to forsake his duty, but you can convince him otherwise,” my father pleaded with me. “He was made to be beta. You’re twins. You know how important this is.”
My wolf snarled, and I tried to breathe through my anger. “You do realize that we are twins, not clones.” My voice was dry, but he didn’t see the humor.
“Watch your tone, Zev,” he warned, his eyes flashing. “You are still my pup.”
“I am also future beta of this pack,” I reminded him stiffly. “I am, not you.” I didn’t know where the words were coming from, didn’t know how to stop them, but they spilled past my lips, bitter as poison on my tongue. “You were never strong enough to make beta. Never strong enough to rise even halfway through the pack ranks. That’s what pisses you off, isn’t it? You think that just because you can claim twins in your bloodline you should be elevated socially, but you know that isn’t the way it works. So you decided the next best thing was to control Chann and me. To mold us into what you could never be. You lucked out, I don’t want to think about what you would have done if Chann and I were submissive. But we weren’t. We were strong and smart, but Goddess help you, because we learned how to be kind and friendly as well, no matter what you wanted for us. I will be beta of this pack, not you. I will listen to your concerns, but I will not be your puppet. I will not whisper in the alpha’s ear for you. You can speak to the alpha as a pack member the same as any other wolf here, or you can move to another pack.”
“How dare you?” he hissed, his hands curling into fists. “You’re as poisoned as Gwyar said you were.”
“And when have you been speaking to Gwyar, Father?” My voice was a dangerous rumble now. “When exactly have you been consorting with the alpha of another pack, one known to be a danger to ours?”
His face was pale now, sweat beading on his brow. “It is not for you to concern yourself with. That bitch who considers herself beta—”
I snarled at him. “You will not speak of her that way.”
His shoulders straightened as he glared at me. “You owe your mother and me. You both do. Your duty is to us as much as to the pack. All this nonsense of moon blessed and females taking power is poison to the packs. You will reinstate your brother as beta. You will do what is best for your family, or else.”
“Or else what?” The words were a deadly hiss as I stepped toward him, grasping his sweater in my hand.
He stuttered, “H-He just wants the pup, it’s his…” He’d barely gotten the words out of his lips when the window next to us burst open and a snarling ball of fury blew through it. I was left gasping as Pixie pinned my father to the ground, her claws at his throat.
“You will not touch my pup,” she snapped, her teeth bared, her eyes glowing with command. Feet pounded through the corridor behind us, and I turned to see Fillian and Alarick running toward us.
“Mind telling me why my beta just jumped off the roof, through a window, and onto a pack member?” Alarick asked me, his voice deadly quiet.
I whipped around to look at Pixie in shock. “That’s how you got away from me? You went onto the fucking roof?” She didn’t bother answering me, she merely tightened her grip on my father.
“Why don’t we take this in here,” Fillian suggested, waving a hand toward the classroom behind him, “before we gather a crowd?”
“Come on, Poppy,” I encouraged. “I won’t let him get away.”
She looked nearly feral as she slowly backed down, her lip peeled back from her teeth before letting Fillian heard us into the empty room behind us and away from anyone who may come around the corner. “Ian,” she growled, “can you contact Luna’s bodyguards?”
He blinked but nodded. “Yes. Why?”
“Double them. Now.” Ian swore, grabbing his cell without hesitation to do as she ordered. Her eyes began to glow pale green, forcing my father to shudder and sweat. “You and I are going to have a talk,” she told him, her words soft and sweet though her eyes were deadly. “A long, long talk.”
“Pixie,” Alarick interrupted with a pointed glance at his watch as he reached out to