Undercover Alpha: BBW Paranormal Werewolf Romance (11 page)

It took her a second to get herself pulled together, glancing at herself in the bedroom mirror. God, she was beautiful. Even when she was angry. Maybe especially when she was angry; after all, she was the Queen. She might not be willing to admit it, but he could almost feel the power rippling through her.

The knock came again, more urgent. “I’m coming,” she called. Jason zipped his pants so he wouldn’t be obscene when he got out there. Did he smell something familiar?

“Lucy,” the voice said, a man’s voice, familiar. The man from Oliver’s.

“Richard,” she said. “Is everything all right?”

“Just fine,” he said. “Can I come in?”

There was someone—another werewolf—at the back door.

What the hell was Richard trying to pull?

He stayed back. Maybe Richard didn’t need to know he was there just yet. The werewolf would know, but in wolf form, he couldn’t exactly send Richard a text. His wolf wanted to jump in and start ripping throats, but he told it to stay calm.

This was going to be up to Lucy. Whether she—or he—wanted it that way or not.

“I wanted to review some things about the paperwork,” he said. “Do you have a minute?”

“I guess so,” she said. “I have some food coming in a minute, but—”

“It won’t take long,” he said. “I really appreciate it.”

“So what is it?”

He put his briefcase on the table. Jason tried not to think about what they’d been doing on that table earlier. “I’m afraid I’ll have to speak frankly. It’s about your clan.”

“Clan?” Jason heard Lucy’s heartbeat spike. He suppressed the desire to run out and demand that Richard explain himself. Lucy was doing all right. Playing dumb was probably the smart move, especially with Richard not being a werewolf himself. He couldn’t tell how nervous Lucy was, how her respiration had picked up. Jason just had to keep track of the werewolf at the back door. At least there was only one. Whatever he was up to, he couldn’t have much support if only one wolf was backing him up.

“Your uncle was a werewolf,” Richard said flatly. “I’m sure you’re aware of it, as you brought a werewolf to your uncle’s home. From another clan, at that.”

“I don’t understand this clan thing,” she said. “What, are there rivalries or something?”

Okay, she was piling it on a little thick at this point, but it sounded like it was working. Richard smelled more like annoyance than suspicion.

“I worked for your uncle for more than twenty years,” Richard said, sharply. “I was well aware of the clan’s inner workings. That man is attempting a hostile takeover of the clan. Your responsibility is to choose an alpha, to make sure the clan will be managed responsibly.”

“But…why are you asking me? Why not Frieda? She’s the oldest.”

“She doesn’t have the gift,” Richard said. “You do.”

“How do you know all this?” Jason had to admire the confusion Lucy was faking. “Are…are you a werewolf?”

“No,” Richard said. “I am just fortunate enough to have had the trust of the clan for many years. And there is an ideal candidate to be alpha to the clan.”

“Yeah?”

“I hope you’ll allow me to introduce him. And then there are certain…rituals that will have to be obeyed. Once we have your word…you will be free of this, and the clan can flourish, as it has for centuries.”

“Rituals,” she said. “What…kind of rituals?”

Jason wanted to know the answer to that question himself.

“Don’t worry,” Richard said. “They’re very simple, straightforward. But it has to happen on the night of a full moon, which is tomorrow. So we have to move quickly.”

“I see,” she said.

“First we need your signature on the legal forms, of course. The inheritance has to be—”

“I have another question,” Lucy said.

“What?”

“Do you think I’m stupid?”

***

The temperature in the room dropped instantly. “I’m sorry?” Richard said.

“You want me to sign over my rights,” she said. “You’ve told me almost nothing about the clan. You’re just expecting me to take your word for all this?”

“I was your uncle’s lawyer,” he said. “He trusted me to guide his final wishes.”

But he didn’t, Lucy thought, remembering the box and the stacks of letters. He had trusted Emily Lee, not Richard St. Clare. And maybe this was why. “And his final wishes were that someone else should lead the clan? You haven’t even told me his name.”

“Andy,” he said. “He’s very strong. Trustworthy. You can’t possibly find anyone better. You can meet him, of course. It’s just that time is running short—”

“I think you should leave,” Lucy said. She knew Jason was back in the bedroom, waiting, wanting to protect her. But she could certainly throw out a jerk who wasn’t even a werewolf. “Right now. And I think it’s time my sisters and I get counsel of our own.” She stood up. “Now I think it’s time for you to go. We’re expecting dinner.”

