Page 48 of The CEO Alpha’s Substitute Mate

“As an alpha, you cannot do this.” Her voice cracks down the middle of it. “You cannot punish me over a human.”

“That human is my child’s mother.” My grip doesn’t change. “I told you to wait on her. Are my orders now just suggestions to you?”

She pales under my hand, so I lean down until there’s nothing else in front of her. “Have I been too lenient with you? Did you forget that I am your alpha? Have you forgotten what I am capable of?”

The stink of fear comes off her in a wave, and it does nothing for me at all. She finally seems to have realized how badly she messed up.

“I wasn’t thinking,” Camille whispers.

“You weren’t thinking, and for that, your entire family will suffer.”

“Don’t do this.” Her hands come up around my wrist, her voice broken. “Don’t hurt my family.”

“I won’t hurt them.” I let go of her jaw and straighten up. “Damien. Bring the other two women in.”

They come in on their own feet, which lasts about a second and a half. Damien shuts the door and leans against it with his arms crossed, saying nothing. I’m sure he’ll have opinions later, but for now, he is my loyal beta.

“Since you seem to think that my orders are not important for you, you don’t deserve to work in the corporate sector, and your entire families will no longer work in the corporate sector.” I let this sink in before I go on. “Let this be a warning. If anyone tries to cross my child’s mother, this will be their fate.”

Losing a job in the corporate sector of a pack is a deep dive into poverty for a shifter. They lose status, wealth, everything.

The younger one starts to plead. Her cousin runs an accounting practice in the territory that employs eleven people, and she gets about four words into explaining that before I put a hand up.

“Would you like me to execute your families?”

The room goes quiet. Then all three of them are thanking me for the punishment with their foreheads nearly on the floor, and Damien opens the door to get them out to the guards on the landing.

He comes back in and drops into the chair opposite my desk. “Are you sure about this?” He rubs the scar through his eyebrow. “She is a human, after all.”

“She is human. She has no standing in the pack, so I have to make sure she has one.”

My wolf agrees with the strategy. He also spent the entire drive over here wanting the throat of a woman who put hot coffee on skin that belongs to us.

“Callum.” Damien’s voice is cautious. “What are you trying to do with Ariela? Like I get you’re protecting because of her link to Luca, but all this? This seems more like you’re staking a claim on her.”

I return to my seat, taking my time to answer. “My wolf reacts to her.”

Damien straightens, alarm in his eyes. “Wait, what?”

I meet his gaze. “My wolf is interested in her. It’s much too attentive toward her.”

Damien crosses the room to me. “Elena was your fated mate. Are you saying it’s the same? Is that possible?”

“It’s not the same thing. It’s different,” I murmur. “I can’t explain it.”

My beta runs his fingers through his hair. “With human fated mates, the connection doesn’t happen instantly in every case. But you can’t have two fated mates. It’s never happened before. Maybe your wolf is just intrigued by her. That’s possible. Sometimes our beasts are allured by certain scents.”

That does seem to be the most likely case, but for some reason, the answer doesn’t seem to work for me.

“I don’t trust my wolf, which is why keeping her protected is the best option. If anything happens to her, my wolf might snap.”

That’s the truth, and Damien looks worried. “Is that why you really brought her to the estate?”

“No,” I admit. “I brought her for Luca, but until I can sort out my wolf’s reaction to her, I have to keep her safe. In the meantime, I will introduce Luca to the families.”

Damien raises his eyebrows. “Are you going to introduce her as well?”

“No.”