Lone Wolf (The Westervelt Wolves, Book 8) by Rebecca Royce Page A

as soon as it appeared, it vanished. Had it ever been there or did she imagine it?
    Something is very wrong with him . Her wolf added what Carrie already suspected.
    “I’m so tired of them too.”
    Kendrick stopped walking and stared at them. The usual venom she’d come to associate with her former Alpha’s gaze filled the room. “He’s quite right, Carrie-daughter. If you leave me, you die. If Gabe tries to take you or doesn’t do exactly what I say, you die. Either way you look at this, if you do anything I don’t like, you’re dead.”
    “I was aware of the deal forty years ago, you sick son of a bitch.” She longed to scratch out his eyes. The years had given her a tolerance for his manhandling and his foul mouth, but the growl that erupted from her told her that her wolf’s patience had come to an end. “I never would have agreed to it if I’d been consulted.”
    “I would have killed you. The curse made all mated men end their women. They all died,” Gabe interjected, his voice shaking in the room. “Struck you dead where you stood. I wouldn’t have been able to help myself. And if I could have managed not to, my only other choice would have been to end my own life, which would have forced you to follow me to death. Either way, you would have died. I couldn’t allow it.”
    “Maybe I could have stopped you.” They’d had this argument forty years earlier. Apparently it hadn’t ever ceased.
    “No. You couldn’t have. Gods know you couldn’t even have waited it out. Tristan tried to kill Ashlee thirty years later until we managed to eliminate Dad’s original witch. That made the curse cease.”
    “Not my original one, son.” Kendrick shook his head. “Just the one my love hired to do her dirty work for her. After all, I couldn’t have you all gunning for Drea to remove the curse.”
    Gabriel shook his head. “Who’s Drea?”
    Her throat felt dry. “His miserable wife.”
    “And how is that possible?” Gabe’s pulse felt too fast under her touch.
    “Your mother was never really his mate.”
    “What?” He didn’t even shout his words. The Gabriel of old would be in a fury.
    Carrie spoke quickly. “It’s a long story.” Right now Kendrick seemed amused. He wouldn’t be in a few moments. The maniacal shifter who happened to be her father-in-law didn’t like any moment that didn’t center on exactly what he wanted whenever he wanted it. “Tristan is mated?”
    “I left a few weeks ago, but nearly all of them are. Maybe even all of them now.” He stroked a hand down her cheek. “Tristan and Cullen mated Victoria’s daughters.”
    He couldn’t have shocked her more if he’d hit her with a live wire. “Ashlee. And Summer? Did she really name them that?” So much time had passed. Victoria had grown daughters and Carrie had never even met them.
    “She did. You should see all the babies running around. My brothers are fathers now. Seeing them like that. Bizarre.”
    Kendrick laughed. “Unfortunately, Victoria never got to see her daughters become moms. I had her slaughtered before that.”
    She took a step back, her attention tunneling on her father-in-law. “You did what?”
    “I couldn’t have Victoria interfering in things anymore. I had to hurt the pack. What better way than by eliminating anyone who got in my way?”
    “She was my best friend.” She could feel her change coming on her. The suddenness and lack of thought to the shift told her she’d lost control of her wolf. Her lupine half wanted blood even if it meant her own death.
    Carrie could still see Victoria as she’d been that day in the woods in the moments before Carrie’s life had changed. Young, alive, full of laughter and self-confidence. Yes, Kendrick had to pay for his actions. Enough had to be enough.
    “Don’t do it.” Gabriel grabbed the back of her neck, pulling her against him. “I won’t lose you. Do you understand?” He stroked her skin and her wolf settled down. The shift stopped.