“Um, you seem to be forgetting something. What if the hearing doesn’t go the way Zachariah is expecting?”
“Then you come home with us,” he repeats, his voice tight.
I blink. “Zachariah would bring down the wrath of the triumvirate on your entire pack?”Not to mention Julien.“How in the hell could that be considered doing what’s best for them?”
“If that situation comes to pass, we’ll have to deal with it.” Doc’s jaw tenses. “Zachariah is my Alpha. I am bound to obey him.”
Not exactly a ringing endorsement for Zachariah’s leadership. Is it possible Zachariah has somehowcommandedsustained obedience? I’m not entirely sure how the whole Alpha command thing works, but maybe Doc isn’t as unaffected by his brother’s unreasonable behavior as he tries to pretend.
Can I use that to my advantage?
I glance around at the three other shifters in the room. They take orders from Doc, albeit reluctantly, but if he wanted to go against Zachariah’s wishes, where would their loyalty fall? I guess that’s something I’ll have to leave to chance. For now, I’m going to do what I can to get Doc on my side, or at least get him to see his brother’s behavior is not doing his pack any favors.
“So…” I say. “Why do they call you Doc? Are you a doctor?”
“Not a medical one,” he responds. “I have a PhD in biology.”
I nod, not bothering to hide the fact that I’m impressed. Not many shifters bother with higher education. “Is that how you knew how the drug would affect me?”
He shakes his head. “I knew how it would affect you because I developed it.”
“I see…”Not really.“That seems like an awful lot of work to kidnap me when a plain old horse tranquilizer would have worked.”
“Your biology is unique,” says Doc. “Zachariah wanted to be certain nothing would be damaged.”
Of course, because then I might not be able to be his alpha baby factory.
I tilt my head. “You were able to create a custom tranquilizer in only a few days? That’s pretty impressive.”
“No,” he says. “I actually developed the drug two years ago when Zachariah first learned of a male omega’s… capabilities.”
“Twoyearsago?”
His gaze passes over me. “One of my instructors used to work for the triumvirate. He mentioned something in passing about some old myths related to male omegas. I was intrigued, so I looked into it a little further, only to find they weren’t myths at all.”
“I get how you might have found some truth to the old stories, but if everyone thinks male omega pregnancy is a myth, then how did you get enough information to develop an omega safe drug?”
“There was a research project funded by the triumvirate,” he replies. “The records were well hidden, but—” He stops, cocking his head to the side.
Outside, there’s the sound of a vehicle pulling to a stop in front of the house, and a bone-deep terror fills me.
My time’s up.
Zachariah is here.
Fifty-Nine
Julien
Somehow,thefactthatStevens killed Randall is both shocking and entirely unsurprising. Given what little I know about him, I’d definitely expect him to try to bulldoze his way through problems either with money or, in this case, with murder.
But something about him waiting to reveal this untilnowis off.
Stevens sits back in his chair, a smug smile on his face as if he just showed off a winning poker hand and is prepared to take the pot. Which I suppose he sort of has… in a way.
If the asshole’s claim to be the new Alpha of the Sweet Water pack is valid, then that definitely complicates things. My gaze darts toward Luke. For one, if Stevens is the Alpha, that puts Randall’s heir in an extremely precarious position right now.
But then again… if Stevens were as sure of himself as he’s acting, why would the offer to buy Keir ever have come up? That’s a lot of money to pay for something he thinks he already owns.
