“Always do,” Lydia chirps, and I roll my eyes. “I’m heading over to the new nightclub that opened,” she informs her mother when I remember I am supposed to sneak out and meet Deacon.
“Are you coming? I can give you a lift into the city,” Lydia says, and my brows furrow. Since when does she voluntarily want to spend time with me?
“She’s grounded!” Linda tells her, and I press my lips in a line.
“Seriously?” Lydia chuckles. “Grounded like a child?” I feel like slapping her.
Linda shrugs. “That is what her father told me.”
“Depending on if she tells the truth, I may be able to sway her father,” Linda adds, and I glance at her over my shoulder.
“Excuse me?” I ask, wondering what she is getting at. She leans on the counter, her arms folded across her chest.
“Where did you go this morning, and don’t feed me the same bullshit you told your father,” she states. I look at her and then at Lydia, who is watching keenly.
“To look for my phone,” I lie.
“Really, because Samuel was there this morning and didn’t mention you being there. He was helping with the cleanup,” she tells me.
Pressing my lips into a line, I know I have been caught out when I hear the front door open. I growl, knowing she has set me up. My father wanders into the kitchen. He pecks Linda on the lips before taking the spatula from me. He dips it in the chili, tasting it.“Hm, I love Chilli,” he beams. I have to give Linda one thing, she is a great cook.
My father takes in the room before glancing between us all while Linda and I are locked in a staring competition. “What’s going on?” Dad asks. Linda raises an eyebrow at me, and I try to keep my face neutral, yet my heart beats fast in my chest.
“Well?” Dad asks, looking at me expectantly, before I open my mouth, Linda cuts me off.
“Cleo lied about her whereabouts this morning; she was not looking for her phone. I spoke to Samuel earlier, who had been at the hotel helping to clean up the mess from the rogue attack. Since daybreak, she has never been there,” Linda tells him.
My father turns to look at me. “You lied?” he asks. I say nothing, knowing he’ll take her side over mine any day. He always does since she is his mate, and he can’t seem to see what a manipulative bitch she is.
“I went to visit Zayn,” I admit. My father blinks at me.
“And why would you do that?” he asks, and I growl. He knows exactly why I would do that!
“Cleo?” he demands, and my eyes dart to him.
“Because you are letting your ego get in the way of your judgment. You had him remove his men from our borders when they are the only thing keeping the rogues out!” I tell him, and his face reddens with his growing anger.
“You went behind my back to a rival Alpha. Disobeyed your Alpha!” he growls angrily. How does he not see the risk he is putting the pack in?
“Yes, because you are putting the pack at risk. How can you not see that!” I snap back at him.
“This isn’t your call to make. You have no idea how to run a pack, and you certainly are not entitled to try to make treaty alliances without my say so!”
“Is that what you will tell the pack when their loved ones are killed because of your stupidity?” I ask.
“Excuse me?” he demands. I don’t stop.
“Or are you hoping this arranged marriage you’ve decided you can force me into with Alpha Dane’s son will be the end to your problems?”
“Arranged marriages are part of pack alliances, Cleo. You know this! Is this what all this is about, you having to marry to help your pack?” he demands.
I scoff at him. “Have to? I am not marrying Boyd. I am not allowing him to take over my mother’s pack because you are too blinded by your ego to allow Zayn to help!”
“You won’t have a choice; you want the pack. You have to make sacrifices, and this is one of them!”
“Exactly, Father. Call Zayn and fix our borders; don’t dump that on me, too. Somehow, I don’t think our pack will agree with you risking them for your own selfish reasons. Or do you plan to tell them your ego was worth more than your packmembers?” I ask. “Let’s just hope they believe your ego is more important than their lives!”
We stand in the heavy silence of the argument weighing on me. My chest tightens as I stare at my father, the Alpha, with defiance burning in my eyes.
