Filed to story: Claimed by My Ex’s Alpha Brother
I knew I’d displayed more emotion than I should have that night, something I intended to rectify. Once again, my body language was too tense, betraying too much emotion, and I knew I had to give an explanation.
“Lina Silvermoon is your intended,” I said, forcing the words out. “If these rogues did abduct her, then it’s a direct insult against you and our pack.” I clenched my jaw before taking a sip of my drink. “Just like Mother’s murder was.”
Magnus’s bushy eyebrows shot up, surprise flickering across his face. “You don’t talk about her often, son.”
I grimaced at his use of the word “son.” No matter how many years passed, the gaping wound of my mother’s loss never closed. “This situation with Lina reminds me that our enemies succeeded in taking her from us. We must remain vigilant. I swear I won’t fail you again in protecting your mate.”
Magnus regarded me, an unsettling intensity flickering in his dark brown eyes. “I know you won’t, Stephen,” he replied.
I forced my fingers to relax around my glass. I’d been away at Yale when my mother was murdered, but the painful memories clashed with those of my visits home in the months leading up to her death. Magnus had pressured her to change long-held traditions within the pack-changes she disagreed with vehemently. I remembered how her gaze had grown increasingly jaded, the light fading in her eyes as he pushed against her will. Just days after her death, he had enforced the changes she had been holding out against with no shame.
The same rage that had simmered within me back then flared now as I pictured my mom walking along our private beach, where her savaged body had been found. The story Magnus had spun-about how she was the victim of a “rogue wolf”-was one I’d later turned to my advantage as I established my secret rogue pack against him, relishing establishing the very enemy he’d concocted.
Yet here I was, tangled in a web of duty again-ever the dutiful son seeking his father’s approval. I had to pivot the conversation back to something I could control. “Even if those rogue wolves didn’t imprison Lina, they killed her parents. I think we’re her allies because we share a common enemy.”
“Have you noticed anything out of the ordinary working with her?” My father pressed.
Out of the ordinary? Lina was anything but ordinary. Her aptitude for working through business dealings was like nothing I’d ever seen.
I found her extraordinary in everything she did, but I only said, “She’s been quick on familiarizing herself with our deals and helped a lot. As you know, she brought Hamilton on board.”
Magnus sipped his drink, his eyes distant as he mulled things over.
“She carries herself with confidence,” Magnus said, “But at times, I think she’s a little uptight, like she’s hiding something. It shows in her body language, don’t you think?”
“Yes,” I said, carefully. “But that could be trauma from the rogue attack at the ceremony,” I suggested.
Magnus had seen Lina a few times this week in meetings and presentations at Blackthorn Corporation before he’d flown to Los Angeles.
Again, I thought of Lina’s panic attack in the elevator, and I hated how right my father was. I hated the thought of someone hurting Lina and causing that fear. I wanted to know where she’d been these five years but for very different reasons than my father. All she’d told us was that she’d been staying with friends in Philadelphia since she’d escaped the rogues. She hadn’t made any attempts to go see anyone. While I watched her at Blackthorn, my father had packmates watching whenever she left Blackthorn Villa.
Once again, the desire to protect and destroy anyone who might be responsible for the change in Lina made me take extra care of my expressions and tone. Luckily, reining in my anger in front of my father was second nature.
“I suppose so,” Magnus agreed. “But I want you to keep watching her closely. Understand?”
“Understood, Alpha,” I said.
Soon, Magnus dismissed me, and I left the club. But as I left, it hit me that I’d made a massive error tonight. My mind had been so full of Lina leaving Blackthorn tonight that I hadn’t considered the CCTV device fitted in the elevator. Even with the power down, the security cameras would have recorded everything as they were powered by individual batteries to maximize security.
With tension straining through every fiber of me, I drove back to the office. I went to the monitoring room, relieved when no security personnel greeted me. They must have been making their patrols.
I’d soon found the right cam, but…as I tried to play the footage, an error message came up on the screen. I kept rerunning the footage, only to be met with the same thing.
That is…convenient, isn’t it?
As I let myself out, riding the now-fixed elevator back down to the parking lot, I knew that only one other person had just cause to want to delete that footage.
Lina.
With astonishment, I realized she must have double-backed, as I had now, and had beaten me to erasing the footage. In a moment, I was searching the security footage of the parking lot, playing back the last few hours since Lina left to see if she had returned. But the only car after Lina’s car left was mine. Now, I was even more perplexed. Even I had to come on site to access the closed circuit to delete the footage. The only way Lina could have succeeded in wiping the footage remotely was if she’d bugged our network.
I thought of how I hadn’t let her out of my sight these last two weeks, but I knew that she’d somehow succeeded in slipping past me. The usual blend of infuriation and admiration confused the hell out of me as thoughts of Lina burned through me. As much as I knew I needed to keep her at arm’s length to prevent something like what had happened in the elevator from occurring again, I knew that I was going to have to keep an even sharper eye on her than I had been.
Lina
A text came in from Emily: “The footage is deleted. I’ve got it safely stored. You can access it on your USB. “Embarrassment squirmed through me as I wondered whether Emily had watched it. I supposed she had to watch it to know she’d gotten the incriminating evidence I’d asked her to delete.
As soon as I’d gotten to my car after leaving Blackthorn, I’d texted Emily about how I needed her to delete all security footage from the elevator camera from the last hour.
I opened up my laptop, the cool light of the screen bathing my face as I sat on the edge of my bed in the luxurious guest suite at Blackthorn Villa. After thoroughly inspecting the room for any suspicious surveillance devices the moment I moved in, I felt confident in being able to make calls to my friends without hesitation.
My heart still skipped with what had happened, and I desperately wanted something to ground me. If I’d been home, I’d have wrapped my arms around Betty’s soft little body, inhaling her earthy scent, and been instantly calmed.
So far, since arriving here, I’d only managed a handful of calls home. With it already being a couple of weeks since I’d left, I missed her terribly.
Feeling lonely, I video-called home.
“Mommy! Mommy!” Betty screeched, radiant with excitement.
I had the volume low, and I allowed myself to beam at her, my voice quiet compared to hers.
A smile blossomed across my lips, melting away the lingering tension I’d carried all day. I leaned forward, the warmth of her joy igniting a deep happiness within me.
“Hi, sweetheart! How’s my little ballerina?”
“Good! I’s practicing!” she moved back, twirling around. My heart swelled as she spun. “You’re doing so well. I miss you, baby.”
“Yes!” she giggled. “Look, look!” She exploded into a series of spins, wobbling a little as she laughed.
“My teacher says I’s the best!” she insisted, and I caught a glimpse of Matt on the sofa, his grin warm as he added. “Miss Hutton awarded you a prize, didn’t she?”
Betty nodded so vigorously that her black waves bounced. “I got a star.”
New Book: Veiled Desires of the Alpha King Novel
Dayson was the alpha of the largest pack in North America. Powerful figures from other packs sought to offer gorgeous girls as potential mates for Dayson. He steadfastly rejected these advances, he was not a pawn to be manipulated. But eventually there came a mysterious girl he could hardly say No. Who was she?