“So you’re saying that if the shifter king finds out about me, I’m dead?” It didn’t seem possible. I was nothing. Nobody. At least I was right now. If I moved forward with the plan to take on Ace, I would be an alpha and then I’d be connected to the king himself. If I didn’t end up dead in the process. “This whole thing is insane, you do realize that, right?”
“It sure seems a lot like fate, if you ask me,” he said. “Maybe you’re supposed to help right his wrong of something by making your own pack better.”
“Fate is making a lot of mistakes lately. Giving me an alpha mark and a bond with Tyler come to mind.” I ran a hand through my hair.
“What am I supposed to do with this information?” I asked.
“Well, now you know why Alec said he was dangerous,” Kyle said. “And you know that we have to be careful.”
My brow furrowed as I thought about all the new information and what it meant for me. “I can’t be alpha, can I?” It surprised me how much that hurt. Until that moment, I wasn’t aware of how badly I wanted to help the people of Wolf Creek. Even if they never did anything to help me.
I looked up at Kyle. “If I won the challenge, the king would feel me. He’d know, wouldn’t he? He’d know we were blood. I’m guessing that’s what all this is about.”
“There’s a way to fix this,” Kyle said. “Your father is willing to help.”
“Why would he help when he could turn me in to get on the king’s good side? Or kill me himself, even? I remember my history classes well enough to know how murderous and dangerous Spencer was. You think a man like that cares about his kid?” I tensed. “Holy shit, you said he already knows about me. Alec told him about me. I’m already screwed, aren’t I?”
“Calm down, Lola. Alec’s already fixed this,” he assured me.
I wasn’t listening, though. My mind was overwhelmed with far too much information. I stood, knocking the chair to the ground in the process. I ignored it and walked to the center of the room. This was far worse than I expected. My mom had said she wouldn’t let me shift to keep my father from finding me and now it made more sense.
Aside from alphas connecting with the king, parents were connected to their children. The only thing that broke that connection was a completed mating bond. Which I was not going to do. Some stupid protection kind of thing. If I was in wolf form, and my father was in wolf form, he’d be able to feel me well enough to know where I was. Without a completed mating bond, my dad could track me down the second I shifted. All he’d have to do was be in his wolf form himself. Which, he was very likely to be tomorrow night since it was a full moon.
“I can’t shift tomorrow.” I turned to Kyle. “If I do, he’ll know where I am.”
“He already knows,” Kyle said.
“So what, that’s it? I shift tomorrow, and the king’s guard comes and takes me out?” I blew out a frustrated breath. “How is he going to help us if I’m dead?”
“First of all, the king doesn’t know about you and he won’t know about you since you’re not yet an alpha,” he said.
I knew the mark wasn’t enough to take the title, but it still made me nervous. “What about my father? How can Alec be so confident that he won’t turn me in or harm me?”
“He’s agreed to break his claim on you,” Kyle said.
“Can that be done?” I asked.
“With enough money, you can pay a witch to do anything,” Kyle said.
“And he’s willing to finance that?” I asked. “And don’t get me started about how I feel about getting a witch involved.”
“Alec took care of that part. That’s what he used the money from Ace for,” Kyle said. “The witch is already paid and your father already contributed his blood for the spell. It’s done. As soon as you’re ready, you can break the claim.”
I stared at Kyle in stunned silence.
“Don’t be so hard on Alec. He didn’t think he had a choice and Ace told him you’d be safe. Alec thought he’d have you out of there by the next day. The spell isn’t cheap and Ace paid well,” Kyle added.
“He knew all this and he didn’t tell me?” I asked.
It was Kyle’s turn to be silent.
“I don’t understand. This is crazy. Why would my father agree to this? He’s never even met me. And everything we’ve ever heard about Spencer Lupton paints him as a scary mother fucker.” I wasn’t going to lie, I was a little worried about what might happen if I ever met him.
“You’ll have to ask Alec that. I guess he wants to help you but I don’t know the details,” Kyle said. “You know what I know.”
I felt shaky and unsteady. Slowly, I righted the upended chair and sat down. This changed things but I couldn’t wrap my head around what it all meant. Alec was trying to help me. My father was an outlaw. I was supposed to be dead.
How the fuck was I supposed to overcome all of this and somehow take the alpha title from my old pack?