“I’ve been accused of deception by many of you.” Liam prowled the narrow space that remained between the throng of bodies. “My intentions were never to mislead you but to mislead the perpetrator to buy myself time to corner them. Although you’re all entitled to your opinions on my manner of dealing with the halfwolf case, next time, voice your objections in a respectful manner.”
I reached toward the center of the table, seized the water pitcher, and poured myself a glass. Storm released a little squeak, reaching for my cup. I tipped it to his already parted lips. He took one greedy sip, startled, then spat it all out, not pleased at all with the taste, just like earlier. I chuckled, but a terse look from Mom had me quieting and refocusing on Liam who’d just run the pack through what Bea, Lori, and Nate had brought about.
“Can you take him a minute?” Dad whispered, passing me Storm before getting up.
As he loped through the dense pack, I propped Liam’s son on my lap and let him play with my thick braid that draped over my shoulder.
“She asked for it, my ass,” Camilla grunted. “Morgans are all disgusting and fucked in the head.”
I shot her a dirty glare, which she didn’t catch, much too fixated on poor Lori, who sank lower in her chair, narrow face pinkening.
Nate leaned toward her and whispered something in her ear that had her eyes turning up toward his. Although the fear didn’t completely melt off her features, whatever he’d said made her spine straighten.
“Too bad she didn’t come back from Boulder in a body bag like the rest of her kin.”
I turned in my chair this time and hissed, “Shut up, Camilla. Lori’snothinglike her mother and brother.”
Grant’s eyebrows drew low over his grass-green eyes. “I thought you loved Bea.”
“I do, but Bea asked to be turned.”
“Into a halfwolf? Did you really fall today, or did someone hit you in the head, because you sound brainwashed?” Suddenly, Grant winced, and then his eyes brightened with fury.
Nikki, stop engaging with your asshole ex and his asshole family.My Alpha’s growl made my attention snap off the Hollises.
Lucas reclined in his chair. “Can’t believe you went out with this douche canoe, Knickknack.”
“Betas were respectful in my time, Mr. Mason,” Grant’s father gritted out. “They didn’t go around flinging unmerited insults.”
My eyebrows popped upward.
“I respect respectable people, Hollis. Your son ain’t—”
“Lucas!” Liam’s command to drop it was loud and clear even though he added no other words, at least, not out loud.
Grant’s father cranked his chin high, assuming Liam was siding with him. I might’ve smirked had this been at all funny, but it wasn’t. Not even a little. It was tense and irksome, like watching fire consume the wick of a stick of dynamite.
Storm tugged on my thick braid. I didn’t think he’d done it to capture my attention, but he got it for the duration of the meeting. Especially after Dad returned with a long strip of bread crust. As Storm merrily drooled over the bread, I watched him like a hawk, fishing out the pieces I deemed too big for his narrow throat.
“Boulders, don’t work against me!” Liam’s impassioned tone drew everyone’s gazes to him. “Workwithme. Help me find solutions to either return the three halfwolves to their former selves or aid them in accomplishing full shifts by Friday’s full moon. A solution could earn you the title and responsibility of Beta.”
Grant’s father elbowed his kids, blatantly communicating his desire for one of them to step up to the challenge.
“What if we force them out of Colorado? Distance would eventually make them stop shifting,” someone suggested.
“Apparently, this was tried in the past with the humans Alex Morgan bit. They stayed halfwolves even far from the pack. But the larger problem isn’t their outward appearance. It’s their feral nature and their ability to transmit the defective gene.Bornhalfwolves aren’t violent by nature and their bodies don’t reject human food.Madehalfwolves feed exclusively on blood.”
“So basically, they’re vampires?” a ten-year-old sitting on the floor asked.
“Mighty furry and ugly ones apparently,” a tween tossed out.
“Vampires aren’t real,” someone else hissed.
“Perhaps we should rename this new species, Liam?” a woman sitting two tables down suggested.
“New species? They’re three . . . Unless others were allowed to live?” I recognized Avery’s voice even though I couldn’t spot him in the crowd.
“No.” Nate swallowed. “The others were all dealt with.”
