Page 24 of The Alpha’s Heir

After what he’d put me through today, and then this… That poor woman didn’t know what she was getting herself into.

Meg slowly lowered back onto her seat, and it was an effort not to glare as Justus loudly slurped his water.

“You don’t look like a mutant beast.” He smirked, wiping the liquid that had dribbled onto his chin. Meg paled further. I resisted the urge to slap him on the back of his head, no matter how deserved it might be.

“Roman, sit and eat with us,” Helen said, not bothering to reprimand her precious son as she motioned for Stephen to put another place setting on the table. “Meg was just talking about you.”

She was?

I reckoned it was only human to want to hear what she’d said, but I forced myself not to look at her again as I did what the councilwoman demanded. Not that I was too proud to turn down a meal. The chow hall would be closed when I got back to the barracks. I’d spent all night hunting down Rabbit and hadn’t gotten anything to eat.

Stephen placed a plate in front of me. My lips tightened. Maybe I’d get something from the corner store on the way home to make up for this lack of a meal. Still, I nodded my thanks at the man who gave my shoulder a quick pat.

If Helen noticed, she didn’t say anything. She was too busy getting full on wine anyway.

“So, Meg,” Helen said. “What do you think of our city so far?”

“I haven’t seen much of it yet.” Meg’s eyes darted between Justus and me. “He… He’s not…” She swallowed, and I caught the hint of fear in her voice that had me clenching my fork in my hand. “Roman isn’t your son?”

My brow furrowed. Did she think I was?

“Science, no.” Helen laughed.

I dug into my food, swallowing down the shame at how quick she was to laugh at that notion.

“But he’s spent enough time with us here in this house that we consider him family.” Helen’s smile softened as she looked our way. “Isn’t that right, Justus?”

“Is what right, Mother? That Roman would make a better son than I would, or that my mutant bride should care about our dysfunctional little family?” My best friend was a piss-drunk fool who smirked as he leaned back in his chair.

“For science’s sake, eat something and sober up,” Helen muttered as she motioned for Stephen to fill Justus’s plate.

I was the only one to notice that Meg had set her fork down. “I’m not a mutant.”

“I’m sorry. Is werewolf the politically correct term now?” Justus continued to smirk.

That did it.

I stomped on his foot under the table.

“Ow!” the drunk fool cried. “What was that for?”

I swallowed my food without tasting it. “Meg is a guest of the city, here of her own accord, and trying to save her people.”

Not that I believed this marriage would do anything to help if it was as they said and the gods were threatening to come back. But I’d tried talking to the colonel and to Helen, and I had nothing more than gut worries to explain to them what might go wrong. It went over about as well as I’d thought it would.

“How very noble of her.” Justus rolled his eyes.

“Behave.” Helen smacked her hand against the table, making Justus flinch. “It is noble, as Roman says. How lucky for her parents that they had a child—mutant or otherwise—that understands duty and honor.”

“This is a mistake,” Meg whispered.

No one else seemed to hear.

“But being a disappointment is so much fun,” Justus chuckled.

Helen narrowed her eyes. “The time for fun and games is over. You need to grow up.”

“Grow up and get married. Will I be required to produce an heir too?” Justus reached for the wine bottle that Katrina expertly whisked away.