“We can figure this out, Raoul. You and me, together. Just like when I tried to help you with your chemistry homework and was awful at it. But we always found a way through, remember? We just had to work together.”
He wavered. She could tell by the way his expression shifted to a younger look. Suddenly, he was more like the confused and angry teen she remembered. The one who often turned to her when the world got to be too much for him. She held out her hand and he started to reach back, just like he had when they were kids.
Success…almost.
She hadn’t counted on the other female in his life. Delphine had never given up anything in her life, not once she considered it hers. And she had a nearly psychic ability to sense when things were not going her way.
She’d been standing beside Raoul in her wolf form, clearly following the shifting currents in the room. Just as Raoul began to reach for Frankie’s hand, she shifted back to human. She surged forward, stumbling slightly as she found her human feet right between Frankie and her brother. And there she stood, panting and flushed, wearing only her spandex leggings while her magnificent breasts swung free. And suddenly all eyes were on her.
“Don’t do it!” she gasped as she turned to Raoul. “Frankie’s been lying to you. She’s been lying to us all!”
“I’m the only one who hasn’t been lying!” Frankie snapped, anger getting the better of her tongue. But no one was listening to her. Not with Delphine’s breasts bobbing in full view.
“I was waiting to bring this up with the alpha. I didn’t want to air the shame right in front of everyone.” She rounded on Frankie. “But you leave me no choice. I know you’ve been consorting with the bears. How could you betray your own sire to them? It’s disgusting.”
“What are you talking about?”
“We all know about your fascination with Detective Kennedy.” Her voice took on a singsong quality. “He’s the best shifter among us. We should all be more like Detective Kennedy.” Her voice dropped to an accusing register. “The grizzly Kennedy.”
“He’s a cop. He helps—”
“He helps himself.” She curled her lip. “And you apparently. Go ahead. Tell them all who you were sleeping with last night.”
“What?”
“Did you set Emory up? Did your pillow talk with the bear ensure your own sire’s death?”
“What the hell are you talking about?” The question was all bluster. Somehow Delphine knew that she’d spent the night with Ryan. Maybe she smelled the man on her or maybe she had spies watching Noelle’s apartment. Either way, just about anyone in the pack could go to Noelle’s apartment and smell them both there. Even if Frankie talked her way out of this, the attention would then shift to Noelle who was completely innocent.
“You’re sleeping with a bear,” Delphine pressed. When Frankie didn’t immediately deny it, she turned to the pack at large. “The Griz have declared war on us. They’ve attacked our alpha and poisoned our city. And now we find out how. Francesca Wolf has been a mole inside our own pack. She’s betrayed us to the bears!”
“That’s not true!” Frankie cried. “You all know me! I’ve been spent my entire life helping you, working for the pack.” She scanned their faces. Maybe at a different time they would have believed her. Maybe if they hadn’t just seen a man murdered before their eyes, they would have had room to put aside their fear and think clearly. But that wasn’t what was going on. And right now, every single pair of eyes looked at her with doubt. They didn’t know who to believe. Which meant she had to get her brother back on her side. So she appealed to him. “Raoul, why would I do that?”
She looked into his eyes and pleaded with him silently to remember all the things she’d done for him, all the ways she’d nurtured not just him, but the entire pack. Yet two seconds later, she saw that Raoul remembered something else entirely.
“Because you’ve always wanted to lead the pack. You told father that I wasn’t good enough. That I would be a disaster in charge.”
A sick dismay flooded her system. Raoul knew what she’d said to their father. The conversation had happened in private, but she’d guessed that Raoul would learn of it. He was smart, and he’d spent a good deal of his childhood learning about interesting electronic devices like bugs for eavesdropping. He probably had listening devices all over wolf territory. Hell, he might even have been surveilling Noelle’s apartment. Who knew what paranoia Delphine had fostered in him?
“Raoul,” Frankie said softly. “I would never hurt you.”
“But you did,” Delphine said, her words cold. “You cut him out. Your own brother. You never saw his worth.” She sidled up to Raoul, making sure her breasts bounced in his view. “But I see what he’s worth. I love him.”
Frankie didn’t think her brother was dumb enough to be taken in by a pair of magnificent boobs, but apparently she was wrong. He looked down at Delphine’s face and his eyes softened. Was he in love? With a shallow, social-climbing bitch just because she flashed her tits? Apparently so, because without even lifting his gaze from Delphine, he called out to the pack at large.
“Restrain my sister. We’ll lock her up downstairs while we make the Griz pay for what they’ve done to our alpha.”
“Raoul, no!” Frankie cried. “The Griz didn’t do this.”
He turned to her and smiled. It wasn’t the look of a man besotted by a conniving woman. And it certainly wasn’t the lost little boy she remembered from her childhood. This was all Raoul, supremely confident in his choices and gleeful even. “Didn’t they?” he mocked. “I think they did. And I think you were in cahoots with them.” He arched a brow. “And I think I’m the only wolf who can lead us out of this mess you’ve created.”
She’d seen it before. She’d even told herself that her brother was not the little boy she remembered, but she’d never really believed it. Not in her heart of hearts. Not until this very moment when she realized just how much she’d been holding on to a boy who maybe never was. Raoul’s expression told her everything she’d suspected but was afraid to believe. That he had orchestrated everything. That he had cold-bloodedly planned their father’s attack and to oust her from the pack in shame. Maybe he’d planned this from back when Hunter had died.
But the gloves were off now. He’d just shown her his true self, and she had to look to her own survival. No more trying to reach him. It had been a long shot anyway. Which meant she couldn’t allow herself to be grabbed or put in the restraining cells in the basement. She had to get to her father.
Emory was the only one who could stop Raoul and save the pack. And so she turned to run. She knew it made her look guilty as hell. She knew that she was abandoning Noelle and Hazel and all her friends, but she couldn’t help them if she was locked up or worse. She spun on her heel and took off.
Except Raoul had more friends than she thought. Aggressive ones hopped up on the serum.
