that,” Heath whispered. “How dare you? You never got a position of power because you couldn’t earn it. If you weren’t happy, you could have come and spoken to me. I would have given you more. There’s no reason to take this out on your younger siblings.”
“My treasured younger siblings. Landon, born a werewolf and strong, stronger than most. Carey, born a perfect, precious little human. Daddy’s girl.”
I had a twin sister. I could seriously relate to Richard’s pain. There had been a lot of moments in my life where I was convinced my parents loved her more than me. But I never took it out on her. She was who she was, and I loved her for it. I could never imagine turning against her.
“You’re dead to me,” he told his oldest son, then turned on Emma and Dean. “Do you two have some sort of accusation against my character before you release my wolves? They don’t need to die for this. I’m willing to accept my fate to keep them safe.” He glared at Emma. “You know the Tribunal will never let this stand, right? Cross-breeds aren’t allowed to hold power.”
“The Law isn’t strong enough to stop me,” she hissed, leaning against one of the cages. “You would know that if you ever listened to me. I told you that if you ever wanted to give me a real place in this pack, I would be able to defend it. But no, you hold tight to your little Laws. So tight, in fact, that it was easy to think you would send Carey to the werecat over there. You thought no one would ever dare go against a werecat’s protection. Fuck the Law. I’m taking control. I have the strength for it.” She tapped the cage holding Tywin. “I had people go to you and tell you that Dean and I would be better than Tywin. I gave you chances. Didn’t I, Dean?”
“You did,” he agreed softly. “We tried, so that we wouldn’t have to escalate this, but you were moving fast towards retirement and leaving in the next six months. We had to act.”
“I was never going to go against the Laws, Emma. You should have been wise enough not to either.” Heath leaned on Landon’s cage, and the younger wolf moved closer to his father. Not much. They didn’t touch, but I could see it was a simple proclamation of loyalty. Landon, even caged and beaten, would fight for his father to the bitter fucking end.
“This is why I didn’t challenge Tywin. Because you, of all people, deserve to die. Not go happily into retirement. You say the pack should fight for each other, but you never fought for me.” Emma’s voice cracked. “You never fought for me!”
“This is why everything has been so ridiculous. So un-wolflike. Emma is a half-witch, and that makes her more human than the rest of us.” I hoped Heath heard me and understood, but I continued, just trying to get through to him. “She could try something dangerous and underhanded.”
“Dean didn’t earn his position in my inner circle,” Heath said softly. “Oh, he’s a strong wolf, but others could have taken it if I allowed them. He was there by my choice, which was frowned upon by some. He had it because I knew the pair of you were worthy of the position. I did what I thought was right, Emma.” Heath spread his hands. “Please. I tried. Let my son and Tywin leave with the werecat and Carey. We can fix this.”
“It doesn’t need fixing,” she snarled. “They can go after you die.”
“Love! That wasn’t our plan. Carey doesn’t need to watch her father die,” Dean said, jumping between Emma and Heath. “We had a plan. Don’t…”
“Get out of my way, Dean.” Emma glared at him. “Don’t betray me. I’m the most powerful being in this state, probably this country! I want him to die now, on his own accord. Then I’ll release his precious wolves.”
“Emma—”
Dean flew, hitting a wall and staying there. Emma had a hand outstretched, as if she was pinning him with an invisible force.
“Don’t make me take Carey back,” she hissed. “I will. The cat won’t stop me.”
That caused Carey to cry louder and I snarled, snapping over in the bitch’s direction.
“Look at her, so well trained.” Emma flicked her other wrist and it sent me flying, leaving Carey on the floor and undefended. I slid across the floor into the back wall, then jumped