Alpha’s Betrayal
Chapter 24

Remus Oklahoma City Oklahoma County, Oklahoma

A second guard hurried over quickly. Lynn Highborn only glowered at me once I released her arm. I narrowed my eyes at her before nodding to Bane. "Make sure they get where they're going," I muttered to my beta. He nodded before turning to the most senior guard, quickly disseminating directions. "Where are you sending them?"

Luna's voice was so quiet I almost didn't hear her. I blinked, turning back to face her. The steel had melted from her spine. Her shoulders drooped as she watched Bane escort the Lupus Claw holdouts towards the Range Rover. That woman just tried to hit her, I thought, my brows furrowing further. And her father didn't even speak up. Not a word. How could she-?

I cut off the internal monologue before I could get myself riled up any further. Reading people was part of running a successful business, especially when that business was selling luxury cars to luxurious individuals. Anger wasn't going to do anyone a lick of good right now.

"They're going to be held until they make the right choice," I said. Luna looked despondent. It still baffled me that she could look so crushed when those people had treated her so poorly-family or not. Given the way Lynn spoke to Luna, I was fairly certain they weren't blood related at all. "You still have to make a choice too, Luna."

She seemed to miss the second half entirely, pink tongue flashing out over her chapped l!ps. "Don't hurt them. Please." She lifted her chin, but she wouldn't quite meet my gaze. "I realize they aren't..." She trailed off, gaze shifting back to the Range Rover as it pulled away. Perhaps she rethought what she was about to label them. Her posture exuded defeat and exhaustion, but there was hurt and confusion in her voice. Realization, perhaps. "Please don't hurt them."

I exhaled cautiously, careful not to frown. "I don't hurt anyone for the hell of it, Luna," I said. She finally looked up at me, searching my face. "I promise. They are not going to be harmed. They're being held so they can't assist Marnet in any way."

She paused, opening and closing her mouth. Finally, she seemed to form her question in her mind. "What if they don't submit to you?" she asked quietly. "What then?"

I shrugged. It was perfectly possible. No one had a 100 percent success rate, not even me. A few wolves were going to run instead of submit, and a few more were going to try outright defiance in some misguided hope that their former alpha would swoop in at the last moment to assert their rightness in defending him. "Then they'll be cast out and they will have to leave my territory."

"Okay," Luna whispered. "Okay." She took a deep breath and nodded, more to herself than to me. "I...I need to get back home. My half-brothers..." She trailed off again, looking over her shoulder.

I followed her gaze, finally noting Tala was still there, hanging back and clearly pretending to be busy on her phone. "Your m-Your stepmother put your sisters in charge of them on the first night," I informed Luna.

Her silver eyes flickered upwards, her surprise unmasked. "She did? How? How do you even know that?"

I fought the urge to scoff. "Because when she indicated she had children at home, I allowed her to make a phone call. I'm not a monster, Luna. I wouldn't let children be left alone in a home unattended."

She paused, slightly taken aback. "Well...thank you. I really should get back, though. My step-sisters aren't exactly... maternal." Her l!ps twisted into something halfway between a grimace and a frown.

"I'll take you back to your home," I told Luna, finally reaching up to touch her elbow. She started - but this time, she didn't pull away.

Her brows knit together. "Don't you have things to do? I-"

"You don't have a car," I pointed out.

Luna frowned, glancing back at Tala. "Maybe Tala will drive me back," she suggested.

Tala looked up. "I'd love to, but I have a phone call to take," Tala replied, checking her watch, "in ten minutes. Sorry, Luna - I'd almost forgotten with all the chaos of the week. It's business."

Luna's frown deepened as she looked back at me. "Shouldn't you be on the call too, then?" she asked.

I shrugged one shoulder. "It's a financial meeting. I let Tala handle them unless she specifically requests my presence, which..." I paused long enough to pull out my smartphone to check it. "...she did not. So, I expect she will send me a summary when she is done." My phone still in my hand, I looked back at Luna. "Let me escort you back home, Luna."

