The Four Beta Brothers
Chapter 97

JUNIPER

"Ethan's in the bedroom. I'll go get him," I lied, trying to keep my heart steady. I knew this wasn't some casual visit. After finding out about the principal's connection to his hunter brother, I was sure he was working with Beta Burrell, too. It explained all of his unprofessional behavior towards me. "You're not a very good liar," he said, moving in front of the hallway and cutting me off from the bedroom before I could get there.

I had hoped I could get into Ethan's bedroom and lock myself in there. Principal Clandestine saw right through my plan. He wasn't going to be easily fooled. I stepped back towards the kitchen, making a point to keep distance between us. "What are you doing here?" I asked again, hoping this time he would answer. If I couldn't hide, then I had to delay him long enough for Ethan to return.

"That answer should be obvious. I'm here for you, of course." The principal held a threatening smile, making no effort to hide his sinister intent.

"If you wish to talk to me, then make an appointment during school hours. I don't owe you my free time." I took another step back, glancing around the room for any kind of weapon. If the principal decided to attack me, then I wanted something to try to defend myself with.

"You really should watch your tone. I'm sure you understand exactly who you're dealing with by now. I know what you've been up to, Juniper, and you've pissed off some pretty powerful people, myself included." He took a step forward, making my body tense. I wouldn't freeze. Not this time. If he tried to do anything, I was ready. I extended my claws, hiding my hands behind my back to hide the gesture.

"Why are you doing Beta Burrell's dirty work? What did he promise you to sink to such levels?" I asked.

"Don't try to distract me with your questions. This isn't my first time dealing with a nuisance like you. Now, I'm going to give you two choices. You can either come with me quietly, and leave Ethan out of all of this. Or, you can choose to be a pain, and I'll make sure Ethan's reputation gets ruined to the point that he'll be nothing after that. He won't become the next beta. He won't be able to be hired at another school. He'll be less than you are."

Principal Clandestine smirked, as if he knew exactly what I would choose. He actually thought threatening Ethan's reputation would get me to fold.

"Okay, I'll go with you," I said. "Just let me grab some clothes."

"That's a good girl," he said, making my entire body cringe. I never wanted that man to say something like that to me again.

I started walking towards him slowly. I glanced at the front door. If I was fast enough, I could get through it and make a run for it. My chances all depended on how much the principal trusted that I was actually giving into his threat.

I turned as if I was about to head to the bedroom, but at the last second, I bolted for the door. I ripped it open and screamed, "Ethan!" as loud as I could. I knew he wouldn't have gone far to make those phone calls. I just hoped I was loud enough to get his attention.

I wished I could link him, but there were only two ways I would be able to do that. If I was accepted into the same pack, I would be able to link with all of the brothers, but that required alpha approval. The other way was for Ethan to mark me as his mate. One day, hopefully soon, I would be able to link Ethan, but that didn't help me now.

I pushed my muscles to move as fast as they could, but I hardly got out of the door before I was yanked back by my hair. Principal Clandestine threw me back onto the ground so hard that it knocked the air out of my lungs. "You insolent brat!" he snarled. He was furious, and I had just made everything worse.

He came at me again, but this time I slashed him in the face with my claws. I thrashed my legs, kicking him in the gut in the process. He doubled over, giving me just enough time to roll away from him. I was on my feet seconds later, and I ran straight to Ethan's bedroom.

The principal's footsteps followed behind me, but I didn't dare spare the time it'd take to look back at him. I bolted into the bedroom and slammed the door shut. I locked it, and not even a second later, a thud echoed in the room from the weight of the principal being thrown against the door.

"You're going to regret crossing me!"

My heart raced as I looked around the room for anything that I could use to help defend myself. Even if I hadn't been properly trained, I knew how to swing an object. No matter what happened next, I refused to go down without a fight.

The banging against the door got more intense, and it sounded like a large animal was slamming its whole body against the door. I inhaled deeply, and the scent of a werewolf filled my nose. The principal had shifted into his wolf form, and I knew he was serious. I stripped off Ethan's shirt and shifted into my own wolf form. I knew I wasn't very strong or large in wolf form, since I was only an omega, but I also knew it was better to fight a wolf in wolf form.

