Chapter 41: Understanding
Samara
I didn’t realize how much it would hurt and also feel good to hear Althea’s voice again. It’s been nine years since I heard the voice of anyone in my family. There was no way to stop the tears that started to fall and I wasn’t even going to try.
Roman held my gaze the entire time. As if his eyes were my anchor, I didn’t look away. I should have realized that Roman wouldn’t lie to me or exaggerate Sawyer’s love for Althea. What I heard through the phone was love on both sides. It’s going to break her when she finds out the truth. I hate that I have to be the one to do that to her, but hopefully, someday, she’ll realize that I did it because I love her. She deserves to know the truth.
“What do you think of this plan, Samara?” Roman asks me. I love that he’s asking me. He knows I’m not a warrior, not the strong fighter that he is, not yet. But he’s still asking me my opinion because this is unportant to me and that matters to him.
y’s previous pack
“I think that if we can end this, end Sawyer without any blood shed from our pack members and my family’s members, then I’m all for it,” I say, turning to Alpha Sterling
“When you say ‘take Dylan down‘, what do you mean? I’m not comfortable killing him and making a pack suffer the loss of their Alpha on a hunch,” I say.
He smiles at me and nods, as if I’ve just made him proud
“We can detain him until Sawyer is dead and then we can interrogate him and his pack to see what they know. What we need to do is have control of the pack. We can’t have Sawyer or his pack members calling Dylan’s pack to come defend Sawyer’s And I think your mate is right about one thing. Roman” he says, watching me
“What’s that?” Roman asks.
He narrows his eyes at me and I see Luna Devi turn to look at him “You’re thinking the pack would follow Samara and Althea
over Sawyer, aren’t you?” she asks him.
“Yes. I think with two white wolves in the pack, they will follow you and your sister over Sawyer,” he says, looking at Roman.
“How quickly did your pack fall in love with your mate?” he asks
“Instantly,” he says, turning to me, and smiling as he reaches out to stroke my cheek again. “It occurred to me that she could overthrow me if she really wanted to. Thankfully, she didn’t and still doesn’t. That’s not the kind of woman my mate is. It’s why she didn’t take over Alpha William’s pack and use his warriors to get her revenge against Sawyer before now.”
“Alpha William is a good Alpha,” I say in my defense.
“I agree. He’s a better Alpha than I ever gave him credit for. But that doesn’t change the fact that you could have taken over
his pack at any time and they would have followed you to the ends of the earth. I watched you say goodbye to them, Samara They were all crying, practically sobbing. They thought you were an omega, and they were all devastated that you were leaving them
“Maybe they were devastated that I was being dragged away against my will,” I say haughtily
He grins at me and shakes his head. “Nope. It’s you. It’s who you are and every pack that meets you will fall in love with you.”
He looks up at his father. “It surprises me that so many Alphas want to be mated to a white wolf, knowing the power they bave over the pack.”
“Until you see it, feel it within your own pack, that kind of instant devotion is hard to believe,” he says, smiling at me
I feel myself blush at their praise and assessment
“Be that as it may,“Luna Devi says, winking at me, “I agree that Samara’s presence could make the difference between war
- HA NONUS
and no war. Once the pack hears what Sawyer did, they won’t follow him. At least, the ones who were part of your family’s pack won’t follow him.”
She looks at me and something in her gaze makes me tense. “Sweetheart, we all heard the love that your sister has for Sawyer. You need to be prepared for her to argue with you, to not believe you, to reject what you tell her. If that’s the case, if she refuses to believe you, then the battle to win over the pack will become more difficult. Your mother was the only daughter in her family. We don’t know how a pack would feel about two white wolves in opposition to each other.”
‘Til make her believe me. I’ll make her see. The family link is gone, I’m sure, but r’ll find a way to show her what I saw,” I say But I know that she’s right. If someone came to me right now and told me that Roman had murdered their family in cold blood for his own gain, I wouldn’t believe them. Althea has had nine years to develop love and trust with Sawyer
“Are they fated mates?” I ask Roman
“No, not that I’m aware of. Both of them were over eighteen at the time of the attack. Neither of them had claimed the other as amate before then. I’m sure you realize how hard it is to keep your wolf from announcing when they find their mate and Althea would have had no reason to keep that a secret, nor would Sawyer.”
“So, they’re chosen mates. Sawyer, like you, was around all the time. He was different than you arid Teddy though. He didn’t like me tagging along. He was never mean to me, Teddy wouldn’t have allowed that, but he wasn’t like you. He didn’t tease me, let me ride his wolf back home, or treat my wounds when I’d fall,” I say thoughtfully, remembering back to that time.
I refocus and look at Roman. “Maybe that was because he’d fallen in love with Althea and he didn’t want to do anything to make her jealous.”
Roman looks thoughtful, thinking back to that time as well. There were times when Theo and I couldn’t find Sawyer. He always had some stupid excuse about what he was doing that neither Teddy nor I believed. Maybe he was watching your sister. Or maybe he was trying to woo her, hoping that he could get her to accept him as a mate after he betrayed your family,” he says. 1
v at me.
The realization of what Sawyer did suddenly hits me and I gasp. Roman smiles sadly
“You just
realized how long Sawyer was planning to betray your family, didn’t you?”
had to be at least a year,” I whisper.
“Longer,” both Roman and Alpha Sterling say.
“And he just pretended to be Teddy’s friend all that time…” I say, my throat tightening with the depth of his betrayal.
“He fooled all of us. I never saw it either,” Roman says. “Not even after it happened. He was the logical choice to take over your family’s pack. He was a second son, he was Theo’s friend, and Althea agreed to take him as her mate.”
“If you and Theo didn’t see it, then Althea certainly didn’t either,” I say, turning to Alpha Sterling “So, what’s next? What do
we need to do to get ready?”
“We need to make sure that you and Ayla are strong and ready to fight.”
I nod, looking at Roman. “Then let’s get to it. The sooner Sawyer is dead, the sooner we can finally begin living our lives.”
“Amen to that,” Roman says, pulling me in for a hot, passionate kiss
Cooper
Anyone changing their mind about Althea?
