that thick skull of yours. Or demolish every tooth in your foul mouth until you’re choking on your own blood.”
He glowered for another second before turning to Elias. “She’s right, old man. You’re a fucking fool. Of course he’s selling them off to the highest bidder. War’s expensive, and men are willing to fight if they know they’re getting a shiny new toy at the end of their battle. The girls will fetch a higher price since they’re … untried. Damien was sure to keep them intact for his friends.”
My stomach lurched dangerously, and I could see Lulu looked just as disturbed as I felt.
“No,” Elias stammered, shaking his head. “He wouldn’t—”
“And I’m the one you shut up?’ Linden snarked with a chuckle. “Damien was right. You really are blinded by devotion to your precious cause. Those girls will be passed out like fucking party favors. Every Alpha who was aligned with him before the Summit knew this. It was part of the fucking reason we joined. He’s taking the women and girls from every pack he controls. At the end of this war, he’ll have most of the female shifters in North America. His to assign to whatever mate he chooses.”
Linden turned his glare to me. “Including you. Although, part of the deal I made was that you and your mother be returned to Long Mesa along with my wife and daughter at the end.”
“Do you even hear yourself?” I whispered. “Your wife. Your daughter. Your sister and your niece. Does family mean nothing to you? What the hell made you so damn twisted inside?”
“My father made it abundantly clear how much more valuable my darling sister was. Our entire childhood was him picking her over me. He always doted on her, coddled her. He was even going to make her mate Alpha of our pack,” he spat, venom dripping from his words.
“So, this was all because Daddy liked her more? You’re a jealous asshat who decided to lash out because you couldn’t hack it as a real Alpha?”
“The omega house was my idea.” Linden smirked at me scornfully. “Well, mine and Allan’s. After all the challenges that followed the war because of your mother, my father was too weak for another challenge. We offered him a deal. Let us control the omega house, and he could keep his pack.”
“She’s your sister,” I choked out, horrified.
“She is,” he replied grimly, “which is the only thing that kept me out of that house. I let Allan use her as often as he wanted, and I took the only other person Adalynne cared about for myself.”
“Zara,” I murmured, stunned, “her best friend.”
He laughed, shaking his head. “Damien is going to win. Even with your father, your mate, and all your little allies, he’s going to win. And you know why? Because he’s been preparing for this for years. How do you think he got women from so many packs? How he got someone close to you in fucking Russia? He has people everywhere, embedded in every pack, who believe in what he’s doing.”
I stared at him. “You really are a monster.”
He laughed callously. “You have no idea what’s coming for you, little girl. I can’t wait to see you completely broken down the way your mother was.”
“Shut him up,” I said quietly to Lulu.
Instantly his mouth sealed shut, but there was glee in his bright green eyes as he watched us.
I turned to Elias. “Now do you see who you’ve been helping? What you’ve done?”
“I never wanted this,” he replied brokenly, looking utterly defeated.
“I don’t care,” I remarked with a shrug. “All that matters is how you’re going to help us fix it.”
His head hung sadly. “It’s too heavily guarded, Skye. You’ll never make it. It’s isolated, and they’ll see you coming from a mile away. And even if you have the manpower to take it down, he might kill everyone inside just for spite. The only way to get to it is …”
“Is how?” I challenged, my tone hardening.
“You’ll have to win,” he answered. “You’ll have to win and take Damien’s pack from him.”
I smiled back at him. “That’s exactly what we plan to do.”
33
Skye
I dropped into the seat beside Tate with a sigh, the pulse pounding in my skull making my head hurt. Across from me, Dimitri stood up and let Lulu get back to her seat, but I didn’t miss the hand that ghosted across her hip for a second as she slipped by him.
“Well, that’s a lot