Page 81 of Betrayed Alpha Bride

“Are you okay, my love?”

“He got my bad rib. Hold on, just let me wriggle over.”

I get up and pick Nico up very gently, putting him on a nearby sofa with a blanket wrapped around him. Clara opens her arms, encouraging me to snuggle beside her again.

“Thanks. I’m glad you didn’t take him to his room. I don’t want to be too far away from him tonight.”

“I understand. We can stay here as long as you like. Can I get you anything?”

“A nip of that sweet brandy would be nice.”

“You got it.”

I go over to the cabinet and pour us both a drink. When I sit down next to Clara, her eyes are dark and troubled.

“What’s wrong, my love? We got those guys—they aren’t coming back.”

“They might be,” she says softly. “Well, if not them, whoever they were working for.”

“What do you mean?” I ask, panic surging in my guts.

“They were talking about getting paid. That someone had given them money to kill me, and once I was dead, they’d get more money.”

“What the fuck?” I mutter, astonished.

“They were obviously going to double-cross them, too. I think the plan was just to break in and kill me—to make it look like a really unfortunate robbery or something. But at the last minute, they decided to go for Nico as well and try to ransom us back to you.”

“Scum!” I hiss, keeping my voice down so I don’t disturb Nico. “Did they say anything else?”

“They said plenty, but nothing specific. They definitely had a pass from other powerful wolves, and Dan, the one that you met here, was acting weird with me in town. You know, that day you found me running around the side streets.”

“Yes, I do remember,” I answer. “You thought he was chasing you.”

“Yeah, I felt silly when I saw it was you, but Dan was still weird to me. I should have trusted my instincts right then and there.”

“Hey, don’t beat yourself up about it. Enough people already did that today.”

Clara chuckles as she takes a sip of brandy. “I’m sorry, my love, but there’s no easy way to say this. The day that Dan bailed me up in town, he made me feel like he knew a lot about me. It was really threatening.”

“Why didn’t you tell me all this?”

“By the time I ran into you, I convinced myself it was nothing. But that’s not what I’m getting at, Galen.”

“What then?”

“That’s the same day Kit was in town, wasn’t it?”

I get Clara’s meaning immediately, and I shake my head. “It can’t be.”

“I’m just saying, I heard them talking, and it sounded like they had a pass from a very powerful wolf—one who has lots of money.”

I think about Kit’s massive estate, the generational wealth that practically drips off him everywhere he goes.

All of us are rich, but Kit’s in another category entirely.

“And he was in town when Dan bailed me up,” Clara presses gently. “We can’t ignore that.”

“You’re right. We can’t,” I concede, an idea beginning to form in my head. “But I still don’t think it’s Kit.”

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