Until now.
Nowhe’s sucked a woman into his web, the one woman in the world I couldn’t destroy even if I wanted to.
My scent match.
“Well, I’m not fond of her,” I lie.
He gives me a long, considering look. He’s trying to read me, but the mask I learned to protect myself is too good now. I’m twenty-five. I’ve been working on this mask since I was nine years old.
When the corners of his eyes pull and his lips flatten slightly, I know he failed to read me.
He pushes his chair back and gets to his feet. “Well, if she ever bores you, say the word. I wouldn’t mind her spending the night in my bed. Toss her out, I’ll scoop her up, and I’ll give her everything she needs.”
It’s a threatanda warning.
He put her into our lives to watch us and to ensure good behavior. Maybe he knows she’s our scent match. Yes, he would know.Shewould have told him. His pawns tell him everything.
And he would have heard what happened at the mate-bonding ceremony when we were ready to go to war for her. Either way, he knows we’re not about to let her go. And especially not now we’ve bitten her and claimed her as ours.
If we toss her into the street, he’ll fuck her.
Ouromega.
Knowing my dad, he’ll send photos and even a home video to rub it in our faces to prove he had.
He walks toward Archer, whistling happily with both hands in his pockets.
Archer clenches his hands into tight fists, his expression blank. I’ve seen the same look on his face before. I know what it means.
Trouble.
Dad nearly destroyed him before I intervened with a promise to keep secrets that would put him in jail for the rest of his life. I catch Archer’s eye and shake my head. He isn’t worth it. Archer’s lips flatten, and he steps aside.
My dad chuckles as he pulls one hand from his pocket and opens the door into the house. “If you ever decide you want to switch sides…”
“Not happening,” Archer grates out, which only makes my dad laugh as he enters the house.
“Your loss,” he calls out.
“Lottie!” I shout after him.
My dad peers over his shoulder to say, “Next week. Thirty minutes. I won’t tell you what will happen if you try to free her from our arrangement.”
He leaves one word unsaid.Again. We tried it before, and now we have another live-in spy to deal with. A spy we nearly took to our beds, and would have been none the wiser, if we hadn’t woken up earlier than usual to surprise our scent match with breakfast in bed, only to find her happily chatting away with the enemy.
It was a betrayal none of us had seen coming.
With rage simmering in my veins, I watch my dad long past the point I’ve lost sight of him. Until I hear the faint sound of an engine starting. A sign he’sactuallyleaving. Only then do I turn back to look at the cake on the table.
None of us eats in the backyard anymore. The first and only time was when we discovered Veronica eavesdropping from the dining-room window.
So, of course, this is where Juniper Harrington would want us to eat our first meal together.
My gaze lands on the cake in the center of a table set for four.
It looks perfectly innocent. Just like Juniper. But inside, it’s poison.
With one hard yank of the white tablecloth, I send the cake, along with the plates, coffee, and mugs, spilling onto the grass.
