Page 70 of Crimson Heart

Her father grunted. Charlotte knew this type of grunt all too well. It meant that he knew he was wrong but didn’t want to admit it because it would hurt his pride. After all, he was an elder within the Werewolf Alliance, a well-respected leader who should know better than be fooled by a blustering alpha and his psychopathic son.

To her surprise, her mother suddenly spoke up. “James, what I saw was horrible. That man is evil. You can’t let him anywhere near our daughter.”

While her mother’s voice was calm and in no way sounded like a threat, Charlotte knew that whenever her mother openly contradicted her husband, it was bad news for him, and he would eventually have to bend to her will.

“Alright,” James finally lashed out at nobody in particular. “Steve Leon is a bad choice. But that alone won’t be sufficient for the Alliance to break the contract with his pack. We need evidence.”

“I’ll testify,” Byron instantly said.

“Hmm. That’ll go down really well once the Alliance finds out that you want Charlotte for yourself.” James’s voice dripped with sarcasm.

“But I saw everything!” Byron protested.

“Dad’s right,” Austin said. “It’s a conflict of interest. They won’t take your words as evidence.”

“But we have other evidence,” Charlotte interrupted, annoyed that eyewitness statements wouldn’t be enough to sway the Alliance. “Jude, tell him!”

“It’s true,” Jude replied. “We know that Steve was accused of sexual assault down in San Bernardino, and we’re working on getting more information.” Then he pointed to Byron. “And Byron had one of his bounty hunters run a background check on Steve. He’s in the middle of getting more details on a suspicious car accident. Byron, any news on that?”

“Not yet. Tim is down in San Bernardino right now to get more info. I hope to hear from him soon.”

“So, basically, you’ve got nothing concrete,” James said, grimacing in annoyance.

“We just need a little more time,” Byron admitted.

“We don’t have time. Knowing the Leons, they’ll be back tomorrow to demand that the contract be fulfilled,” James said.

“Then we have to stall them until we have the evidence,” Jude concluded.

“And if we can’t?” Charlotte asked into the silence.

What would happen to her then?