“We?” Richard said. Oh, shit.

“Jason is coming,” she said. “You know, another werewolf. Like I said, you should leave.”

“No one’s leaving,” Richard said, gesturing. “In fact, someone else needs to be a part of this meeting.”

What was he doing?

Then the glass behind her shattered, and she heard the growl. She knew instinctively it wasn’t Jason.

“This is Andy,” Richard said. “You’ll notice how strong and powerful he is. He’s a natural leader. I think you should sit back down.”

She considered her options. She sat, but she reached out and put her hand on the table. She could feel the metal edge of her bracelet. “So,” she said, craning her neck so she could get a better look at Andy. She could sense him, his weight, his power. Was this what being a queen meant? “What happens now? What happens when the delivery guy comes with my food?”

“It won’t take much time for us to do what we need to do,” he said. “You and Jason will have to—”

Andy growled. Jason’s here, was what that meant. But Richard didn’t notice. He couldn’t notice. He wasn’t a werewolf…or a queen. Interesting.

She…she had the upper hand, didn’t she? Andy couldn’t tell Richard what was going on without transforming. Jason was in the bedroom, waiting. All she had to do was figure out what to do next. And what Richard was going to do next.

“Ideally,” Richard said, “you’ll sign over these papers and agree to the ritual tomorrow, but I’m certainly not without options.”

Andy barked. Good luck with that, Andy.

“You see, Andy agrees. We can do this the easy way or the hard way.”

“Why?” Lucy asked. “Why would you do this?”

“I’ve worked too hard for this,” Richard said. “Oliver was practically bedridden, did you know that? I did everything for him. Everything. And he put the clan leadership in your hands! You’re a stranger!”

“He couldn’t control that,” she said, working to keep her voice calm. “I inherited it, from him, from my mother. If you’ve worked with the clan all this time, you should know that.” Where was Jason? Was he all right? Didn’t he say he wanted to protect her?

Jason…Jason had transformed, too. She couldn’t see it but she knew it. He was waiting.

All right. She could do this. She had to. For her own safety. For the clan that Oliver had cared so much about. Maybe she wasn’t ready to lead a clan, but she certainly wasn’t about to let this creep take it over with a hand-picked replacement who was growling at her. No way.
The clan must be nurtured,
Oliver had written.
It is not a wild beast to tame. Too many alphas have fallen making that assumption. The best power is that which guides and does not command.

He’d said Jason knew that. She had to learn it now, too.

What was it inside her that knew? That knew that Jason was in wolf form, waiting, ready to fight if he had to? That knew that Andy was a clan wolf,
her
clan wolf? It was something inside her. A sense. She focused on that sense, on the little part of her that knew. There was something else. A pull.

“Andy,” Richard said. “Can you persuade the lady?”

“I don’t think I’m the one that needs persuading,” Lucy said, as she stood up, with the bracelet looped around her fingers. “Am I, Andy?”

“Wait—” Richard said, but it was too late. She wasn’t listening to him any more.

Andy lunged at her, but she was ready, and she brought her fist around and smashed him in the nose. Andy whimpered in pain and crouched back, the fight draining out of him. “I’m the Queen,” she said. “Aren’t I? You’re just…you’re just an ambitious little puppy.” The realization hit her: This was what being the Queen was. She didn’t have to fight, not really. She just had to be who she always was. In charge. Richard had been leading Andy—maybe the whole pack—in the wrong direction. But she could fix that. She could make it right.

Andy whimpered again, ears back, nose down. Lucy felt the power building in her.

Then she heard the click of the gun behind her.

“That’s very dramatic,” Richard said. “But I’m afraid even being a Queen will only get you so far. Now if you’ll turn around, there’s some paperwork you need to sign.”

Andy growled. Lucy wondered if Richard could hear the difference in his growl. “We don’t have to do this,” she said. “You don’t have to do this.”

“I’d rather not shoot you,” he said. “It would be much cleaner if you’ll just sign these documents. Simpler.”

“And then what will you do?” Lucy said.

Richard’s jaw tightened. “I don’t have to give you any more explanations.”

