Page 70 of In Plain Sight

"Raina, is it possible that the oath he took is truly bound to him and him alone?"

"What do you mean, Thomas?" Kyle asked.

"Like she said, if the witch specifically said the oath was tied to the wishes of his Alpha, then if his Alpha's wishes changed, he'd know it from the dagger's spell, right?"

"Yes, but you heard him, there's no way that would happen," Kyle reminded him.

Dawning finally set in and I stood a little taller. "But what happens if my Alpha changes?"

"Exactly," Thomas asked.

"You mean, you give your allegiance freely to another Alpha?" Raina asked. Thomas and I nodded. "If you're remembering the phrasing correctly then in theory the oath would transfer to the wishes of your new Alpha, but surely someone as powerful and paranoid to put you in this situation and issue a gag order against his identity wouldn't be arrogant enough to overlook a simple binding spell to keep your allegiance."

Thomas and I looked at each other and broke out into huge smiles. He embraced me and I could feel his relief. When he stepped back, I grabbed Ruby by the waist and pulled her against me, then I kissed her with a fresh new outlook on life.

"Everything's going to be just fine," I assured her.

Kelsey was next, as I let go of Ruby and pulled her into a hug. Kyle, Patrick, and Liam all growled behind me, but Thomas covered my back to intervene and held his hands up to stop them.

"I swear I'm not going to kill you," I finally told her.

"Good, because there's no way I was going to be able to kill you either," she confessed.

A loud ear-piercing whistle rang out and I turned to see Patrick with two fingers still in his mouth.

"What the bloody hell just happened?"

Kyle moved to physically take his mate from my arms, and Ruby quickly found her way back to them.

"The Alpha called Bran yesterday while he was here and threatened Ruby. I guess more of a promise to take them and ‘care’ for them, than a threat, but Bran ran home as fast as he could begging me to take him into the Pack so that I could protect her and their child upon his death."

"But you knew he was a traitor and you accepted him into your Pack anyway?" Liam asked, still looking confused.

Patrick smiled and slapped him on the back. "Bloody damn good thing, too, I'd say."

"I had to protect my family, no matter what," I said, more to Ruby than anyone else in the room.

"How do you feel?" Ruby asked, starting to worry over me.

I took a quick examination. All the pain was gone. The burning in my veins was gone. I felt better than I had in months. "I'm good. Really good," I said.

She kissed me and her smile lit up the room.

"And to be clear, you no longer wish to kill my mate?" Kyle asked.

I shook my head. "Truth be told, I never wanted to kill your mate, but more importantly, my Alpha doesn't want that, either."

I elbowed Thomas in the ribcage and a festive feeling filled the room.

Ruby

Epilogue

In the days and weeks following the day Kelsey and Bran tried to face off, life for us changed quickly. He didn’t get off scot-free. There were consequences to being a traitor, but where most men in his position would have been put to death anyway, Kyle and Kelsey gave him clemency.

In fact, Kyle surprised us all by issuing a gag order of his own that nothing said that day left that room or was discussed outside of the people present. And, even further shocking, Thomas sealed the order. A double Alpha gag order was unheard of and not something that could ever be tampered with.

Patrick had suggested with the new power Thomas held over my mate that he should consider using it to his advantage. To work off penalties they’d agreed upon, Bran was now training under Patrick’s guidance as Collier Pack’s new head of security. There were a few restrictions in place, too, but the majority of them meant my mate was home each night with me. He wasn’t allowed to travel without Thomas or Patrick at his side, which was also fine by me. Everyone knew I was a homebody anyways. It also meant that Bran would never be considered a traitor outside that room. They had done it for me and for the child that continued to grow in my womb.

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