I knew I’d said too much—knew everyone in the front room could hear me, and that I might have just made all new enemies. But I couldn’t stop. The truth burned white-hot inside me, demanding to be spoken.

“You’re not afraid the other tabbies will start thinking like me. You’re afraid they’ll start thinking, period! You wouldn’t know what do to with a woman who has ideas of her own, and your vacant, slack-jawed stare right now proves it.” I paused for a deep breath and stood. “And by the way, refusing to sleep with you doesn’t mean a girl’s frigid. It means she has standards.”

I sank onto the bed again, floating with satisfaction and more nourished by the truth I’d spoken than by the soup he’d brought. I’d probably pay for everything I’d said later, but I didn’t regret a word of it. Malone and his allies needed a dose of honesty, and they needed to know who they were really dealing with. And now they knew.

Alex fumed. His face flushed purple with anger and humiliation, and he kept glancing at the closed door, hyperaware that the living room had gone completely silent when I started my tirade. “You know, you’re only making things harder for yourself, running your mouth off like that. Soon you’re gonna be missing your claws and in serious need of a friend, and I’ll look pretty damn good next to the alternative.”

“The alternative?” I asked, and a flash of genuine irritation and jealousy passed over his face. Dread settled through me as his meaning sank in. “You mean Dean?”

“Yeah.” Alex sank onto the spare twin bed and met my gaze from three feet away, lowering his voice so he wouldn’t be heard from the living room. “Marc and Jace aren’t going to last long, now that things have changed. We both know that. And if I can’t make you see reason by the time they’re both gone, my dad’s going to give Dean a shot with you. Would you really rather deal with him than with me?” His gaze strayed to the scar on my left cheek. “After what he did to your face? At least I’d never hurt you.”

It took every bit of self-control I had left to keep from shouting, and I made no effort to lower my voice. “And I’m supposed to believe that because I’ve magically forgotten how I got my pretty new scar? You told him to cut me, Alex. This was your bright idea, and that’s not the kind of thing a girl can just forgive and forget.”

“It was just a threat!” His voice was a mere suggestion of sound now, and even I barely heard him. “How was I supposed to know you’d actually make him do it?”

“Alphas don’t make empty threats, Alex. They say what they mean, and they follow through. Good Alphas, anyway. Your father obviously doesn’t qualify, considering he’s keeping you under his thumb with nothing more than a series of idle threats.”

“They’re not idle,” he whispered. “He’s very serious about getting rid of Marc and Jace.”

“Oh, I don’t doubt that. But he’d no sooner try to put Dean in charge of the south-central territory than he’d let Marc run it. Your dad can’t control Colin Dean, and he knows it. But at least Dean has the balls to get the job done. You… I don’t think you have it in you.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Your dad wants grandchildren, and I’m never going to willingly sleep with you.” I said it nice and loud, careful to enunciate, so everyone in the other room would hear. “Do the math. What’s the only way you’re ever going to get me pregnant?”

“No.” He shook his head, eyes wide, though he still whispered. “It won’t be like that. You’ll come around, once Marc and Jace are gone. You won’t have claws, or anyone left to protect you. My dad says you’ll need me, and need can make a woman see reason.”

And suddenly I was reminded of how very young and naive he was.

“Your dad’s a raging idiot,” I spat, contempt dripping from my voice. “I will fight you. Every single time. You will not tame me. You will not break me. I will make your life a living hell, and if I get a chance to kill you, I’ll take it. And frankly, I don’t think you can beat me in a fair fight. But even if you can, are you really prepared to do what your dad wants? Over and over again?”

Alex looked sick, like he was about to puke all over the floor. I breathed a silent sigh of relief that I’d read him correctly. If he were more like Dean, that approach would have failed spectacularly.

“You may be young and stupid, but you’re not a monster, Alex. And if your father had a single brain cell in that overinflated skull of his, he’d know that when the time comes, you’ll be no use to him. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if he cuts you loose altogether. Then where will you go?”

His Adam’s apple bobbed like he was trying to swallow rage that had no other outlet. And when he finally spoke, I could barely hear him. “I’m not Brett. You’re not gonna talk me into defecting.”

I laughed out loud and was thrilled to see him flinch. “My father wouldn’t take you. We have standards in the south-central Pride. Cowards need not apply.”

“I’m not a coward.” There was that anger again. It was a quiet fury this time, bubbling beneath the surface.

“Right. That’s why you have a pistol tucked into the back of your pants. A gun can make even the most worthless coward feel powerful, can’t it? But what that gun really means is that you don’t fight well enough to go without it.”