Screw My Childhood Sweetheart His Alpha Brother Marked Me First novel Chapter 182

River pushed to a sitting position. “She makes a good point. Why hasn’t Kaleb simply tried to take over the entire council?”

“He’d have to take out the rest of the Quad. I doubt any of them would want to bow down to him after sharing ruling power for so long. He needs brute force on his side,” Vaughn said.

Caspian scowled. “Or a hell of a lot of gifted shifters.”

“Who put the Quad in power?” I had never thought to ask what had given these four shifters authority over us all.

“The trials,” Knox explained. “Whenever a Quad member dies or steps down, the current members invite those they think worthy to participate in a series of trials to determine the most dominant shifter. There is hand–to–hand combat in wolf and human forms, testing of the shifter’s gift, and a series of interviews.”

“But the Quad picks the member. Not the entire shifter community?”

Knox nodded. “They have the ultimate say in it.”

Everything about it was wrong. So much power held by so few. Being the strongest didn’t necessarily make you the best leader. Our entire community was out of balance.

“What is it?” Caspian prodded.

“It’s so wrong. Everyone should have a voice in what happens in our world.”

River ran a hand up and down my thigh in soothing strokes. “It’s never been that way. It’s always been the most

dominant wolves that have ruled.”

Maybe that was why everything was such a mess. Gifts dying out, weaker packs being attacked. We weren’t valuing what was most important. How our unique makeups gave us all a role to play in our world. But those who were power–hungry would never see what each individual shifter could bring to the table. They only saw strength and

weakness,

Crispin’ssmall arms wrapped tightly around me. “You’re sure you’re okay?”

I hugged him back for the dozenth time that day. “I’m fine. I promise.” My ribs ached something fierce but that wasn’t important.

He looked up at me, worry creasing his features. “But they haven’t gotten the bad guy yet.”

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Screw My Childhood Sweetheart–His Alpha Brother Marked Me First!

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Chapter 182

“But we will.”

“We” was the operative word in that sentence. There was no more “I” where Kaleb was concerned. I would need all

the help I could get.

Sarah called for Crispin. “Let’s get you some lunch.”

He looked up at me, unsure.

I gave his shoulder a little squeeze. “Eat. We can go in the hot tub later or play the bag toss game.”

He grinned at that. “Hot tub.”

I held out a hand for a high five. “You got it.”

As he headed for Sarah, my timer went off. I grabbed the pot holders and opened the oven. The scent of chocolate wafted into the air. I set the tray of cookies on the stove and picked up my spatula. One by one, I set the chocolate crinkle cookies on the cooling rack.

Footsteps sounded behind me and I looked up. Vaughn had a curious expression on his face as he peered over my shoulder. My breath caught as panic flashed through me. Maybe this was too soon. Maybe he would resent the fact that I was making cookies that his mother had once made him.

“Are those…?”

I gripped the spatula tighter. “Is that okay? I know it might be overstepping-”

Vaughn cut my words off with a scorching kiss. Energy zinged from my lips to the tips of my toes. I couldn’t help leaning into him, searching for more. When he finally pulled away, I’d gone breathless.

“Does that mean it’s okay I made them?”

He grinned down at me. “I love that you made them.”

The number of smiles and grins I’d gotten from Vaughn in the past twenty–four hours had me feeling almost drunk. “They could taste awful. It’s been a while since I’ve haked anything. Other than the few meals I’d mastered when trying to take care of my mom, I wasn’t exactly an expert in the kitchen,”

Vaughn grabbed a cookie from the cooling rack and popped it into his mouth.

“Vaughn! They’re hot.”

He smiled around a mouthful of cookie, then kissed me again. “They’re perfect. Thank you, Senna.”

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