"You really don't need to."

I sighed. "I insist. You're not going anywhere alone."

"Because you don't trust me?"

Where are all these questions coming from?"Because you were barely able to get out of bed yesterday, and you don't have a car." When she kept staring me down, I scowled and held up both my hands. "What? Is it so hard to believe I don't want you passing out in a stranger's car? Would you stop arguing with me if I just pretended to be your jailer instead?"

Luna considered me for a moment longer. "That's not what I meant," she said. "But I could use a ride, I guess, so, thank you. Where did you park?"

I snorted, already opening an app on my phone. "My beta has it. We'll get a ride."

Luna stared at me for a moment. "Are you serious? That's going to be, like, hundreds of dollars, Remus. I can't let you do that, I'll wait for Tala."

"Already ordered." I pocketed my phone, then pressed a hand to the small of Luna's back to start steering her towards the road where we would meet our ride. "It's really not an issue."

She shot me a suspicious glance over her shoulder. "I can't afford to pay you back," she stated plainly.

"I didn't offer to give you a ride so I could make you pay be back." What kind of man would do that? Well, Marnet, perhaps. "I offered to give you a ride home because you needed a ride home, and I'm at least partially responsible for the reason you can't use the ride you took out here." Before she could argue, I held up one finger. "Tala is my employee, after all."

The corner of Luna's mouth lifted at that. Finally, she nodded. "All right. It is a little bit your fault," she agreed. "Fine. You can give me a ride."

Despite myself, I smiled.

The ride back to Woodward County felt like it took even longer than the initial drive to Oklahoma City. An anxious silence had settled over us like a blanket. Thankfully, the driver had the good sense to keep to himself once he greeted us, but it did little to ease the way Luna worried her hands and picked at her linen pants as the car cruised down the highway. I knew she must be worried about her siblings - or step- and half-siblings, I guessed - but it weighed on me anyways.

Enough so that it was positively a relief when the car pulled up in front of a large ranch home, extended around the driveway in an L-shape. Luna all but threw herself out of the car, the door slamming behind her. I sighed, thanked the driver, then followed her out. As the dark Kia pulled away, I paused long enough to make sure to add a generous tip. Drivers who respected my silence were always my favorite types.

I pocketed my phone and hurried after Luna, letting myself in through the front door. In the sixty seconds it had taken for me to take care of the car, the home had already erupted into chaos. One of Luna's step-sisters was perched in a doorframe, shrieking something I couldn't even make out. The pitch made my ears ring. I ducked my head, barely noticing the other woman, hanging back and scowling fiercely at Luna.

Luna simply sighed, waving a hand in my direction. I think she got two whole syllables out before the older girl detached herself from the doorway and stormed over to me. For a moment, she looked just like Lynn, pointing a trembling finger at me. "You!" she snarled. I could sense her wolf just below the surface and my own stirred, the skin on the back of my neck starting to prickle. "You are not welcome in this home!"

The second woman finally moved, holding her elbows as she glowered. "She's right. We aren't Silverstreak wolves, and we don't plan to be."

The gentle prickle of anger was quickly becoming something much harder to ignore. My nostrils flared as I stood up straighter, about to address the clear disrespect when the front door slammed open. Two blurs racing through the foyer. One yelped, but both boys ended up behind their sisters, peering around their torsos.

Pinching the bridge of my nose, I forced myself to inhale deeply. "I suggest," I growled, looking from one of Lynn's daughters to the other, "that you take some care with how you address an alpha." I offered a wolfish smile. If my vision flashed red for just a moment, I pretended not to notice. "You're adults. So, unless you want to join your parents instead of stay at your home, you may want to reconsider."

"The boys?" the older one asked, pointing at the twins like I couldn't see them.

