Page 76 of The Weakest Wolf

“She came back,” he interrupts.

My heart thumps hard. “What are you talking about?”

He angles his head. “Apparently, she decided that regardless of the risk to her daughter, she’d rather take you away than leave you here. Doesn’t speak well of her parenting abilities, if you ask me.”

Why does it feel like someone is sitting on my chest?

My hands form tight fists. “You forced her out, and she left. Hunters killed her.”

Genuine amusement fills his eyes. “So naïve. Did you really believe that story?”

I lunge at Bowen, my hands going for his throat.

He steps aside, and as I turn, a metallic jangle warns me of what’s about to happen, but too late. My ribs scream. I cry out as I collapse, my arms curled around myself. It hurts to breathe, which means he’s broken my ribs. Again.

In the next moment, Bowen drops on top of me, his weight pinning me to the ground, and leans into my face. “You did, didn’t you?”

I ignore my pain and glare up at him, wishing he was dead.

“Let’s talk about that, shall we?”

“Fuck off.”

He shakes his head. “Now, where were we before you got excited?”

I don’t say a word.

“That’s right,” he says, “we were getting to how beautiful Lira Bree—” He stops talking when I startle. “What, you didn’t think I remembered her name?”

Since I can’t trust myself not to tell him to fuck off again, I keep silent.

“Well, I did. A man doesn’t easily forget when a beautiful woman begs him for help with the promise to do whatever he wants.”

I shake my head. “You’re lying. My mom wasn’t like that.”

“You mean a mother won’t do whatever it takes to get her child back? Is that what you’re saying?”

I wish Galen had choked the life out of me, because I can feel down to my bones that I’m going to hear something I’ll wish I never did.

“No,” I whisper.

“She offered to suck my cock, begged me to do it,” he says, with a gentle smile on his face.

“Shut up,” I snarl. “She wouldn’t.”

He raises an eyebrow. “Not even to save her child’s life? You’re telling me that she didn’t love you that much?”

Tears slide from the corners of my eyes. “She wouldn’t do that.”

He leans closer. “Well, clearly you didn’t know her as well as I did.” He pauses. “Though perhaps not as well as your father,” he leers.

“Shut up!” I scream as I fight to get free. More tears slide down my face. “She wouldn’t do that. She wouldn’t.”

“That must’ve been where you learned to use your body to get what you want. Not that I’m unhappy about it. I should thank you for clearing the way for me to be alpha. Who knows if it would’ve happened without you?”

Numbness invades my body. “Well, you’re alpha now. Do what you brought me here to do. Kill me.”

“So soon? No. We haven’t even gotten to the best part of the story.”

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