Page 34 of Destined Bear
The healer wears white robes, her turquoise jewelry glinting against the silver of the bars.
“What is the meaning of this, Alpha?”
Seline’s eyes rake over Vivienne hostilely, but my mate doesn’t flinch.
“We’re hoping you can tell us,” I answer calmly, approaching her. “Why don’t you tell me what you have planned?”
Her eyes narrow into slits. “I have no idea what you mean.”
“I heard you at my house, Seline,” Vivienne speaks clearly and confidently. “I know you’re working with other shifters in Stonecrest for some kind of uprising.”
“You don’t know anything!” Her voice rises an octave.
“I think you struck a nerve,” I chuckle dryly.
“You can’t keep me locked up in here!” Seline’s foot lashes out to kick the bars, a metallic clanging filling the basement of the pack house. “You don’t even have control of your pack!”
I tense at her jab, but it’s Vivienne who answers. “He has enough control to get you here. And to watch you over the past few days. So why don’t you just save us some time and energy and tell us what you know? Who’s involved? What’s happening? When?”
Seline cackles again. “Is this about Rhemus?” Her eyes lock on me. I tense at my father’s name. “Because that old Alpha was going to die, anyway. I didn’t kill him, you know.”
“No, I don’t know, and neither does anyone else. Everyone seems to think you had a hand in it.”
Vivienne gives me a confused look. “She’s the one who treated Rhemus?”
“Uh-oh. You’re keeping secrets from your lover?” Seline caws. “That’s not good for the relationship. It sounds like someone has trust issues.”
“We’re not in a relationship,” Vivienne fires back.
My neck stiffens more at Vivienne’s quick response, but I don’t address that at the moment.
“You’re not going anywhere until you give us the information we want. Is the Alpha involved? How high does this thing go?” I demand, my patience with Seline already expiring.
The healer hoots again. “You really are clueless. That’s why your pack is falling apart. That’s why it’s so easy to attack you!”
Intuitively, I recognize she’s trying to antagonize me. It’s working, though.
“This is pointless.” Vivienne reaches for my arm, but I shrug her off, the earlier comment about our relationship still bothering me.
“You will tell us eventually,” I promise Seline. “One way or another.”
Pivoting on my heel, I make my way back up the cement stairs toward the main floor. As I reach the landing, I catch snatches of conversation between the pack members in the kitchen.
“…since she came back. He’s even worse now!”
“Yeah. I mean, he’s always been a little off. Rhemus was definitely a better Alpha. But now…” A low whistle sails through the air. “It’s not good.”
“He’s losing his grip, for sure.”
Anger flares inside me as I push the door open, and silence falls over the kitchen. The half-dozen faces look back at me, plagued with guilt.
“You think I’m losing my grip on the pack… because of Vivienne?”
“No, Alpha!” All of them speak at once.
“Get out!” The roar reverberates through the windows in the kitchen, but none of them need to be told again. “If I see any of your faces?—”
I don’t get a chance to finish my threat.
