Alexander wentpletely still. When bhe /bspoke again, his voice was so low and dangerous that it was hardly more than a growl. He took a step toward Gabriel. “You. Did…” Another step. “What?”

    b“/bI flushed it. It’s gone.” Gabriel shrank beneath Alexander’s shadow. I was angry and I wasn’t thinking clearly and-”

    “Get upstairs,” Alexander snarled, releasing him. “We’ll finish this conversation in private.”

    Alexander

    Twenty minutester, I found myself in my office watching Gabriel clutch his face where I’dnded a switch punch the moment we were alone. His lip was split and bleeding, and his eye was already swelling shut.

    “You deliberately put my mate and child at risk,” I whispered. “As if it wasn’t already bad enough that you destroyed something precious to her out of spite. Give me one reason why I shouldn’t strip you of your rank right now.”

    “Because I have information you need to see.”

    “I don’t want to hear your excuses

    “It’s about your parents.” Gabriel reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. “I’ve been investigating E’s pack, just like you asked. And my operative found this.” He held out the paper with a shaking hand. “Hidden in their territory’s archives.”

    I snatched the document from him and unfolded it. My blood ran cold as I read the familiar handwriting. It was a letter from E’s father to someone whose name had been deliberately obscured. But the content was clear enough.

    “The Ashw Alphas have be too powerful. I think I know of a way to get them out of the picture. And their son is young and impressionable…”

    My hands shook as I read it again. The letter was dated just two months before my parents‘ deaths.

    “This doesn’t prove E knew anything about it,” I said, looking up at the Beta.

    “You shouldn’t be so quick to trust herpletely. Her family clearly had ns for you long before your marriage was arranged. They thought you would be easy to manipte with your parents out of the picture, so they could gain influence from Ashw without incriminating themselves or causing a war.”

    Gabriel was right; the letter explicitly stated that my parents could be taken out in an ”

    bChapter /b150

    b+15 /bbBONUS /b

    ident“, that it would leave me in charge and that I was young enough to manipte,

    bI’d /balways had my suspicions of just that, but seeing it written out like this…

    And thenb, /bof course, there was E. This letter implied that they sent her here bto /bmanipte ollimeb. /b/li/ol

    But E was younger than me; it was very possible that she hadn’t been aware of her role. And after everything I had seen her family do to her, the horrible way they treated her, bI /bbstill /bwasn’t sure if she would have actually done their bidding if they had outright ordered her to.

    For all I knew, she was just as much of a victim in this as I was.

    “Keep investigating,” I said curtly. “I want concrete proof that E was knowingly involved in this scheme. And one more thing.” I fixed him with a stare that made him flinch. b“/bOne more slip–up like today and you’ll be permanently demoted to Omega. Are we clear?”

    “Yes, Alpha.”

    “Good. Now get out of here and go see the pack doctor.”

    Gabriel scurried away, leaving me alone with my thoughts and the damning letter hidden in

    my

    desk. I sat there for several minutes, trying to reconcile the E I hade to know recently with the possibility that she might be exactly what we had always suspected.

    But I couldn’t think about that right now. Whatever the truth was about her family, E was hurting. My wolf wouldn’t let me sit here and stew when she and our baby had just nearly been suffocated.

    I found her in our bedroom, sitting on the edge of the bed with her knees drawn up to her chest. She’d been crying, judging from the red rings around her eyes and the way she quickly looked away when I entered.

    “Hey,” I said softly.

    “It’s really gone, isn’t it?” She didn’t look at me.

    “I’m sorry. Gabriel will be punished for what he did.”

    “It doesn’t matter. Nothing’s going to bring it back.” She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “That locket was precious to Lilith. Precious to me. She’s the mother I never got to have, and I lost the one heirloom she had.”

    The hurt in her words made my wolf whine pitifully. Without thinking, I reached over and took her hand. “Come with me.”

    She looked confused but let me lead her back down to the vault. I punched in the code and opened the door, then guided her inside to one of the disy cases near the front.

    I pulled out my keys and unlocked the case, reaching inside to retrieve a delicate diamond

    ne. The stones caught the light and threw ny rainbows across the walls as I lifted it out. “This was my great–grandmother’s,” I said, turning to face E. “I think you should wear it.”