“And I don’t have to give you a signature.” She knew the silver would do her no good with Richard, but she tightened her fist around the bracelet anyway. It gave her confidence. She was Queen, dammit. She had two werewolves at her side.

“I don’t have to let you live,” Richard said, and Lucy felt the message from Jason. Not a voice, just an instinct, that she had to get down, and get down fast.

She dove for the floor, and Jason leapt. She heard the gun go off—no, Jason, be all right—and crawled along the floor toward the sound, toward Richard and Jason. She had to help if she could.

By the time she reached them, she realized she hadn’t needed to bother. Jason was solidly on top of Richard, pinning him down, his teeth just touching the wrist holding the gun.

“I’ll take that,” Lucy said, and pulled the gun out of his hand.

Jason transformed. “I need something to tie him up. Get Andy over here.”

“Andy?” Lucy said. “There’s…there’s towels in the bathroom if you want to be—you know.”

“Thank you,” Andy’s human voice replied, and she heard him dart in that direction.

“You did it,” Jason said, smiling at her over Richard. “You were amazing.”

“I don’t know,” she said. “I just—did what I had to do.”

“That’s what a queen does,” he said, and he sounded so proud. She couldn’t help smiling back, even if they were both on the floor pinning a homicidal lawyer to the ground.

“My uncle,” Lucy said. “Did you—what did you do? He didn’t trust you. He knew—”

“You can’t prove anything,” Richard snarled.

“You broke in here,” Jason said. “And you threatened Lucy with a gun if she wouldn’t sign these papers.”

“She let me in!”

“No,” Lucy said. She put her foot on Richard’s wrist, the one that had held the gun, to keep it in place, and stood up. “You broke in, through the back door. That’s why there’s all that broken glass here.”

“That was—”

Lucy put her head on one side. “You think the cops are going to believe you when you tell them it was a werewolf?”

Richard didn’t answer.

Andy came out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist. He was young, maybe in his early twenties. His skin was pale, and he had reddish, curly hair. “What do you need me to do?” he said.

“You can help us tie him up,” Lucy said. “Then you’d better get out of here. The delivery guy’s coming soon.”

“I think he might be late,” Jason said. “I wonder if we can get our food free?”

It took forever to go through everything, the police, the food—it did finally come, and it wasn’t free, but at least that way they weren’t starving when they talked to the police—and explaining at least some of the mess to Dad, Frieda and Ophelia. Dad insisted on riding over and making sure everything was okay himself, and he held Lucy for a long, long time.

“I’ll stay here,” Jason said. “Like we planned. Just in case he was working with someone, or something else…but I think we can feel pretty confident that the worst of this is over. Ian will stay at the house tonight, like we planned, and we can pack things up tomorrow.”

“Thank you,” Dad said, and shook Jason’s hand. “You’ve…you’ve done a hell of a lot.”

“I was just lucky enough to be here when he broke in, this time.”

“Means your instincts are good,” Dad said.

“You’re flattering me,” he said. “But thank you.”

“You’re a good man,” Dad said. Lucy hoped he would still think that in the morning, when they called everyone together for a little talk about werewolves. “I’ll talk to the girls. Why don’t we all go out to breakfast in the morning? We certainly owe you both.”

“That sounds nice,” Jason said. “Maybe brunch? I think we’re both pretty beat.”

“Of course,” Dad said. “Go ahead and call us when you’re both up and around.”

Was Dad talking about them like they were a couple? Or was that just Lucy getting ahead of herself?

“Okay,” Jason said. “Thank you. I hope you guys will sleep better tonight.”

I will, Lucy realized. Her fears and uncertainties were gone. She was Queen. She could lead the clan. She
had
led the clan. Tonight was the first step, a young pup who’d made the wrong choice, but she could do better. Better than that. Jason had been right.

Maybe…maybe Jason had been right about everything.

***

When the apartment was finally empty of everyone but Lucy and Jason, they papered over the broken glass door with cardboard. “Guess I’ll have to call the landlord,” she said.

“He insured?”

“Probably. I’m sure the money will come from Richard, eventually.”

“Don’t count on it. I had Ian do some digging while we were…doing all this, and apparently Richard was racking up some serious debt. That’s probably why he was so desperate to have the clan pass to someone else.”