it. He got put on academic probation, his scholarships, grants, or whatever he was using to pay weren't enough, and then Seth was the last straw."
"Why did Damon attack some random guy in front of Ian's apartment, though?" I asked.
Ashley sighed. "Ian thinks it was a coincidence. I think Damon waited until Seth was close enough that he could point the finger. My guess - and I have nothing at all to base this on except what I know of the guy - is that Damon planned to kill Seth, was going to blame Ian somehow, and force Ian to either go to jail or expose himself as a wolf. Believe it or not, my brother used to be a bit of a hothead. He had a long fuse, but once it burned out, nothing would stop his fury."
"And now, Damon just hates Ian," I realized. "He's done it for so long that he knows nothing else? I mean, why is this such a big deal?"
"Because my brother - hell, my entire family - has everything Damon wants. Success, money... You name it, and we had it. Damon grew up in a pack with nothing. We had a nice house. He lived in a run-down mobile home and had to move often so they wouldn't get caught. Ian got his degree, Damon ended up dropping out of college. It was as if so much of their lives paralleled, but Damon always got the shitty version."
"So did I," I shot back. "I didn't grow up with a silver spoon, but I worked to make my life more comfortable, and now I'm hoping to make Gabby's even better! It's how it works."
"Unless you think you deserve it. If you blame things like bad luck and good luck, or if you're the kind of person who can't accept that it's ever your fault - and Damon is. He's also strong, Elena. The man is a beast of a wolf and a brute of a man. He's an alpha, and the vicious kind. He's killed his rivals instead of letting them submit. When Ian talks about tyrants, it's Damon he's thinking about."
"Oh." Because what else could I say to that?
"So," she said, "this isn't over. I think Damon has finally convinced himself to challenge my brother. I think that asshole has some trick up his sleeve, and I'm willing to bet that he sent his pack in here to scope out the place, hoping for some advantage."
"And Karen's probably egging him on," I grumbled.
"Or she's the trick he has up his sleeve," Ashley countered. "She's a wolf from some very old bloodlines. She's his mate. To Damon, that's proof that his luck turned, or he deserves this, or some shit." She paused, grunting at the annoyance of it all. "I just don't know, but I have a feeling that we need to have a backup plan. That's why we're separating the finances from the pack. For now, my father is holding Ian's shares of the business. Wolf's Run is a completely independent, but wolf-owned, corporation. The pack is Ian's. The two things are not combined, so if my brother does lose, Damon will still get nothing."
"And Henry could kick the pack off his property?" I asked.
Ashley canted her head. "He could. He also won't. Dad's still an alpha, Elena. He still cares about these people. But he could charge Damon rent. He could restrict his access. We can make it uncomfortable enough that Damon would never succeed as the Alpha. The only problem is going to be convincing my brother that if he loses, he has to run."
"Leave?" I asked.
She nodded. "Which is where you come in. If Damon is going to win, you have to beg Ian to go. Swear you will follow him. If Ian runs, he'll lose a lot of his pride, and that will hurt more than you can imagine, but he'll live. Damon won't kill him. I don't care if my brother is the Pack Alpha or nothing. All I care about is that he is alive."
"I'll make him swear it," I told her. "And I think the guys will be on my side in this."
She caught my hand. "Thank you. Just tell him that you love him. Not his money, not his status, and not even this place. Elena, I know you. You don't need anything fancy, but my brother wants to give it to you. But, if you can convince him that what you need is him