The Alphas Broken Mate novel · Chapter 12 of 24

Chapter 12: The Beta's Back

"You've found it faster than I thought you would," Osric said.

He did not raise his voice, and he did not come closer.

"Eighteen years I have waited for someone to look under the lining," he said.

I gripped the grey cloak across my knees.

"I gave Merrick forty of them," he said. "Red inside, grey out."

"A Thornfield wolf can walk to the valley in the dark, and turn his cloak at the ridge."

He said it plainly, and it was worse than shouting.

My heart was beating so hard I could hear it in my teeth.

"Your mother was a Caller," Osric said. "My brother wanted to give the Callers a seat on the Council."

"One note from a Caller can put an Alpha on his knees."

"I could not let a woman with a song rule the packs."

"Your valley burned for that, and my brother hanged for it. I sat in his chair when he was dead."

He took a small lump of yellow wax from his pocket and rolled it between two fingers.

"I have carried it for eighteen years," he said, and he almost smiled.

I understood that he told me because he thought no one would believe a woman with no tongue.

"I am not going to hurt you," Osric said. "I am going to ask you to be wise."

"Take my nephew. Take the chair at his side. Leave Merrick to me, and let the dead lie."

I got to my feet on my crutches.

My legs shook and I did not let them fold.

I tucked the grey cloak under my arm, and I walked toward the door.

He stood aside.

He let me pass, because the whole fortress was over our heads and he was too careful to touch me.

I climbed the stairs on my crutches with the cloak pressed against my side.

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