Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 84465 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 422(@200wpm)___ 338(@250wpm)___ 282(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84465 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 422(@200wpm)___ 338(@250wpm)___ 282(@300wpm)
“Oh, it fits, all right,” Gabriel said dryly. “When your pussy gets wet enough and hot enough, you’ll be so fucking desperate you’ll make it fit. That’s what I’m trying to tell you—don’t be too hard on your mom. She can’t help herself—no female Were can when she goes into Heat.”
“Don’t you care that he’s doing that to her?” I demanded. “Don’t you care that he’s trying to get an heir with ‘Royal blood’ to replace you?”
Gabriel gave a mirthless laugh.
“Even if he does get her pregnant, the brat won’t replace me. Besides, I know my father—he’s been wanting your mother for years. He used to tell me and Christopher stories about her when he got drunk. About her long, silver-blonde hair and her eyes, like pure gold…” He lifted a strand of my hair and let it slide between his fingers. “Dios—like fucking silk,” he muttered. “I wonder who’s going to get to breed you, little Zoe?”
I didn’t want to talk about this anymore. It was frightening…and disturbing. My nipples still felt too tight and sensitive and the place between my thighs—what my stepbrother called my “pussy”—was hot and slick in a way it had never been before. I needed to change the subject.
“How many sisters did you have?” I blurted, not sure where the question was coming from. “I mean…how many did Esteban sell to other packs?”
Gabriel’s silver eyes hardened and he pulled his hand away, as though he’d been burned.
“Three. Two older than me. One younger. The last one—Consuela—was only three when our mother died.”
“And then your father married Christopher’s mom?” I asked.
He nodded.
“She already had him when they got married, you know. My father adopted him, hoping he’d grow up to be an Alpha.” He shook his head. “He wasn’t very fucking happy when Christopher turned up Beta instead. Not like it’s his fault—every Pack needs Betas too. If it’s all Alphas, there’s too much conflict.”
I was surprised to hear that my two stepbrothers weren’t actually blood related.
“I thought you two were half-brothers,” I said.
Gabriel shook his head.
“No. But it doesn’t matter—Christopher’s my brother in everything but blood. And we had an adoption ceremony for him, just like we did for you. So by Pack Law, he’s considered my full brother—just like you’re our little sister,” he added. He gave me a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “Just another little sister, traded away for the good of the Pack.”
I lifted my chin defiantly.
“Don’t say that! I’m not going—I don’t care what that bastard, Esteban says!”
I didn’t know where I got my determination—I’d had none when I was speaking to my mother. But I suddenly felt like I couldn’t just sit by and let my asshole of a stepfather sell me to the highest bidder!
My bravado didn’t impress Gabriel. He looked at me seriously and shook his head.
“It doesn’t matter if you refuse—the Pack Master’s word is law. That’s the way of the Pack. If he sends you away, you go. If you try to run, you’re dead.”
“Would he really kill me?” I asked, already knowing the answer.
Gabriel’s face hardened.
“No,” he said shortly. “He’d make me kill you. So don’t run, little mouse. I don’t want your blood on my hands.”
He turned abruptly and left me there, standing in the doorway of my room wondering what was going to become of me.
TEN
My stepfather and mother left the next day, right after breakfast. They didn’t say where they were going, but I already knew—they were going to negotiate my sale to another Were Pack. I would probably go to the Pack Leader due to my Royal bloodlines, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.
All during breakfast, I couldn’t meet my mother’s eyes. She didn’t meet mine either and I knew she probably wondered what I had seen from my vantage in the closet and feared the worst. She didn’t ask how I’d gotten out of her room, either so either she knew about the secret passageway or she thought I had sneaked out after the two of them went to sleep.
I kept my head down and barely touched my oatmeal. I just kept stirring the gluey mess with my spoon, trying not to make eye contact with anyone at the table. The only thing I knew about what I had witnessed was that I was never going to act like that. I didn’t care what Gabriel said about female Weres going into Heat—I was never going to get that desperate and beg for a man I hated to hurt me that way!
My stepfather ate with gusto, cleaning his plate of every last bit of the huevos rancheros he’d ordered for his own breakfast. When he finished, he patted his mouth with a napkin and rose from his throne-chair at the head of the table.
“We’re going to talk to Pack Leader Moncrieff,” he said, speaking mostly to Gabriel and Christopher. “The negotiations shouldn’t take long—I think he really wants the little bitch, even if she doesn’t have a maiden barrier.”