And then some.
Randal desperately wanted to open the door and walk in before Luca, but he knew not only would Luca hand him his head, but their entrance needed to seem natural. Since this was Luca's apartment, it would be natural for him to walk in first.
"Are you hungry?" Luca asked as he unlocked the door, pushed it open, and stepped inside. "I can make us something to eat."
"I could eat," Randal replied as he followed Luca into the apartment.
He didn't like how silent it was. It hadn't been that long since Trent had called them. If what he said was true, Ralph and Raymond should be here.
So, where were they?
He quickly scanned the inside of the apartment. It was hard to tell if anything had been disturbed since he'd never been here and had no idea what it normally looked like, but there was steam coming off the pizza on the dining room table. Considering Luca hadn't been here in a couple of days, that seemed rather suspicious to Randal.
As soon as Randal shut the door, he felt a presence behind him. Before he could turn, someone punched him in the back of the head. Randal grunted as he stumbled forward, pain exploding in his head and making him see stars.
"Randal!"
He heard Luca's cry and roared, his bear coming to the surface, enraged at the panic in Luca's voice. He'd always been one to avoid violence if he could manage it, but not this time. Randal flicked out his claws in a partial shift as he spun, raking them over the chest of the man behind him. His brother's loud shout clued him in to who had attacked him.
Randal swung out with his claws again, raking them across his brother's face. Raymond cried out and grabbed his bloody face as he dropped to his knees. Randal kicked out with his foot and nailed Raymond in the head. The man flew backward, crashing into the wall before sliding to the floor.
When he turned back around, looking for Luca, Randal's heart froze in his chest at what he found. His father stood on the other side of the room, a shorter man standing next to him. He had Luca clenched in his arms, his hand wrapped around Luca's throat.
A third man, one Randal didn't recognize, stood with his back pressed to the wall, a laptop clutched in his hands. His eyes darted nervously between Randal and Ralph.
"Well, well, well, look who finally found his balls."
"Hurt a hair on his head, and I will end you," Randal warned as he looked at his father, dismissing the man against the wall. He felt no guilt at those words. Ralph held Randal's entire world in his hands.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk," Ralph said. "Is that any way to talk to your father?"
"You're not my father," Randal spit out. "You're just a sperm donor who got lucky my mother even gave you the time of day."
Ralph tightened the grip he had around Luca's throat. "You always were a disappointment."
Randal felt like rolling his eyes at his father's words. Like he hadn't heard that his entire life. They no longer had the ability to hurt him. "Let Luca go."
He really wished the others would hurry the hell up and get in here.
"I warned you what would happen if you didn't kill that interloper."
Randal snorted. "You threatened to hurt Nana if I didn't kill my new alpha. Did you really think I would do it?"
"He is not the alpha!" Ralph shouted.
"Yes, he is, and no matter how much you want to pretend otherwise, you can't change that fact. He won the challenge fair and square. Silver Lake Clan and the King Clan all belong to Rob Colton."
"It's my clan!"
"It's never been your clan," Randal spit out. "And do you know why?"
Ralph narrowed his eyes.
"If you had been any sort of decent human being, you might have had a chance to take over when Albert stepped down, but you're a monster. You use people to get what you want, and if they don't fall in line with your demands, you threaten them." Randal sneered at his father as he looked him up and down. "You can't even do your own dirty work. You have to pay people to do it for you."
Ralph snickered. "Excellent plan if I don't say so myself."
Was his father insane?
