Page 98 of Deadly Wolf Bite

“Your father was made a general because he’s just like Ramsey. Power-hungry, ruthless—and simple. Vincenzo’s strategies are predictable and his methods rudimentary. He’ll never be a match for me. It’s the reason I’ve allowed him to live this long even while he stirs divisiveness among the packs.” He swirls his glass, staring into it. “Tio was the same. So was Dom. So have they all been.” His gaze lifts to mine. “Except for you.”

His words might sound like a compliment, but I know better. I keep my expression carefully neutral.

“You were always the greater threat, Jericho. Dom knew it at the end.”

Shit.

This is why he’s here.

He knows.

“I’m not sure what you?—”

“Don’t bullshit me,” he snaps, voice rising. “You took my second from me. And tried to use the rat to paint a target on your father. You don’t think I see through your strategy? You don’t think I know you want me to do your dirty work for you?”

My heart pounds, my thoughts racing as I try to make sense of his words. Ramsey told him it was my father? Was he trying to help us? To redeem himself? Where is he now?

“My father plans to kill you,” I say. “That’s not a manipulation, that’s a fact.”

“Your father’s a blunt instrument.”

Frustration threatens my control. “What’s the super-alpha gene?”

His eyes widen fractionally, and I know I’ve struck gold. “Nothing,” he mutters, turning to his glass and taking a thoughtful sip.

“Dom was going to kill Lexi over it. That’s why I put him down.”

His gaze snaps back to mine, his eyes narrowing. His alpha power rises, the pressure of it pushing me back in my seat. “What do you know about the gene?” he demands.

Sweat dots my brow as I work to resist his compulsion. “I know you’re embezzling money from the city budget—including stealing from public schools—in order to fund your research.”

His eyes widen. “Does Vincenzo know about this?”

“He’s been speaking to a doctor from your past,” I say. “I don’t know what he knows.”

He snarls, clearly pissed off, but he doesn’t press me for anything else. A second later, he exhales, his entire body sagging, and the power that had pinned me recedes. I suck in a deep breath that feels lighter and easier to draw than it did a moment ago.

Franco hangs his head, winded and exhausted.

I’ve never seen him look so drained before.

“What will happen if Lexi is bitten?” I ask.

He looks up at me, his mouth sagging and deep lines etched around his eyes. He looks as if he’s just aged thirty years, and when he speaks, his answer is devoid of caring. “She’ll die.”

Anger surges to the surface, too hot and fast for me to care that it might be reckless to unleash it. “Tell me how to keep her alive.”

“Watch how you speak to me,” he snaps, but the power that rushes at his words is only a fraction of what it was earlier.

“She’s your own blood,” I say, refusing to let it go. “Why doesn’t that matter to you?”

“It mattered more than you know,” he says sadly.

“Is that why you experimented on her?” My voice twists angrily, but rather than raising his temper, he looks surprised. “Did you think your secrets were buried, old man?”

He shakes his head. “Buried or not, we failed.”

“What did you do to her?”

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