Chapter 296: Chapter 296

Lanie “Nothing in life comes for free,” | said to Charlotte. “I know you'll want something in exchange. Just tell me what it is. You already seem to have all the information I’ve got, plus more.”

“| don’t need information from you. | want revenge.”

| waited for her to explain, but that was all she said. watched Charlotte calmly lift her giant burger and help herself to a few more bites. She actually even rolled her eyes with how good it was. After a second, | picked up mine and did the same.

“You're learning,” she said, sounding almost proud.

It took every bit of my willpower not to lunge across the table, slap the burger right out of her hand, and shake her until her teeth rattled. Then, | remembered the puzzles I'd solved to get to her. She liked to play games? | could play them, if | had to. So long as | got what | needed from her.

At last, she finished her food and sat back.

“| want revenge on the High Council, the Council, every last one of them. | want them to pay for the torture they put my family through. Not just mine, but all of them. | want them to suffer for the injustices they've caused. Taking babies...

She shuddered, her voice catching. Tears glistened in her eyes, and, like me, she dashed them away with an angry swipe. Her lip curled to reveal her teeth as her eyes flashed violet, although she did keep her face turned away from the room so only |

could see the glow.

We sat in silence for a moment or so before she turned back to me.

“Your mate’s father. Orion, yes?”

“Yes.”

“He needs to pay”

| gave her a grim smile. “Well, he’s dead, if that makes you feel any better.”

Charlotte’s fingers curled into her palms, making her hands into fists. | could tell this was news to which seemed strange. She knew so much about everything else. Maybe the Council was spinning a stor hide the fact he’d died, although that didn’t make much sense “My grandfather killed him.”

“So the rumors are true. The Treaty has been broken?

“Yes. so you did hear about it?” | was curious about everything else she knew.

“I've grown accustomed to discounting rumors until have proof,” she said and added a humorless chuckle. “I suppose I’m a bit paranoid. All the intrigue.”

“It's not a rumor. Malachi killed him. He’d taken the twins, and was attacking, and...” | spoke soberly, then. paused. “I don’t think my grandfather cared very much about breaking the Treaty.”

“| doubt it.”

“My mate, Xander... he didn’t know his father was not a good man.” | drew in a short, sharp breath. “He’d surrendered his Alpha status and passed it along to Xander, even before he really had to. He was proud of his son.”

one H “He had two sons,” Charlotte reminded me. “And he was unconscionably cruel when it came to the other son...”

| nodded. There was no denying that. “When he died and passed the last of his Alpha powers to his other “All part of the Moon Goddess’s work. That’s what | believe. You and Mason were already mates, yes?”

I nodded.

“ALuna with an Alpha and a Beta as mates, then adding another...he had to become an Alpha, or |

suspect he wouldn’t have survived. Loving you would have killed him.” Charlotte’s voice turned h o ar se.

1 recoiled in alarm at the thought.

“When | said there was nobody like you, Lanie, this is what | meant. A hybrid Luna. One mated to two Alphas, and also a Beta. I’m strong, but even | can’t compare to you.”

Instead of seeming envious, Charlotte had that proud tone to her voice again.

My head was starting to ache. It felt like the entire night had passed with all of this, but when | checked the clock on the wall, it had only been a little over two hours.

“Xander will be worrying about me. | can’t reach him through the mind link. That was on purpose?”

“Of course,”

| sighed and rubbed between my eyes, then pinched the ridge of my nose. “Not everyon bad, though. Right?”

cilis “Every single one of them will pay” Charlotte declared.

“Aldon helped me,” | told her. “There must be others who deserve some level of mercy?”

“No mercy. Aldon might have helped you, but let me assure you, it was for his own reasons. He’d t to turn on you, quicker than a snake can strike, if he thinks it will give him what he wants” Charlotte dra her beer and stifled a burp with the back of her hand. “No matter what good he did for you, he’s caused ha to countless others. He will come after your daughter, Lanie. The same way he came after mine.”