Page 69 of The Forbidden Wolf

“Now I know you’re hiding something huge,” Sebastian growled wiping his mouth on one sleeve. “Hit him again, Kenzo.”

“Mother of Chann.” Max mirrored his son’s hair raking gesture. “This is unprecedented. He should be useless after a week in there.”

Kenzo withdrew a third syringe from his sweats and stabbed Damian one last time. The Beta’s back arched away from the chair with an anguished gasp.

Sebastian stalked forward and grabbed him by the hair, yanking his head back. “Who is the rightful heir to the Bronx Throne?”

Damian clenched his jaw. “Kiana.”

My shoulders slumped, and I fought back a fresh wave of tears. I didn’t really want to be the rightful heir, but I also really didn’t want my hunch to have been wrong. Because if I hadn’t left the theater exactly when I did, then my curious friends would have moved on with their night. They never would have been on that train. They were just looking out for me. When I never even needed them too.

“Who is the true firstborn daughter of Alpha Phelan?” Sebastian tried again.

Damian’s whole face twisted with resistance, but he finally ground out, “The firstborn whelp… was called… Kiana.”

“Was.” Sebastian stood tall, a triumphant grin creasing his profile. “But now she is called Elyse. You switched them, didn’t you? While their mother was dying.”

I covered my mouth with both hands. Max put his arm around me in a fatherly side hug without another word. What could he say? What could I say? I’d never even known my own name. I remembered Yara sitting on my bed, the joy on her face as she acted out the scene—my mother breaking tradition and demanding to hold me first. My mother calling me her baby. Her perfect girl.

Damian’s lips peeled back to show his fangs. “I should have bit her little head off, but I showed her mercy! I let her live! I set her up for a simple life where she’d never cause us any trouble, but here we are! It’s who she is! If you were as intelligent as you are beautiful, you’d kill the bitch today and accept Kiana as your mate!”

“I have already accepted the firstborn Kiana as my mate,” Sebastian said quietly. His eyes cut toward the camera, piercing my soul. “But I much prefer the name Elyse.”

“You’re a fool!” Damian strained at his shackles, making the chair hop toward Sebastian. “Like the fool who raised you!”

Max chuckled, giving me a squeeze. “It’s true. I do prefer the name Elyse also. Not sure why that makes us fools…”

The office door swung open a crack, drawing our attention away from the screen. Yara peeked around the corner, blinking sleepy eyes. When she saw it was only the two of us she smiled and pushed the door open all the way, its edge coming to rest on the wall just a few inches from the side of the TV. The gauzy light from the black-and-white image lit up her long white gown like a ghost. Max rushed over, preventing her from fully entering.

“Sweetheart, what are you doing out of bed?” he chided. “You need your rest.”

“As do you,” she said, curling her fingers into the front of his button-down. Her eyes drifted over to me, crinkling with a gentle smile. “And Elyse. Honestly, Maximo, whatever could be so important—?”

Yara stopped. Her gaze had landed on the screen where Kenzo was once again setting a cackling Damian’s chair upright. The Beta now sported a flourish of bright red blood beneath his nose. Somehow I suspected that one had been Sebastian’s idea.

“Who is that male?” Yara pointed a quavering finger. “Max. Who is that male?”

Max craned his neck around as if he needed to study the screen to answer. “That’s the Bronx Beta, honey. You know this. We’ve had him in the bunker all week.”

Yara held her palm up to the screen and then took a step back, shaking her head. She started to turn away, but her eyes rolled and she wilted from the knees. Max caught her with a shout, gently lowering her to the floor where he pinned her hands down so she couldn’t hurt herself thrashing. Only she didn’t thrash.

Seconds ticked by. I’d only seen this happen twice, so I told myself maybe it wasn’t that unusual for her to go perfectly still during an episode. Maybe they didn’t always come with visions. But then Max placed his fingers to her throat, checking for a pulse.

“Is she…?” I whispered.

“She’s alive,” Max said. “But this is… well, it’s…”

“Unprecedented?” I offered.

Max nodded. “Sit with her? I need to call for a nurse. Hold her hands down, just in case.”

Shaking, I took his place at her side and carefully pressed my hands over her delicate wrists while Max muttered orders into the old-fashioned phone on his big mahogany desk. His mate’s head lolled to one side, her face contracted in an expression of anguish. I held my breath, waiting for the inevitable jump scare when she came back lost in another time.

I glanced up at the screen. Damian was all alone, slumped in the corner on a bed of straw like some sort of tranquilized zoo animal. Heavy footsteps shook the floor, and a moment later, Sebastian came flying around the corner. He dropped to his knees on the opposite side of his mother, gently touching her face.

“How long as she been like this?” His voice trembled.

“I don’t know,” I stammered. “A few minutes? Is that… not normal?”

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