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"Call Rhett and tell hiuards on the patio

Brynley gritted her teeth "I alared at her "The Supreme Pack Master colanced at him "Do I know you?"

"Cut the crap I’al son returns Don’t think you can weasel your way back into the inheritance It’s one Alpha?" Phil flicked some dust off his shoulder, and his hand flashed into a wolf’s paw, then back to hu on the patio Phil had performed a difficult partial shift with incredible ease Only an extree such a feat

Howell stepped back, his eyes wide

"I will speak toher escort" He turned on his heel and walked back into the house

Phil gave Brynley an areed, "but you still don’t have a naer "This way" He strode back to the patio with the guards

"Thanks," Phil said dryly "I’d forgotten where the back door is"

"Behave," Brynley warned hi into the lion’s den"

"Or wolf’s den," he "

She gave hi ht into her father’s office

Caddoc Jones aiting for theainst his desk He waved a diso, Howell"

Howell’s jaw dropped "But--" He stopped when his father glared at him

"Better learn to submit," Phil whispered to him "It’s the price of the inheritance"

Howell’s eyes flashed with anger, then he strode frolanced at Brynley, expressionless, then focused on Phil "Then it’s true You achieved Alpha status on your oithout instruction from the Council of Elders"

"Of course I was on my own You banished me"

Caddoc snorted "You fool You were supposed to cos?"

"I would have taken you back You’re worth ten of your brother"

Phil shrugged "Your loss then"

Caddoc lunged forward, his hand fisted "If you weren’t so damned impressive, I would kill you"

Brynley winced So lanced at her brother He was standing stiffly, his chin lifted, his face cal inside

"What is it with you two?" Caddoc paced across the floor "No creature on this earth is loriously alive than a olf But you insist on betraying your own kind to hang out with a bunch of bloodsuckers They’re fucking dead half the time It’s an abomination to consort with them!"

"You" He pointed at Phil "You married one And you"--he sneered at Brynley --"you’re screwing one of the you do I just hope you got it out of your syste as soon as Rhett arrives He’s staying in one of the guesthouses down the road"

She sed hard This was it Time to stand up for herself Her inner wolf bristled "I refuse to marry Rhett"

Caddoc scoffed

"You have to call the wedding off," Phil said

"And you’ve coive me orders?" Caddoc asked dryly

"Rhett intends to kill Brynley and the entire fa is over," Phil explained "He wants all your land, wealth, and pack ave him a bland look, then shook his head "You have never truly appreciated " He walked over to the desk and perched on the corner

Brynley exchanged a questioning look with her brother

Phil’s eyes narrowed "He knows"

Caddoc shrugged "Of course I know But two can play at this ga is over, we kill Rhett He has no heirs, so all his land and wolf packs in Alaska go to his new bride Well, me, actually, since only an Alpha can be thestirred in Brynley’s sto me I’ve never been nant crap on me," her father snarled "You would come out ahead You’d have a dozen houses in Alaska and more money than you could ever spend"

"And I would only have to kill soet it Gee, thanks"

"Don’t be ridiculous I wouldn’t expect you to do the killing"

She scoffed "Oh, I feel some?" Her father stepped toward her, his fists clenched

She lifted her chin Phil moved closer

A knock sounded on the door

Caddoc took a deep breath and flexed his hands "What is it?" he shouted

Howell cracked the door and gave the He’s waiting in the backyard"

"Good" Caddoc grabbed Brynley’s ar him" She pulled her arm away

"I don’t think you have any choice," Howell said "He’s brought fifty men with hius was right about that war"

Chapter Twenty-six

"Here they come" Phineas watched as Rhett Bleddyn and his small army approached the south side of the backyard

"Looks like he brought in roup of fifty youngknives Apparently, olves liked their battles bloody Corky and Di close to Rhett, and the three were heavily surrounded No rooot out of hand, Rhett was probably keeping them close by as an easy escape route

On the north side of the backyard, Caddoc Jones’s pack linted off their knife blades

A lol in the woods behind them made Phineas whip around It was Howard, hidden behind a tree, glaring at Rhett Angus had asked the shifters, Howard and Rajiv, to patrol the woods in case the olves atteiven paternity leave, so he was still at the academy with his wife and their newborn twins

Howard’s nostrils flared, and he walked away, pulling a knife from his sheath

When the scent of skunk wafted toward him, Phineas knehat had alarmed Howard He hurried into the woods and found Howard pointing his knife at Digger

"Whoa there, pardner" Digger lifted his hands "I just caht a whiff of your scent"