Page 26 of Sasha's Wounded Wolf

“He would have come around,” Rowan said, but I saw the doubt in his gaze.

“Do you remember when you got that call and stepped out for a minute to take it?” I reminded him.

“It was Ivy. I had to take it.”

“I know, but when you stepped out, your father turned on me and told me no two-bit Russian whore was going to worm her way into his pack.”

“The fuck he did!” Nico exploded to his feet.

“He told me the smart thing would be to disappear and let you think I’d changed my mind about mating. Warned me how dangerous being mated to an alpha wolf could be.”

“You never said anything,” Nico charged.

“By the time I was focused enough to recall everything, Rowan was dead. I was pregnant, and the two of us were never going to be mated anyway. It didn’t matter.”

“I would have fucking hunted him down and ripped his Goddamn throat out,” my brother seethed.

“Exactly,” I countered calmly. “I needed you, and Richard Byrd no longer mattered.”

“What about since then, Sasha? You could have told me later. Hell, you should have told me before we headed back here.”

“You should have told me,” Rowan snapped. “I saw you were upset when I walked back in. You never said a word.”

“You walked in and said we needed to leave. I knew something had happened. That you needed to go check on Ivy. I know how some of the pack were with her, and I knew you’d delay if you thought I needed you. Then he told you to go home and sleep on it. Better yet to fuck me out of your system and move on. The next thing I knew, you had your father slammed against the wall, and he was turning blue. I found myself in the uncomfortable position of pulling you off him because I worried what it would do to you if you hurt him.”

“I would have thrown him out of the damn pack, not just warned him that I would!”

“And things still would have happened,” I whispered quietly. “Your accident. My attack. My bet is, he made those calls after we left. To make sure you toed the line he’d set for you.”

“I would have killed the fucking bastard,” Nico stated. “Father or not, Ro. I’m going to rip out his throat when I find him.”

“Christ! I can’t believe—”

“Did you know he practically sold Raina to Bastion?” I cut off Rowan before he could tell me he couldn’t believe his father was capable of something that vile. “Told her to make herself look presentable, so she could parade in front of Bastion and other members of the James Pack. That she was mating one of them to save the pack.”

“What?” Roman snarled. “Bastion allowed that?”

“Bastion didn’t know. He only ever had eyes for Raina. But that was how it was presented to her.”

“I can’t believe I was so fucking blind,” Rowan fumed.

“If he’s the one behind this, then it seems we were all blind,” Easton muttered. “Hell, if he did this, I’m going to help Nico gut the motherfucker.”

“If he did this, he’ll die by my hand,” Rowan said.

“No,” I countered, meeting and holding my mate’s gaze. “Ours.”

Chapter Ten

~Rowan~

We finished dinner, and I gave my son a bath where we’d both ended up covered in water and bubbles. It was worth every towel I used to mop up the floor when Sasha took a laughing Raine into the bedroom to get pajamas on. His laughter was healing pieces of my heart I hadn’t realized were fractured. My mate was doing the same. For the first time since I’d woken from the coma, I felt whole. Alive. Now, I had to tell my sister I’d survived. Then tell her our father might be the person responsible for what had happened. Not that Raina would be surprised. Sasha had already told me she’d shared her suspicions with my sister when they’d met.

I’d been going over that day since we’d finished talking earlier. I’d threatened my father. I’d slammed him against the wall and choked him until Sasha had urged me to release him. Then I’d told him he could accept my mate or join another pack. Had he really called and set up my accident and her attack as soon as we left? Lincoln told me my father had gone crazy when he learned I was in the truck, burned his arms trying to get to me. Had it been guilt? Hell, I questioned every conversation I’d ever had with him.

We’d rarely seen eye-to-eye on how to deal with pack issues. He wanted to adhere to old ways and traditions, and I’d refused. But murder? Had he really solicited the murder of my mate?

I finished soaking up the water and headed upstairs to change into the clothes the guys had brought me. I heard my sister’s voice as I hit the top of the stairs.

---