“Three.”
“Let’s see if he takes the bait.”
Looking down into her hands, Kendra kept running the necklace through her fingers. A little timid, Mike stepped forward and came around the desk. He opened her snack drawer, but she shook her head.
“I’ll throw up.” She looked up at him and suddenly she no longer felt as if she was his luna. Rather like his little sister. “Soon you’ll understand, but I can’t say anything now.”
“We have your back, Luna,” Avery reassured her.
Her eyes fell on the window where she could see Alpha Vallerian, Gabriel, and—damn her—Ryker walking towards them.
“I fucked up,” she whispered.
Chapter Eighteen
As soon as Kendra had left the house, Alpha Vallerian’s temper raged, even more so when he commanded the others to breach the border. Ryker wasn’t even entirely sure why because Luna Sophia wasn’t in any danger. Kendra hadn’t really threatened them. She’d simply let them know she knew about the pregnancy.
In his rage, Alpha Vallerian fucked up–though no one would say that to him. Now Ryker was walking behind him, towards the main house to confront Kendra and get their men back. Alpha Vallerian was furious. He hadn’t wanted to leave Luna Sophia behind but determined to confront Kendra, he’d left her in the hands of his warriors. He barged into the house and stormed into the office, where Kendra was calmly sitting behind her desk.
Ryker entered the room last. Trying to keep his eyes anywhere but Kendra, he studied the two men in the room he hadn’t met yet. Avery stood behind her and so did another tall man, his stature was bulky and truly that of a warrior. The other man was hiding in the back corner behind his luna’s desk. He had a knowing smile on his face, curiously eyeing Alpha Vallerian, seeming to know something they didn’t.
“Where are my men?”
“Your men are the least of your worries, Alpha Vallerian. I would suggest we get straight to the important matters, shall we?”
Her answer surprised Ryker–and only infuriated Alpha Vallerian even more. She removed a piece of paper from a leather brief, calm as could be.
“Do you know what this is?” She shook her head and smiled up at the alpha before her. “Of course you do. That would be a silly question, wouldn’t it?”
Ryker recognized the page as an old map. Before he could study it closer, Kendra laid another sheet on top of it.
“And this is a map of your current territory, isn’t it?”
Alpha Vallerian tensed up but before he could answer, Kendra spoke again.
“I believe your territory has grown since the original map was made, but even after researching I couldn’t find a new agreement that stated that you had permission to do so.”
She couldn’t be serious, could she? Fuck, she was walking on thin ice. Even if that were to be true, this was a subtle threat. Kendra was teasing a beast she didn’t know how to control and Ryker didn’t like where this was going. He didn’t want Kendra getting hurt.
“Now, after some further investigation, I found this.”
She laid out a few documents on the desk that Alpha Vallerian seemed to recognize right away–judging by the way he paled, that was.
“I was going to give you the benefit of the doubt since this seems to be your father’s work but…” A few more pages appeared from the brief “… this is definitely you trying to buy even more property on top of your already largely increased territory.”
A deep growl filled the room, originating from Alpha Vallerian’s chest. “What do you want?”
“For you to come clean about this or retreat to what was given to you.”
“And my men?”
She crooked her eyebrows. “You think that’s all I want? My silence isn’t cheap. Especially since I’ll have a full house for dinner tonight.”
Fuck, Ryker thought to himself. This woman was threatening the most vicious alpha as easily as scolding a child.
“What do you want?” he repeated, his growl deepening.
“I want what is rightfully mine.” Her voice had changed, and there was something earth-shatteringly possessive about it.