Lucy’s POV
The air cracked like a bomb a split second away from blowing up. Deep within my bones, I could feel a twisting that only happened whenever my wolf was kicked into the forefront of my mind-something I usually tried to avoid.
I gripped the sides of my chair to keep steady, and also to stop myself from lurching forward at Ahmad with the cry of frustration I had been keeping in for ages.
“Are you fucking kidding me, man?” A bewildered Shaun jumped to his feet. Eyes flashing with anger. “We come all the way here just for the old fart to dump all this responsibility on us? What was he thinking in these last few days of his messed up life?”
Seth placed a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “Shaun, it’s dad you’re talking about here. He didn’t do much for us but, this pack doesn’t deserve to fall apart just because he’s gone.”
But Shaun wasn’t having any of that. He shook his brother’s hand off his body. “Fuck all of them! What did they care when Mom died? They did nothing! And now not only are we supposed to ‘help’ them, we’re supposed to do it with-her!” He flipped his accusatory finger in my direction. “A woman that Dad probably fucked the brains out of that she doesn’t even have an ounce of self-preservation anymore.”
I stood up immediately, forced upright by that same raw force I had been fighting. In seconds, I crossed the distance between us and rammed my palm so hard into his face that the vibrations went up my wrist and into my brain.
My hand stung, and from the way a finger had folded awkwardly, I had probably sprained a finger too.
Shaun froze in place with his head turned to the side. The tanned skin I had hit already had an ugly red mark clearly showing the print of my fingers.
I couldn’t remember the last time I had been so angry with anything or anyone. Even with Daven, whatever anger I had held for him had morphed into a cold detachment over time.
But this Shaun and his piercing words . . .
Seth got to his feet and stood between me and his brother, acting as a human shield. I could smell the rage emanating from his brother-like he was about to shift at any moment.
I drew my neck and shoulders high. I couldn’t back down now. This was the moment I had to prove that if they pushed me too far, they would have another enemy to think about.
“Whore or not I am still a person, and I deserve respect. I will not accept your ridicule or arrant display of scorn.”
When the hot pool of lava in my veins started to cool off, I stepped back and turned to Ahmad. “One year isn’t enough time to teach overgrown men something as basic as respect.”
“Gods you-” Shaun hissed from behind his brother, but this time the last brother-Scott also gave him a rough shove on the back, effectively silencing him. But I was sure they weren’t doing it for me.
I scoffed and threw my gaze upwards. “Happy now, Daven?” Even in his death he still tormented me-taunting me at every chance that he got. He still lived through his children.
Ahmad moved to speak, but I raised a hand to silence him as I started walking out of the room. “No. I don’t need to hear anything else. I just hope that Moongrowl isn’t blown to dust in a week.”
Because there was absolutely no way on earth that I was going to sit back and accept disrespect from anyone. I had already spent the last three years of my life as a prisoner.
Freedom was going to be mine, even if I had to dip my hand right into the den of wild beasts to secure it.
—
The room I once shared with Daven-now completely mine-had been cleaned up after my wild episode the day before. I hadn’t wanted anyone to come across proof of how much the recent turn of events were affecting me, especially since even the cleaners didn’t seem to like me that much.
To most people, I had bewitched Daven and crawled my way into his bed in search of power. No one wanted to believe that the lustful beast had taken a girl who was barely an adult and taken her to his bed simply because he was attracted to her beauty.
And it seemed I was never going to be able to escape that misconception.
But, who said I needed to? As long as I was able to accomplish my mission, they could take their thoughts to hell with them.
One year. One year was all it would take.
Something folded neatly on my bed caught my attention, and I picked it up. A sheet of paper with a single sentence written inside of it.
I looked around my room, even though I was sure that whomever had dropped it would have been long gone by then.
The neat, elegant scrawl on the paper pointed to the writer’s sophistication. This wasn’t just some random letters with a random or mundane statement. Thought had clearly been put into the message.
To fully grasp the meaning of the words written, I had to read the sentence over and over again. Every time my eyes returned to the first alphabet, something hard tugged in the pit of my belly.
It was a threat.
“There is a score to settle . . .” the first part read, setting the theme of the message even before one can read too far. But it didn’t carry as much weight as the final words.
” . . . and only the blood of the Alpha’s triplets can sate my thirst for vengeance.”
I crumpled up the paper in my trembling hand and released a shaky breath and ran all the way to my extremities. Questions upon questions zipped through my mind.
First off, who could have written such a thing?
Second, why was this letter sent to me of all people?