Chapter 100

Art POV

Moonglow Pack Alpha House - Morning Room

"You're my mate!" Lindy Campbell cried, clearly over the moon with her discovery while Nathan Lewis looked as if he wanted to tear her heart out with his teeth.

I could feel his heartbeat racing beneath my palm; I hoped he wouldn't lose it completely and shift into a raging Lycan right in the middle of the fucking tea service. What kind of insanity was I involved in now? Why did I always get the weird ones?

"This is some kind of trick. Is it a scent spell? Some kind of magic? What's going on here, Art? She can't be my mate. I refuse to believe that girl is my mate."

Spells existed to fake mating bonds. I could have listed a few options for Lewis, but I knew his insanity was building up to a boiling point and I had zero desire to deal with another explosion from him.

Doing my best to sound firm, I stated, "No spell is at work here. If you believe Linda Campbell is your fated mate, it's because she's your fated mate."

"She can't be my fated mate!"

"My daughter is the perfect mate for a rising Alpha! You should be so lucky to find her to be yours, Lewis. Why are you protesting? You know your father has offered a lesser Alpha House for you. This would be ideal for both of our packs," Alpha Campbell rasped out, his wolf causing his voice to be poured over gravel rather than the ice I was accustomed to hearing from him.

"I am yours," Lindy murmured, her heart shining in her eyes, "I'm yours and you're mine. Can't you feel it?"

"No! You're not my fated mate. I'm in love with Rachel! I can't be your fated mate. I can't be anyone's fated mate. I already love someone else. There's nothing else for me. Nothing and no one, do you understand? I have nothing to give you!"

Nathan banged his fists on the table before standing and flexing his hands at his sides. I could see the anger, the turmoil in him brewing away as hot as the water for the tea the Campbell girl carried. I gave up trying to keep him settled and pushed him around me toward the door.

"Go. Run it off. I'll handle things here for the moment. This isn't even about you right now, Lewis."

Lindy was clinging to her father as I turned around from seeing Lewis out the door. She was mumbling and vaguely incoherent. I wanted to say something comforting, but knew it wouldn't be taken well.

"Did he reject me, Daddy? Did my mate just reject me? Daddy?"

"He didn't reject you. You have to go though. We don't have time and this is also not about you. This meeting is for me to address the DNA results for Rachel Flores in relation to House Campbell."

Alpha Campbell glared at me, "You don't have the right to tell my daughter to leave her own house."

"As Alpha Inspector for this inquiry, the Alpha Council has embodied me with the power to supersede all claims of Alpha status so yes, I do have the right. Lindy can go collect herself in private. I'm sure she'd be much more comfortable being alone right now anyway, wouldn't you say?"

Lindy turned her teary eyes on me before trying to give me a watery smile.

I knew if I looked at her too long my heart would get drowned in her tears. I focused on the letter in my hand, holding it up to bring everyone's attention back to what had to matter most in this situation.

"Do you really want Lindy to hear these results right after that little spectacle?"

Alpha Campbell clenched his teeth, his jaw working hard as he fought his beast back down inside himself.

I had to give it to him: there was still a lot of fight left in him for an Alpha of his age. I wouldn't want to fight him unless there was no other choice. Chances were he'd take more out of me than Nathan Lewis ever could.

I wouldn't let myself look at Tyler Wright. There was something about him which was too cold, too calculating, too cruel; his beast was a whole other monster waiting on the inside.

Lindy left the room after her father gave her a hug tight enough to have her lose her breath. She staggered out in a daze. I hoped she was going to hold it together until she was alone.

House Campbell seemed to be filled with the kind of wolves who ate other wolves for breakfast. I knew she wouldn't do well if she encountered her father's whore.

Elodie would devour the poor girl if the opportunity arose.

"Well? What does the blasted thing say."

Alpha Campbell straightened his jacket, smoothing it down before returning to his seat at the head of the table.

I settled back into my seat at the other end of the expanse and waited until Rachel and Tyler had also sat before fitting a nail under the seal of the letter.

Breaking the seal, I waited for a breath before I opened it and pulled the single sheet of paper free.

All eyes were on me as I read through the statements. Thankfully, DNA results were simple to state even if the science behind them was complicated.

"Well?" Alpha Campbell prodded again, clearly still agitated in spite of his chilly presentation.

I looked at his face as I announced, "Congratulations, Alpha Campbell. You are the father."

"Naturally I'll want to test the results again."

That bastard wasn't even remotely surprised which did, in fact, surprise me.

Unable to keep all my emotions hidden, I asked, "How did you know? You knew she was your daughter. I didn't even know until I read these results. Did you know where Luna Elena was? Did you know she survived the accident?"

The more I speculated, the more Campbell ground his teeth together and I knew I was right. I was right about all of it. He was an even bigger bastard than I'd thought! How long had he left his real daughter out in the world without coming to help her? What about his son?

Wait.

Ethan Flores was too young to be the son of Richard Campbell. He had to be the son of Elena Campbell and Patrick Flores---which meant the current heir to House Campbell was not the child of Alpha Richard Campbell.

"You knew and you never said anything because you'd lose the Alpha House. This isn't your place, Alpha."

"She's mated to Alpha Wright of House Wright. She has no place here!"

"Her brother does!"

Richard and I exchanged furious snarls, sharp teeth on full display as aggression rolled through my veins, pumping my blood faster and hotter as my heart picked up on the threat.

"We have no proof her brother has any relation to House Campbell at all. That's a separate inquiry which will have to be brought before the Alpha Council on its own. Do you know how it would be possible for a dead woman to have a child years later? I certainly don't. Rachel may be Elena's because someone could have taken her from the hospital. How would you explain the boy?"

"She didn't die in the accident."

"My mother gave birth in a hospital!" Rachel snapped, "There are pictures of her holding me. Dated pictures. She didn't die in your car accident."

"Careful, girl," Campbell warned, "I don't like your tone."

"I don't like being talked around either! My mother was the Luna of this pack. Her House is the Alpha House for Moonglow Pack. This is her family home and you are sitting there all smug while bearing her family name. You were bled into this line. I was born into it which means so was Ethan."

"He's an omega! What use is he to this House?"

"You did know! You knew the whole time."

I couldn't quite wrap my mind around the level of deceit involved in Richard Campbell's machinations to keep his hold on the Alpha seat for House Campbell.

The man had to have known his wife faked her death, left him while heavily pregnant, gave birth, mated another wolf, and lived a full life including giving birth to another child all while he passed an imposter off as her young and ruled her House in her name.

Richard Campbell was on the list of coldest Alphas I'd met; I didn't trust him any further than I could throw him though I was curious as to how far I could throw him.

"I'm going to put in a request for inquiry on behalf of Ethan Flores myself. If he's a descendant of House Campbell, he still has a right to live here on Moonglow land in the Alpha House where his mother was raised. He would be entitled to an inheritance even as an omega."

I was beginning to wonder if he was an omega at all. What were the odds a high-ranking Alpha like Elena Campbell had an omega son even if her mate was an omega himself?

No matter what protests Richard Campbell made, I was going to investigate until I got answers for Elena Campbell's children.