Fatal Temptation: Between Two Alphas
Chapter 41

Chapter Forty-One

I wake up. I'm sprawled on the floor and panting. Eric and Cameron are trying to calm me down.

Nala growls at them.

"Mia!"

I snap at their hands and trot out of their grasps.

"Mia!"

"Wait!

I ignore their calls for me to stop.

"What did you see?" Dr. Glass asks. She blocks the door. Her eyes are sharp and knowing and I hate that this woman forced me to confront things I did not want to see.

I shift back to human.

I pause and turn back to the room. I take in Ashley where she lies, lifeless. Dr. Lee with his crunched brows and worried frown. Cam and Eric...they look indignant. Like how dare I walk away from them. How dare I not sit there like a good dog and do whatever they say.

Fuck that.

"I'm not going to talk about it," I tell them all. "Don't bother asking."

I haven't pledged myself to either male.

They can't make me talk.

I don't belong to either pack-their Alpha powers won't work on me.

Eric growls.

Right now I need answers... and there is only one person who can give them to me.

"She'll calm down," I hear Cameron say as I push out the double doors.

Not likely.

I storm down the hallway.

There's a storage room off the main corridor and I grab a towel from the shelf and wrap it around my body. It's not a replacement for my clothes, but I've been on display enough for one day, and just this little bit of modesty goes miles for making me feel less vulnerable.

I skirt around the back of the building, and avoid the square. I enter the main packhouse where my father used to reside and take the back hallways to reach the stairwell. Ashley's face is burned in my mind. The shapes of her features, the cut of her jaw.

With her height and graceful features, I don't quite see the similarities. But on closer inspection, we have the same brows and chin. The same high cheeks. Our eyes have the same shape but are different colors. I still can't believe that she could be my sister. But I'm not really sure why she'd lie to me.

Maybe just to mess with me?

And she'd said, 'an eye for an eye.'

But if my-our-mother is indeed some kind of seer that gave a false prophecy that led to her downfall...

I'm not sure I can even blame her.

She lost...everything.

I tuck the towel tighter around my torso before jogging up the three flights of stairs. My feet don't make much noise on the carpeted treads, and for the most part, the main house is silent.

Some servant is vacuuming in a distant part of the house and there is the loud tumble of clothes in a dryer. But I'm not focused on those domestic chores, it's the other sounds I'm distinctly listening for. To sense if Eric or Cameron will follow, or worse, if they'd send some underling to do their dirty work for them.

Thankfully, neither dares.

They must know I'm really upset and if they forced their will, the damage would be irreparable. I'm no pack's puppet. And regardless of what I might feel, I can't be used or manipulated. Not anymore.

My steps are heavy as I approach my dad's old room. He has a new house now, I know, likely since Ashley moved in here.

His scent is still strong though, like he might divide his time between that house and his rooms here. I'm not sure why I started here, I just know that I need to. It all begins with my dad and I'm compelled to search for the truth.

Chills run up and down my arms.

I'm not cold, but regardless, I should've stopped to get dressed first. I should get dressed and talk to my dad.

"No, no, no!" I mutter to myself as a familiar scent carries to me.

I rush the remaining distance down the hallway and shove open the door.

"Hello Momma."

Jacelyn and Aaron are on my father's bed. Aaron has his hands on the headboard and Jacelyn has managed to climb on his shoulders. She has her hands on a painting above the bed. It's way too high and too heavy for her to try and grab it.

If it falls-it's glass and wood crashing over them.

"Don't move!" I holler as I run toward them.

But it's too late.

Jacelyn tries to lift it off and since they're not in the center of the bed, she grabs it at a corner. And the giant picture frame comes off the wall and drops on the mattress, before flipping and shattering on the floor.

My kids cheer.

I scream.

Shards of glass spread like sand against the hardwood.

"Oops!" Jacelyn covers her mouth. But she's giggling, not sorry or crying.

"Score!" Aaron says. He pumps a fist in the air.

The motion knocks her off his shoulders and she hits the mattress, missing the headboard by scant inches.

She bounces and laughs.

I instinctively lunge for her-so now I have shards of glass in my feet.

"Sonofa-"

I cut off the word, but a litany of swear words are ready to pore out.

"Can we call Auntie Morgan?" Aaron asks. "She has a spell for cleanups."

"Yes," Jacelyn agrees. "We need to learn that. It can do all our chores."

I suck a deep breath.

My patience is spent.

My feet are bleeding.

I'm pretty sure my kids are just fucking with me at this point, and I love them more than life itself, but between the scare of them getting hurt, finding them up here-alone-and now the many chunks of glass wedged in my feet...

"Hey, babies... Mommy's going to need a minute." I roll my body until I'm at the foot of the bed. I can feel the blood dripping from my heels onto the floor. I drop one of my arms over my eyes. I don't want to see this mess, and I don't want to deal with it.

One of the kids jumps up and down.

"Nope. Nuh-uh. Time out."

They both freeze.

"Two minutes," I tell them. "Starting now."

They know not to argue or disobey once the countdown starts or that just resets the punishment. So I take the first thirty seconds and just breathe. My kids are fine. I'll be fine. The pain in my feet actually grounds me more.

"Okay," I say when I feel less likely to growl. "Let's start at the beginning. Why are you both up here?"

"Because you needed to see the way," Aaron says.

"No," she corrects him. "The path. Mommy needs to follow the Path."

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