. She’s nothing more than a one-night
stand.”
A small smile played on his lips. “Strange. I didn’t say otherwise.” When I growled he just chuckled. “I learned that King James has given them their freedom for a long time. He was as lazy with them as he was with everyone else. All twelve of the clans here are cordial with each other, but there’s
Chapter 4-2
Claim
tension. Chalmer Basin is the biggest clan and therefore Alpha Larson has the most power when it
comes to clan skirmishes. The Callahan clan is led by Bruce. They call him the Golden God and
he’s well-liked.”
“I suppose it makes sense that they would want their clans united, even if Bruce didn’t get it with his daughter. His niece will do it.”
“Linda is not Bruce’s niece. She’s Nyx’s cousin through her mother, but Bruce and Nyx’s mother never married. Apparently Nyx’s mother died when Nyx was born, and Bruce took her in to raise her
himself. He never married.”
“So the clans are stable?” Something felt a little off, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. It didn’t matter. If the clans were stable, that meant my job would be a little easier.
Duke hesitated. “From my intel last night, yes, but I think we need more information.”
“We’ll get it. All I need to know is if the clans can hold their own for a little longer. A newly crowned king should make them behave for a little while. We’ll meet the rest of the alphas here and then float the rumors that I’m continuing the trip. That should give me at least a month to head into the
mountains.”
“You’re going to get yourself killed.”
“We both know I’d make a shitty king anyway. Rune will make a better king.” My brother, Marrow, should have been king, but he was dead now. Murdered, and I intended to find out who did it. If I didn’t make it out of the mountains, Rune, my nephew, would be crowned. At twenty-two, he still had some growing and learning to do, but I’d set plenty of good wolves in place to guide him.
I’d never planned on being king for long anyway. I was shit at politics.
My brother’s killer hadn’t wanted power. He hadn’t wanted Marrow’s clan or title. He hadn’t wanted blackmail or information.
He’d simply wanted Marrow dead.
My brother had left one clue to the identity of his killer, mailed to me on a fucking postcard a day before he died, with a picturesque view of the Greenville Mountains.
Known to the shifters as Shadowed Moon Mountain, or the exiled mountain.
On the back was a single name.
Morven.
I had no idea what that name meant. Even after the mountains were exiled, the king at the time had kept spies in place, but that was three kings ago. Slowly, the new kings cared less and less for
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the mountains filled with wild rogues and magic. King James hadn’t even sent anyone to the
civilian town at the base of the mountains to gather some intel or even rumors.
I had nothing but a name.
Clam
Duke was right. I probably was going to get myself killed going in there, but Marrow had been my family. For a long time, it had just been the two of us and our baby sister. She’d been gone for
nearly two decades now.
Rune didn’t need me. He had a clan who still adored him and a bright future ahead of him.
And I had nothing. Rune was my own family, and if I could leave him the legacy of a crown while avenging my brother, then that was more than enough for me.
A knock at the door startled me out of my thoughts, and one of my guards walked in. “Forgive the interruption, Your Highness, but there’s an alpha here to see you. Bruce Callahan.”
Was there? I grinned ferally. “See him to the conference room.”
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