Page 60 of Crimson Heart

“I didn’t know that. She never talks about her time before she came to us.”

“From what she told us, it must have been hell. The Leons wanted her to mate with Steve, but she knew how brutal and violent he was. He beats women, he sexually assaults them. Danielle said that had she agreed to mate with him instead of fleeing the pack, she would be as good as dead now.”

Shock charged through him. “Fuck! No wonder Jude had a new identity made for her.”

“What?”

“Eve mentioned it the other day. She said that she saw the new driver’s license and passport that Danielle received. They don’t show her real last name. Jude said that every woman who mates with an alpha of the Werewolf Alliance gets a new identity.”

“I’ve never heard of that rule,” Charlotte said with a frown.

“That’s because I suspect that rule doesn’t exist. He gave her a new identity to protect her from the Leons. No wonder he lied to Eve.”

Charlotte’s eyes widened. “You can’t tell anybody in your family. Nobody can find out. Please.”

Byron put his fingers under her chin and tipped her face up. “I promise you, my lips are sealed. Nobody will find out from me, not even my own family.”

“Thank you.”

She pressed a kiss to his lips.

“You don’t have to thank me, babe. I would never do anything to hurt you or the ones you love. Besides, Danielle is a good woman, and she’s my family too.”

She nodded.

“Tell me: how did your parents react to Danielle’s story?”

“You heard them: my dad thinks it’s an elaborate lie we concocted to convince them not to force me to mate with Steve. He doesn’t believe a word of it. I know my father. He needs concrete proof. And we have nothing.”

“That’s not true. We have a lead. Tim called me earlier today. He’s flying down to San Bernardino to follow up on it. He wouldn’t do that if he didn’t suspect that there’s something seriously wrong when it comes to the Leon pack.”

“Is Tim a werewolf?”

“Yes. And he can take care of himself. If Steve is like Danielle described him to you, there will be evidence of his deeds. If he sexually assaulted women, there’ll be witnesses.”

“But his pack members aren’t gonna testify against him. He’s the alpha’s son.”

“That may well be, but somebody like him won’t keep his violence contained within the pack. There will be other women, humans, that he’s assaulted. I know his type. He likes it when women can’t fight back, and human women are physically too weak to fight him off. A man like him likes to feel superior, and what better victim than a human who has no chance against him?”

Charlotte seemed to shiver, though it didn’t appear that she was cold.

“Danielle said she fought him off, and he got angry.”

“See? In order for him to feel strong after not succeeding with Danielle, he would have gone out to find a weaker woman just to satisfy his need for superiority.”

“It makes me sick.”

He pulled her closer. “Your instincts about him were right. Let me talk to Danielle in private. Maybe she can give me more details that will help Tim find the proof we’re looking for.”

And find it fast, because he doubted that Charlotte’s parents would stay longer than a night before trying to drag Charlotte with them. And he couldn’t allow that.

“But what if he can’t find it in time?” Worry clouded her beautiful face. “I think we have to make sure that my parents can’t make me go through with the mating.”

“But that’s what we’re already trying to do.”

She shook her head. “I have to get pregnant by you. Then they have to back off.”

Shock coursed through him. “No. That’s out of the question!”