Page 72 of Rejected Wolf's Secret Baby (Rejected Moons 4)

“But you kept her fromme.”

“From the pack,” she says. I didn’t want her growing up the way I did. Especially not now that Lonnie is coming to power. I need my daughter to have a better life than that.”

I have to tell her. I have to tell her what I can offer her.

“Can we go into your bedroom?” I ask. It’s empty now, after all. And I can’t risk Vern—or worse, Lonnie—interrupting the conversation we need to have now.

She leads me to the bedroom and I close the door behind us. She looks wary, but not as distressed as she did when I first arrived. She’s hearing me. She believes what I have to say.

And I find that it’s an incredible relief not to have to resent her or feel angry with her.

She wasn’t keeping Emmy fromme. She just wanted her away from the pack. Away from the toxic elements in her own family.

But I can protect Emmy from those things.

“If you and I were mated,” I say, “I could become alpha. If that was something you wanted. If you’d feel better.”

She gapes at me.

“If you don’t want it, I don’t have to,” I say. “I don’t care about being alpha. I think you know that. But if you’d be willing to stay here—with Emmy—we could be a family. And we’d be safe. We could remove Lonnie from power. Is that something you’d want?”

I hold my breath and wait for her answer.

43

ALICIA

Istareathim.What he’s saying—it’s the solution to everything.

“You would do that?” I ask.

“Are you joking?” He cups my cheek. “For you? Anything, Alicia. And…” He closes his eyes and inhales sharply, and it almost looks like something is causing him pain. “And for Emmy.”

“I’d never have asked it of you,” I murmur. “To fight Lonnie—”

“I can take that fucking creep.”

“I know. I know you can.” But it scares me anyway, the idea of Brandon going into battle. He was a fighter when he was young, it’s true, but he’s not young anymore, and from what I can tell, he’s been deliberately avoiding this kind of brawl decades. How can I let him do this?

For a moment, I’m tempted to stop the whole thing. I could tell him no. I could tell him that it wouldn’t make a difference, that I wouldn’t stay anyway. I could tell him there was no point in seeking out a fight like that, because even if he won, it wouldn’t change anything.

That would be a lie, though.

I love Brandon so much I can hardly bear to leave him, even with things as they are. If he could make this change, if he could take over control of the pack…

Well, then it would be a safe place for me and my daughter at last. Deidre would have no power to torment us. Lonnie wouldn’t be a danger to us.

And he’s doing it forme.

I think it’s the sexiest thing that’s ever happened to me in my life.

I crawl into his lap and straddle his hips so we’re face to face. I take his head between my hands and kiss him, deeply and passionately.

“I am so in love with you,” I breathe.

He slides his hands up the back of my shirt, and I raise my arms so he can pull it up over my head. His fingers twist open my bra, and I shake that away too.

“Is this okay?” he murmurs. “Doing this in your father’s house, I mean?”

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