Chapter 87
Gideon’s POV
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“No games, Daphne,” I said. It took all of my willpower not to allow my annoyance into my voice. “Put Justin on the phone.”
“You aren’t listening to me,” Daphne said. “I’m not surprised, I suppose. You never seemed to listen to me. If you did, you would have seen how valuable I was as a Luna and not taken me for granted.”
“So you will not allow me to speak to Alpha Justin?” I asked.
“There’s no need,” Daphne replied. “Like I already told you – and you rudely ignored – Justin has entrusted all dealings with the Silver Crescent pack to me. So you will be speaking to me, or to no one. Make your choice.”
I grit my teeth, biting back a growl. This was getting me nowhere, but maybe…
“We have the invoices from the apothecary,” I said. “We know that you have wolfsbane in your possession right at this moment. If anything happens to Justin or to anyone else in that pack, we have the proof that will point straight to you.”
Daphne laughed then, but I knew her well enough to be able to tell when her laughter was legitimate and when she was forcing it. This was definitely fake.
Good. She was nervous, and that meant she had received my warning loud and clear. Whether it would stop her from acting or not, I wasn’t sure. I’d have to remain on guard. But at least she knew now that she couldn’t just act and get away with it. There would be consequences to anything she tried to do.
“I don’t know what you are talking about,” Daphne said. “But you sound totally ridiculous.”
“You heard what I said.”
“I’m hanging up,” she said. “Don’t waste my time with this again.”
She hung up the phone, and the dial tone filled my ear. Slowly, I lowered the phone as well.
My Beta Xavier and Peter both looked at me expectantly.
“She says Justin put her in charge of answering calls from this pack,” I told them. Immediately, they looked as skeptical as I felt.
“Did he decide that or did she?” Peter asked.
“It doesn’t matter now, unfortunately,” I said. “But she did understand my warning, so hopefully that will deter her from hurting anyone. In the meantime, we need to find more definitive proof. Something that Justin wouldn’t be able to turn away.”
“I should let my Alpha know,” Peter said, and withdrew his cell phone.
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Chapter 87
“I’ll call Raven,” I said quickly, before he could make his call.
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I supposed it would make sense for Peter to be the one to report in, but I couldn’t resist any opportunity to hear Raven’s voice, even if it was only an acknowledgement of having received my report.
Peter lowered my phone, indicating that he was deferring to me in this.
Pleased, I grabbed my cell phone and made the call to Raven.
The phone rang for a few rounds before it picked up.
“This is Ivan.”
I blinked, confused. I pulled my phone away to check the screen. No, I had definitely called Raven, not Ivan. So what was he doing with Raven’s phone?
Inside of me, an ugly prickling jealousy began to churn. Did Ivan and Raven have such a close relationship that they would share each other’s phones, answering each other’s calls?
What else were they sharing?
At once, I shunned those feelings inside of me. What right was it of mine to know what they were to each other? What right did I have to even care?
Raven had been brought to my pack as a bodyguard to protect my son. She was not my girlfriend or my lover. We were barely even friends.
I didn’t have any hold over her or her heart. She was free to do whatever she wanted with it.
Yet, even knowing that and believing it, my traitorous heart continued to ache.
“Gideon?” Ivan asked. “Are you there?”
“Yes, sorry,” I said. “I was… distracted for a moment.” I cleared my throat. I had called for a reason, and it was about time I remembered it. Suddenly, I wished I had allowed Peter to make the call instead. “I have an update regarding wolfsbane…”
“Tell me everything,” Ivan said at once.
Claire’s POV
I had just finished teaching the children a few self–defense moves when I made my way back to the deck of the pack house, realizing that I had forgotten my phone. It was getting later in the day now, and many of the pack children had left. Nova and Leo had gone inside for a snack.
Ivan was standing on the deck holding my phone as I approached.
“You should be more careful where you leave this,” he said and handed it out to me.
“Thanks,” I said and put it into my pocket.
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Chapter 87
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Ivan grunted and went into the house. I followed him and then sought out the children once more.
That evening, I thought it might be nice for the conversations between Leo and his father to be a nightly event. Leo seemed pleased by the idea.
Leo was still looking at me kind of strangely now, but he seemed less nervous and more… hopeful? He looked at me like I held the key to something he held dear, but until he talked to me about it, I didn’t have a clue what it was all about.
The last thing I wanted to do was make him nervous again. Hopeful was much better. So I didn’t say a word about it, trusting that he would approach me with whatever it was whenever he was ready to talk.
For now, I lifted my phone and called Gideon.
The call connected but for a moment there was silence on the line. That was odd.
“Uh, Alpha Gideon?” I asked.
“Oh. Raven. It’s you.”
I blinked, confused. I was calling him from my cell phone to his. Surely my phone showed up on his screen. Who did he think I would be?
“It’s me,” I said, slightly taken aback. But I persisted. I wasn’t calling for me, but for Leo. If he was going to act weird, he needed to recover before I gave the phone to his son. “Leo would like to talk to you. Perhaps this could become a nightly routine?”
“Oh,” Gideon said, sounding relieved now. “Yes, that would be wonderful. Thank you.”
I passed the phone to Leo, who accepted it eagerly.
“Hi, Dad,” Leo said into the phone.
I stayed nearby, turning my head so as to not intrude but still being close enough, ready to take the phone back when their conversation was done.
Leo looked at me. “Uh… Raven?”
“Yes, Leo?” I said, looking back.
Leo seemed a bit embarrassed, worrying his bottom lip with his teeth. “Can you leave the room while I talk to my dad? And don’t listen, okay?”
I was shocked for the second time in the last two minutes. Leo had never requested privacy when speaking to his Dad before. He was only six.
But, of course, I would give him what he asked for. Leo was entitled to every father/son talk he wanted.
“I’ll be in my room,” I told him. If I was there, with the door closed, I wouldn’t be able to hear what was being said.
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Chapter 87
“Thank you,” Leo said.
I nodded and stepped out into the hallway.
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What in the world could he want to talk to his Dad about that he didn’t want me to hear?
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