Page 92 of The CEO Alpha’s Substitute Mate

Isabella laughs. “What? Why would I do that? Also it doesn’t matter what I think. Callum wants you to raise Luca, and that’s how it will be.”

When I just give her a cautious look, the amusement dies from her face. “Look, if you have any doubts about me, you can talk to Callum.”

“I don’t run around snitching about people who don’t like me.”

“I don’t have a problem with you.” She frowns. “Look, sure, I was pretty rude when we first met. Wanting stability for the next alpha is something I’ve been raised to do. I was raised to be the next luna of this pack. Even if that doesn’t happen, it’s my family’s responsibility to support the alpha.”

I stare at her. “The next luna? What does that mean, like Callum’s wife?”

“The alpha’s wife,” she corrects me. “If Callum hadn’t met Elena when he did, I would have been his mate. Thankfully that never happened.” She gives me a rueful smile. “I would go crazy mated to someone like him.”

Confused, I look at her. “I’m not following. You like Callum, don’t you?”

“No I don’t.” She puts one hand on her hip. “It’s my job to support him, and we grew up together, but he’s not for me. Besides, I have no desire to come between you and him. However, I do think I am the best person to teach Luca about his new life. I won’t budge from that.”

Her words are sincere, her eyes hard when they land on me. She means it, I realize.

“What can you teach him that I can’t?” I bristle.

“About pack politics and how to navigate them. Back when Elena mated Callum, I was her right hand. Elena was delicate and well-spoken, but she couldn’t navigate the cutthroat politics of the pack families. I was her sword. There is no one better positioned than me to teach Callum’s son how to survive within this pack’s political hemisphere.”

Her words kill all my protests, and I recall Silas and Samuel and how they want to sideline my son. What if today’s it’s his health and tomorrow it’s something else? What if they say he is too naïve, that he knows nothing about how to run a pack?

“Will Callum be okay with this arrangement?” I ask slowly.

Isabella grins. “I guess I’ll find out today.”

She turns and walks down the hallway, and I stare after her. I don’t know how I feel about Isabella, but I do know that someone has to prepare my son for his future. And it might as well be this woman, even if it annoys me. Because there is no way in hell I will let my son be at a disadvantage.

I let out a breath I didn’t know I’d been holding.

A sword, huh?

Chapter 18

Callum

“I want to know how that video leaked.”

Damien is on the other side of my desk with his sleeves pushed up and a tablet held against his thigh. He sighs.

“I searched every servant’s belongings and found nothing. I went so far as confiscating their devices. I’m going to look into jammers on every floor.”

“Then they’ve hidden something,” I snap. “Someone was able to record that video standing in the doorway, Damien! How did nobody catch that?!”

Damien’s expression is tense. “I’m having a team go over every possible blindspot we might have in the hallways and get them covered with cameras. Right now, the more pressing concern is how to handle the situation if they have a healer publicly check Luca.”

I don’t have an answer to that yet. There is no way I can buy off that healer unless I know who it is, and they will not let Salar do it.

“They will find out.” I focus my gaze on my desk. “The pack laws are clear. Unless I have a mate, they can force a mate on me. Samuel is right. If I disobey them on this and use violence, the pack will question me.”

We haven’t yet come up with a strategy when the door opens without a knock. “Oh, you two are here.”

Isabella comes in with her coat over one arm, hair pinned up, no cast on the wrist she was so proud of last week. She drops the coat over the back of a chair and sits down in it.

“What are you doing here?” I frown at her.

“I came to see you.” She pulls a pin out of her hair and puts it back in the same place. “Actually, I came about a certain video that’s going around, but clearly you’ve seen it.”