Page 57 of The Renegade Mate

My body stiffened. Part of me felt sorry for Brock; I really did. I knew what it was like to feel that the whole Pack was against you. But that didn’t justify what he'd done. He’d killed my brother out of some fucked up sense of entitlement. He hadn't done it to win the Pack so that he could help people, to make life better for everyone. He thought it was owed to him.

“You might have me, but we will stop you, Brock. There are too many in this Pack who see the real you. They won’t let you be the Alpha of the Three Rivers.”

His smirk grew wider, eyes sparkling with a dark glee. “You think too small, Mai. You always did. Maybe that’s why you like Ryan so much. No, I mean real power. Not some fucking backwater Pack. You all deserve each other. Do you know how easy it was to convince Hayley to betray Jem? She was just begging for an excuse. And this is who they follow instead of Oliver? Instead of my dad? Nah, you’re all fucked, and I’m going to make sure this Pack is destroyed. I’m going for real power, Mai. I’m going to unite all the Packs in North America under my leadership of the Wolf Council.”

My heart pounded in my chest as that chilling thought echoed in my mind. Brock. Leading all of North America’s shifters. The idea was horrifying, sending a wave of cold dread sweeping through my veins. I tried to keep my expression neutral, my surprise hidden, but from the smug satisfaction on Brock’s face, I knew I hadn’t succeeded.

“That’s why you came back,” I said, my voice a whisper as realization hit. “It wasn’t about the Three Rivers Pack. It’s about the Council seat.”

Brock smiled. “Now you’re getting it. Having the chance to destroy this Pack was just a bonus. The Alphas of the Three Rivers Pack get to choose who gets the next seat on the Council.” He nodded, clearly enjoying my horror. “Didn’t you know that, Mai? There was no way your brother would agree to it being me. Now, though, I can guarantee it. That seat is mine.”

“What about Hayley? What about our Pack?”

“Fuck the Pack. After you and Ryan are dead, and I’ve got the seat, I’ll make sure this Pack is decimated. A war with a local Pack might do it.”

His words were like a punch to my gut. The war with the Bridgetown Pack. That’s why he needed Tristan in charge. Tristan would make sure everyone in our Pack died or was subsumed under the Bridgetown one. Then Brock would be on the Council and could start his plan to rule over all North American Packs. He’d planned this for years.

Brock must have seen the realization hit my face because he laughed, then turned and walked out the door.

Chapter thirty-four

Mai

By my reckoning, it was another two hours before Hayley came to visit. She sauntered in, an insidious smile playing on her lips. I clenched my fists to stop myself from flying at the bars to try to get to her.

“Comfortable, Mai?” she purred, her eyes surveying me in my cage.

“Not really. Couldn’t you have made up my room for me?”

She laughed, the sound echoing in the barren room and bouncing off the cold, concrete walls. “Well, I wanted to make sure you’re safe. After all, that is what Jem would’ve wanted.”

I clenched my teeth, swallowing the bitter taste of anger. “Jem would’ve never wanted this, and you know it.”

“Maybe. But Jem isn’t here anymore, is he?” Her voice was cold and callous, her eyes devoid of any sympathy. “Because of you.”

I recoiled, her words hitting me harder than any punch. She was blaming me for Jem’s death?

“You’re the one who killed him, Hayley. The one who plunged a knife into his heart, not me.”

She scoffed. “Semantics. If you hadn’t come back, hadn’t interfered, if you hadn’t tried to control everything, Jem would still be here.”

I took a deep breath and let it out again. “You aren’t honestly trying to say that you killed him because he wanted to spend some time with his sister? The one he hadn’t seen in four years?”

“I was his mate!” she yelled, slapping her chest. “Me! That should have meant that I came first. In everything. But he always let his attention be swayed, first by idiotic little Pack disputes, with everyone always wanting us to be there to sort out their problems for them. Then you came back, and it was all, ‘Mai this and Mai that.’ He had no time left for me. Me, who was supposed to be his whole world.” She shuddered, her eyes filling with tears. “I did what any mate would have done. I wasn’t going to be treated like that.”

“He was the Pack Alpha, Hayley. You both were. It was your duty to be there for the Pack.”

“It was his duty to be there for me. It’s the Pack’s duty for all of them to be there for me!”

I always knew Hayley had an incessant need to be the center of Jem’s attention, but the whole fucking Pack?

“You’re not fit to be an Alpha,” I snarled.

She stepped closer to the bars. I so wanted to grab her hair, and slam her head against the cage, but she stood just out of reach.

“And yet here I am. Still the Alpha after four years. I must be doing something right. Unlike you. You, Mai, will never be an Alpha. Never. You’re going to come to the Pack Meet with us, you’re going to renounce any ties you have to this Pack and any fucking claim you might think you have to the Alphahood, and if you do it right, I’ll sever your bond with the Three Rivers and let you leave. You can find a new hole to hide in, as long as it’s far away from here.”

I laughed. I couldn’t help it. Brock hadn’t shared his glorious plans with Hayley. “You’re delusional, Hayley! Brock has his own plans that have nothing to do with you. Didn’t he tell you about his Wolf Council dreams?”

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