The door started to splinter, and I knew it wouldn't be long until the principal completely broke through the door. I moved to the other side of the room to give myself as much space as possible from the door when it finally gave way.

The door shattered with the next hit, and a large reddish-brown wolf stood in front of me seething. Principal Clandestine was an alpha, which automatically gave him a size and strength advantage over me. I knew that, but it was different actually seeing him standing in front of me.

I knew my best chance would be to use my nimble body to get away from him, hoping my smaller size would allow me to move faster.

The principal snarled and growled, and then he lunged with his mouth open, ready to tear me to shreds.

***

AXEL

I looked through the box we dug up, looking at every scrap of paper in it.

"What are you doing?" Asher asked. He was driving the rental car while I sat in the passenger seat.

"Our lives are being threatened over this box of papers. I want to know why this is worth killing over," I said.

It was dark outside, which would have been a disadvantage to a regular person. My werewolf eyes had no issues seeing the documents, though, and it allowed me to hide what I was doing under the guise of night.

"You saw that note. They warned us no funny business." Asher's grip on the steering wheel was tight, and his voice was void of emotion. He was not as skilled at hiding his stress as I was.

"We're in a car. I doubt they can see what I'm doing here while following us." I didn't stop what I was doing. Even if it was dangerous, I couldn't tear my eyes away from the words in front of me.

It was one thing to know my father was involved in all of this treachery, but to see it with my own eyes was something completely different. There was an unsent correspondence addressed to C.C. talking about poisoning the alpha's family and the payment to come after completing it. There was another contract with C.C. to kill Juniper, dated over a decade ago. There were countless receipts and letters, all proving the schemes my father was involved in-not just ones that involved the planned murder of Alpha Williams. It was almost unbelievable. He was such a careful man, yet he kept all of these things that tied him to the worst crime a werewolf could commit and so many other small crimes. It seemed careless and unlike him.

But all of this was from over a decade ago. Maybe the reason my father was so careful now was because his carelessness resulted in the death of his son. Maybe James' death affected him more than I realized, just not in the ways I would've wanted. "We can't give them all of these things," I said. "If we do, Father might get away with everything."

"Alpha Williams is a sensible man. If all of his beta's sons come to him and tell him of the crimes of their father, I'm sure he'll at least look into the situation," Asher said.

I hoped he was right, but I didn't want to rely on hope. "Yeah, but what if Father has already poisoned the alpha's mind against us? What if he doesn't find the proof he needs, and he thinks we're the ones lying? Father has been his beta since before we were born. Learning of a betrayal of that kind isn't easy."

"We don't have a choice. Nathan's life is at stake," Asher said, his knuckles turning white against the steering wheel.

"We do," I said simply. I took one of the correspondences our father wrote to C.C. from the box and folded it twice before slipping it into my pocket.

"What are you doing?" Asher glanced over at me briefly before returning his eyes to the road.

"I'm keeping some reassurance," I said.

"They told us not to try anything funny."

I smirked at Asher. "Since when have I done anything I was told to? Besides, I doubt they'll notice one piece of paper missing from all of this. I doubt they even know everything that's in this box. James stole this from our father's office years ago, and unless he kept a catalog of everything that could incriminate him, I doubt he even knows what this box contains."

Asher didn't respond right away. He tapped his finger against the steering wheel, and I could see the gears turning in his head.

"Grab my phone and take pictures of what you can," Asher said suddenly. When I hesitated to move, he smirked, "They won't know if we keep pictures of the documents, right?"

"Right," I agreed, a weight being lifted off my chest.

I unlocked Asher's phone to take the photos, but the screen it opened to made me pause. He was in the middle of writing a message to Juniper, asking what he could do to fix things between them. The last word was cut off, as if he had been in the middle of deleting the message when he was interrupted.

My heart ached for my brother. He was just as much Juniper's mate as I was, but he let his jealousy get the best of him. Knowing the truth of shared mates seemed to change him, but I knew he was kicking himself for what he had done to Juniper and felt like she deserved better.

He could be better for her. He was one of the hardest working people I knew, and I had full faith he could do anything. If he tried, he could be exactly the kind of person Juniper deserved, but in the end, it was up to Juniper if she was willing to trust him enough to give him that chance.