Page 64 of Crimson Heart

“He’s helping find something on Steve?” Jude asked. “Does he know about Danielle’s history with them?”

Charlotte nodded. “I told him.”

Jude grunted in displeasure, but Austin put his hand on his forearm.

“We were trying to keep this to us,” Austin said instead, leaving all judgment out of his voice.

“I don’t think that’s possible. The walls in this house have ears. Do you guys really think that the family hasn’t already overheard enough to piece together what’s going on? It’s better that Byron knows. He can help.”

Slowly, Jude nodded. “Can he?”

Charlotte looked straight at him. “Yes, he can. He loves me. He’s protecting me.”

Austin exchanged a look with his brother. “She’s got a point, Jude. Maybe we’ve underestimated Byron. If he’s using a bounty hunter to get dirt on Steve, it’ll be good for us. We need his expertise, and from what Wendell tells us, Byron is respected by the bounty hunters employed by the Gallaghers. It’ll supplement what we can find with our own methods.”

“You’re right,” Jude agreed. Then he addressed Charlotte, “Will he work with us?”

“Yes.” Charlotte’s face lit up. “He’ll do anything to prevent me from mating with Steve.”

Austin didn’t doubt it. He’d seen the way Byron looked at Charlotte, and he could still hear the words Byron had professed the previous night, when he’d prevented him from going into Charlotte’s room. He loved her. Right now, it didn’t matter that they had their differences with Byron. They had bigger problems. And if Byron could help them expose Steve Leon, they would take it as a win.

“So what lead do you have?” Charlotte asked, looking first at him, then at Jude.

They both hesitated, and silence spread between them. Austin contemplated his answer. If they told Charlotte what they’d found out already, it would make her even more worried.

“She has to know the truth,” Jude said, although Austin could see that he wasn’t happy about it.

Silently, Austin nodded. “Alright.”

Jude cleared his throat. “We found out that there’s a sexual assault charge against Steve that was eventually dropped.”

Charlotte’s face blanched, and her throat looked as if she was forcing down a piece of food that was too large to swallow.

“We’re trying to get a hold of the woman who accused him,” Austin added. “We believe that either Steve threatened her and her family, or they paid off the police to get the charges dropped.”

He could see the fear in Charlotte’s eyes now. Jude could see it too and pulled Charlotte into his arms. He stroked his hand over her hair.

“Don’t worry, Charlotte. We’ll do everything we can to protect you.”

As Charlotte buried her face in Jude’s chest, Jude locked eyes with him. Austin understood. If they couldn’t convince their father and the Werewolf Alliance to break the contract with the Leon pack, they would go against them to save their sister from a violent psychopath, even if that meant they had to break with their parents and the Alliance.

Austin gave a short nod, but he hoped that it wouldn’t come to that. Because breaking with the Alliance meant war.