"They have another sister," I replied blithely. "And if all else fails, there are other options. There are plenty of responsible adults I am sure would look after a packmate's children. But as I would rather not be responsible for splitting up families, I'd prefer to leave that as a last resort."

After a few moments of silence, the older woman finally dropped her gaze. She turned around. "Nyx, Nox, c'mon. Let's go to your room." The boys didn't argue, allowing their sisters to herd them through the kitchen and down the hall. I huffed, pausing long enough to settle my irritation before turning back to Luna. But she was gone.

The front door had been shut, but her scent was not there. Swinging around back into the kitchen, I sniffed again, following the increasingly familiar scent of lilac blossoms and...something. I'd figured it out eventually, but for now, I followed the smell. The other family members had gone one direction, and Luna's scent went the other. There were only a few rooms that way.

I stopped in front of a door; it wasn't fully closed, so I nudged it open with a shoe. "Luna?" The door swung open. Luna stood in the middle of a small, plain room, her back to me as she stared at something on the floor. She bent down, running her fingers over shards of Honestly, I couldn't tell what the item used to be, only that it was broken into so many pieces, it would never be right again.

After a moment, she sighed, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. When she stood, she glanced over her shoulder at me, offering a weak smile. "Sorry. I was just looking for my things."

I frowned, looking around the tiny room. There were so few items in this closet, I was fairly certain she could fit everything in a standard moving box. She was already moving over to the drawers, pulling out a handful of clothing. "Is this how you live?" I demanded. The ranch home wasn't particularly luxurious, but the Highborns still seemed well-off. Their father had counseled Noah Claw, after all.

Luna shrugged, unbothered. "I think one of the boys must have been messing around in here," she said, nodding towards the broken item on the floor. "But I don't need much."

"Why did you even come back here? These people these people treat you like dirt, Luna."

She sighed and studied her fingers for a moment. I couldn't read her expression with her back to me, but the slump in her shoulders was telling. "They're still my family, you know. The boys are young; they don't know any better. You saw their mother. And the girls... Well, they're my family. Technically. They're all I have, especially after Marnet..." Luna trailed off.

My temper started to rise again. How could she be okay with this? It was obvious to me the other children had more - perhaps Lynn was more protective over the children she had given birth to, but that didn't change the fact she had taken her mate's oldest child into her home. There's no fvcking reason for this.

Oblivious to my aggravation, Luna crouched back down and pried up one of the floorboards. She pulled out a small box and carried it over to her desk. "What's that?" I asked, finally stepping further into the room. The glint of silver on the top of the wooden box seemed familiar, but I had only caught a glimpse.

"It's from my mother."

I peered over her shoulder and my breath caught. That wasn't a random decoration. That's the Silverstreak crest. My gaze flickered to the fingers tracing over the symbol, then to the woman herself. She's one of ours.

"Fvck, I really miss her," Luna sighed, a sad smile on her l!ps.

My heart twisted in my chest, and I closed the gap between us, resting my fingers against her soft wrist. "Luna," I murmured, careful not to pull her any closer. Her eyes were locked on her mother's box. I kept watching her face. "Luna, you do not have to be alone. You don't. Pay your respects to me and you will be welcomed to the Silverstreak clan with open arms. You can move to Texas and you never have to come back here. You will be protected for the rest of your life."

The woman turned, her hands still clutching the small wooden box. "You know what they say about things that sound too good to be true..." she said, still not quite willing to look me in the eyes. "I just learned a really hard lesson about that bullsh!t, anyways. I don't think I need another one."

I removed my hand to tap at the silver insignia. "That? That is the Silverstreak crest, Luna. The Ulfric family is a part of the Silverstreak Clan, and as your mother's daughter, that includes you, too."

Luna jerked her hands away, clutching the box to her chest like my mere touch might set it aflame. "Stop it," she hissed, looking up to glower at me. "I am a Highborn, from the Lupus Claw clan. I have been my entire life."

"Yes, but you're an Ulfric, too."