Page 29 of Wolf Crowned

I couldn’t let my fatigue show. I leaned against the railing, resting my elbow on the wood.

He took a menacing step forward and jabbed his finger into my chest. “Drake told me there was an altercation in the women’s quarters earlier today. He told me you caused it.”

I gritted my teeth. Of course he would go run to my dad. Drake wanted to take my place. Dad had been grooming him since he was a child, but had never let him into the inner circle. It was cruel, and it had made Drake a monster, almost as vicious as Mikey had been.

I rolled my eyes. “I’m guessing he left out what he did and only complained that I stopped him. I didn’t like how he was talking to some of the girls. It was obscene and not okay.”

Dad jammed his finger into my chest, but I didn’t move. His lip curled up in disgust. “Why do you care what happens to them? They’re prisoners. They fought against what we believe in, and still refuse to accept me as their alpha.”

Dad thought if he threatened them enough they would eventually bow to him. There was a fine line between having an alpha you respected and being there out of loyalty and having an alpha that demanded you accept them out of fear.

The latter was my dad’s line of thinking. It also meant the enforcers and pack would follow him blindly. Too many had already done that, but I was grateful for the outliers. They were the ones who would help us win this war.

I must have taken too long to answer. Dad shoved me, causing me to stumble.

Dad snorted and got in my face. “They deserve what’s happening to them. Why don’t you understand that?”

My fingers twitched as I suppressed the urge to push him away. Nobody deserved to be treated like that even enemies of the state. I didn’t want to think about what Drake would do to the women if left unchecked.

Dad fisted his hand in my shirt and shook me. “Well? I want an answer.”

My nostril flared as I fought to control my anger. “Ruby.” Her name slipped out effortlessly.

His brows dipped down into a frown even as he wrenched my shirt tighter. I guess I never told him her name.

I shook my head. “Dad, Ruby is the girl that I’ve been seeing. I can’t have Drake putting his hands on her. She’s mine.”

My stomach turned and I almost dry heaved at what I’d said. Sloane was mine. She was the only woman I ever wanted to call mine. Calling Ruby mine made me want to claw out my tongue. It was unnatural.

Understanding washed over his features, and he took a step back. He held up his hands. “That’s right. I forgot you were seeing a girl down there.”

I tugged on my shirt to straighten it. “I didn’t realize Drake was into Ruby when I chose her. But he needs to keep his paws off or we are going to have problems.”

He needed to stay away from all the girls. Dad had kept Mikey in check and away from the prisoner quarters. He’d gotten more lax since my brother’s death and the women prisoners were paying the price.

Dad sighed. “Drake always has had a fancy for the things he’s not supposed to touch.”

Because that was supposed to make it okay? My dad really had lost his mind. If Hannah were still alive and he had a daughter of age to protect, maybe he’d feel differently? But that wasn’t the case, and I needed to nip this in the bud.

I cleared my throat and stared at my dad. “I can’t have Drake muddying the waters with a girl that I’m with. What if he got her pregnant instead of me? What if we didn’t know? I’m not raising Drake’s pup.”

Dad’s eyes widened, and he scrubbed a hand over his face. “I fear we all might be losing our minds just a little with everything going on.”

Was my dad finally admitting he’d bitten off more than he could chew?

A wide grin split his face as he clapped me on the shoulder. “It will be over soon. The stress, the fighting, all of it will be over and we can all live in harmony soon.”

“Oh?” I couldn’t keep the hitch from my voice.

I stood up tall and crossed my arms over my chest. What did that mean?

I didn’t think it was possible for his smile to get any wider, but it did. “I called my bastard brother who has connections at the FBI. He’s always been trying to get in my good graces.” He chuckled as he tapped the pads of his fingers together. “They’ll be monitoring Sloane and all the happenings at their pack. They might be under so much scrutiny they can’t even shift.”

He smacked his hand on the railing and threw his head back, laughing. “Plus, we’ll know their routine and everything about them.”

This was bad. He was talking about Uncle Bobby. My grandpa had never found his mate, and while he’d had my dad, he’d also gotten a human woman pregnant. He’d raised Bobby in the pack, but because of only being half wolf, he couldn’t shift. It was something my dad took pleasure in being extra cruel about.

I shifted my feet. “Isn’t that dangerous to put our community at risk like that? What if someone sees something?”

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