Page 86 of Deadly Wolf Bite

So do I.

“You want us to believe you didn’t sell us out, give us something,” Crow says with disgust. “Otherwise, you might as well be Franco’s fucking lap dog.”

Ramsey flinches. “Okay, okay. Last time I was at Franco’s place, I overheard Santiago and Conrad talking,” Ramsey says quickly. “They said the reason Franco abandoned Lexi to the human world was because his experiment failed.”

“What experiment?” I ask.

“Franco has some research lab no one else know about. Years ago, he experimented on Monte somehow.”

“Franco’s son?” Crow asks.

Ramsey nods.

“What kind of experiment?” Dutch asks.

Ramsey shrugs. “Something to do with increasing his alpha power. I don’t know. It didn’t work, I guess, so he decided to try it on the next generation.”

“Lexi,” Mia says, her voice a mixture of horror and disbelief. “He experimented on her?”

Ramsey nods. “She was a baby, I think. Anyway, when Monte and Carina found out, they took Lexi and ran. Franco hunted them down, but he realized his experiment failed again, which is why he didn’t bother to take her in.”

“What exactly did he do to her?” I demand.

Ramsey shakes his head. “I don’t know. None of it made sense to me at the time, and I honestly didn’t see how it could be important if it had failed. But then the other day, I heard Dom complaining to Santiago about the Giovanni super-alpha gene. He said he could never compete as long as the gene was alive. That the only way Franco would ever name him as the heir was if Lexi was gone. Tonight, when I heard you weren’t answering your phone, I got worried.” He shakes his head. “I’m sorry, dude. I didn’t want to keep this from you, but the compulsion?—”

“Stop talking,” I tell him.

He goes silent, his expression tense.

“A gene,” I say, turning it over in my mind. “A way to create a super-alpha…” I look at the others, who all look as mystified as I am. What’s in it for Franco if Lexi’s the powerful one? Other than securing his bloodline as alpha. It doesn’t add up.

I look back at Ramsey. His nose has stopped bleeding, but half his face is stained with blood. The scent of it on the air only feeds my desire to spill more of it.

He’s a traitor.

It doesn’t matter that he changed his mind when I got here. I can’t trust him anymore, and that cuts me almost as deeply as Lexi’s betrayal. I’ve known Ramsey my whole life. We all have. This is so beyond fucked up.

The others are quiet, waiting to hear what I’ll do next.

“Look at me,” I say, wrapping my hand around Ramsey’s throat and holding his gaze. “Who’s your alpha?”

“You are,” he says with more confusion than conviction.

“Say it,” I snap.

He blinks, frowning, but does what I ask. “You, Jericho Grey Diavolo, are my alpha.”

“You pledge your loyalty to me?”

“Uh, are you sure you want him in the pack?” Dutch starts.

“I think you need the blade if you’re going to pledge officially,” Razor says.

I look at Ramsey, ignoring them both. “Just answer the question.”

“Yes,” he says hoarsely.

“In that case,” I say then lean in, whispering the words that will suppress his wolf, just like my father did to me. “Lupus Muto.”

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