Page 149 of Harley & Her Ferals

He’s a smart detective.

Dad shakes River. “Is that true?”

River’s anguished gaze meets mine. “She’s still your sister. I couldn’t condemn her…”

Dad throws River onto the bed.

River groans, rubbing his throat.

I hold out my arms to him, needing to feel him safe and alive in my arms.

River crawls up the bed toward me. I nuzzle his throat, licking the reddened skin to soothe it.

“Allegra would never do something like that.” Dad stands in the middle of the room, looking confused and like his world view has been shattered. “She’sgood.”

Dad has no idea how easily manipulated he can be.

He’s been manipulated by Allegra her entire life.

“Good?” River’s expression darkens. “You think that she wouldn’t sabotage her sister for her own advantage? Just like she wouldn’t whip me, until I’m bloody? Or lie to her brother that I’m secretly in love with him, in order to break his heart? Or try to bond with an enemy pack that Harley rejected in order to plot to overthrow you?”

Shit.

“Shut up,” Dad commands but he looks shaken.

I am too.

Also,poor Lionzio.

If Allegra has been whispering lies about River having feelings for him in his ear, then that explains why Lionzio has acted the way that he has toward his best friend.

It looks like we’ve all been played.

River tests my temperature with the back of his hand. “Now, we need to concentrate on getting Harley safely through her first heat. It will be intense, since it has been brought on like this afterso many years of being on suppressants. Especially after her training and fights. Without a slow withdrawal, it’s dangerous.”

“Dangerous?” Laurent demands.

River’s expression becomes tight. “Do you want the truth?”

I nod, frantically.

“The chances of survival are slim.”

My pulse roars in my ears. I tremble.

I could die in my heat…?

Laurent’s arms tighten around me.

“Then make them better,” Dad roars. “Because if she dies, then so do you.”

“If she bonds with an Alpha during the heat, then her chances improve.” River meets Laurent’s gaze over my head. “Multiplebonds improve her odds to about fifty-fifty. She’s close to the time, when she’ll be too lost to her heat to properly consent. She needs to make her choice now.”

Fifty-fifty.

I’ve stepped into the octagon with worse odds than those.

But multiple bonds…?

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