Page 71 of Rawest Venom

Stroking her long hair, I sigh. “I had to prove that. And you did. So then, I waited until the fake next meeting. I figured that Alpha would want me to kill you and string me along after with false information. When I realized her jealousy wasn’t just for show, I knew she’d want you gone. And that’s when I knew I neededhergone.

“She knew my vials as well as I did, but I switched the solutions. And in case she could detect that I had done so, I put an extra anti-venom in my left pocket and coated the outside of both with the venom. When I tripped, and allowed her to pick them up, she was already poisoned. I swallowed the anti-venom.”

V’s eyes search my face for a moment as her lips part in an open-mouthed gasp. “You’re a genius.”

The corner of my mouth kicks up as I nod. “Yep.”

She picks up a pillow from across the bed and slams it on my face as I bring my hands up to protect myself. Her giggles can be heard even through the mound of feathers. When she removes it again, she leans over and embraces me with her mouth against mine.

As she parts again, she asks, “Can we eat breakfast now? I’m starving!”

Wiggling my eyebrows, I bite my bottom lip with hope. “Like, pregnant starving?”

Sitting up, she playfully slaps my arm. “Maybe. Come on!”

It’sthe most awkward dinner I’ve ever been a part of. And I’ve been to a lot of politicians’ dinners where everyone was secretly fucking everyone else’s wives, sisters, daughters, boyfriends, husbands… This is worse.

None of us have taken a seat and Max stands with his hands on my sister’s shoulders like if she twitches, he’s ready to pounce on the man near me if he so much as makes a sudden movement.

V’s happily smiling with her introduction and Livia keeps trying to catch my eyes as if to ask, “Are you sure about her?” The look is only going to piss me off, so I pointedly avoid her gaze.

Ace dances like a boxer buzzing with energy, biting his nails since Max told him he couldn’t smoke inside the house. Chewing one off, he spits it across the room before stealing a glance at the bear, who lifts his haunches with irritation.

“Well?” Ace sneers out.

Max glares at him in return, gripping Liv’s arms tighter. “She said she was coming down. Fritz?—”

“I’ll go check on her.” My sister’s calm voice interrupts him, and she rubs her now pouching belly andwalks by my fiancée and me. “I’ll be back shortly. Sit, everyone, sit.”

None of us do.

“You’re the one who said we had to meet before the actual wedding. I’d just as well not, but whatever.” Ace fiddles with an empty candlestick near his fingers, knocking it over, then straightening it.

Across the table from us are two of his tanks, wolves looking for a brawl, and Dash, his mediocre spy who I will have the utmost pleasure of torturing before maiming and killing should one of his eyelashes fall near my V. Not just because of their previous working relationship, but mainly because of their previousnon-working relationship.

“The deed is done, Cal. Tell me who did it. Who killed my sister? All I have to do is some stupid wedding ’cause little Miss Freidenberg sees herself as an empress or some shit, but tell me.”

Shifting my bored look to the tattooed spy, I speak to Ace as he rubs his knuckles of one hand with the fingers of the other. “First, we need to know if your men sought us out in the forests of Laurelwood, if they gave my fiancée the order to kill me.”

Ace’s head whips toward his spy, whose serious eyes meet mine with a solemn reply. “No, we did not go to Laurelwood or give her the order.” Straightening to his full height, he continues. “As far as we know, it was Alpha herself.”

V snags, then squeezes my hand quickly, and I catch her sparkling green eyes. Her freckles bounce as her nose crinkles. “He’s telling the truth.” My gal hasworked with him enough and can read people well, so I trust her.

“Okay, then.” Ace claps his hands together loudly and rubs dramatically. “So? The marriage license has been signed and filed. I’ve got a dead weight on me.”

Max flinches. “Fuck you. My sister deserves better.”

Ace’s upper lip curls into a half smile, but his eyes betray the emotion behind it. “Oh? Like Strauss? I’m doing you a fucking favor, Maxi!”

“Enough,” I say, interrupting them, just like when we were kids, and I’d have to stop them before they started a fistfight.

Livia and Arianna come around the corner, and it’s clear that the youngest Freidenberg has been crying. Pink marks line her eyelids, and her olive skin is blotched around her nose. Holding an embroidered handkerchief up to her face, she sniffles delicately. Not even meeting Ace’s intense stare, she glides to the head of the table and stands behind her chair near Max. My sister returns to stand with her husband.

Starting off, I clear my throat for the room. “First of all, let me say that…Strauss? I don’t think he’s the man we all presume him to be.”

“Not this shit again,” Max grumbles under his breath.

Ignoring him, I continue. “I think he needs our support?—”

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