Page 59 of Fractured Mates

“I said hand her over and you can live,” a deep male voice repeats. “She killed my son, then my nephew, and now my brother. I will have her head.”

Motherfucking hell.

Astor Crowe.

“Your son was a worthless excuse of a man, and it wasn’t Sophie who killed your brother,” Kyler snarls in return. “It was me. If you want her head, then you’ll want mine, too. I wish you luck in trying to get either.”

Kyler moves to hang up, but I shake my head. We need to know if he has leverage. More specifically, my family.

I also want to know how the hell any of this even came about. Where did the previous alpha go? Why is Astor trying to get to me after all this time? Something triggered him, and I want to know what or who, along with what my parents and sister may have to do with any of it, considering they still seem to be…missing.

“Then I’ll kill you both,” Astor sneers. “I let someone convince me to forego justice once. I won’t do it a second time. Not for any reason. Not again. The next time the two of you set foot in my pack lands, you will die.”

Fat, fucking chance of that happening, but it’s almost endearing that he thinks he has those capabilities.

“Long time, no chat, Astor,” I say, deciding to go for a more direct approach. He already wants to kill us. I don’t suppose things can get much worse. “How’s life?”

“Sophie.” The growl that accompanies my name makes me smile. “You have some nerve coming back here.”

“Yeah, well, someone once told me that time heals all wounds,” I reply casually. “I guess they were wrong.”

“I guess so,” he says. “Now, how about you save your family from paying for your mistakes and turn yourself over? You do so and I’ll consider letting your little boyfriend keep his life.”

“Not a chance in hell,” Kyler cuts in with a snarl.

“He’s feisty,” Astor titters. “I didn’t expect you to go for another strong alpha male when you so easily disposed of the one the fates gave you.”

“Thane wasn’t an alpha,” I state clearly. “You taught him to be selfish and cruel and to believe that the world owed him for his existence.”

“He should have been this pack’s next alpha,” Astor roars, and a loud thud accompanies his words. “You took that from me, and you will pay.”

Interesting. I didn’t know Thane had the alpha gene, but then again, I’d never been given the chance to get to know him and had been too terrified to pay close attention to him. He hadn’t wanted to form a relationship with me. He wanted to chain me to his side and bend me to his will.

“Well, that sounds fun and all, but I have other plans,” I say, purposely sounding bored. “I’ll be seeing you, Astor.”

“Yes, you will,” he replies with a sinister tone as I end the call.

Kyler’s creased stare meets mine. “You didn’t find out where your parents are.”

“He was never going to tell me that, but he did at least confirm he has them,” I say, knowing that there had been a chance my family had run. “At least presumably since he mentioned them ‘paying the price’, but I refused to show him my interest in them. Not when that might make things worse, especially for my little sister. Now, it’s time for us to fight.”

The disgrace that is the Crowe family is going to end and by my hand. I won’t let them harm anyone else or ruin any other lives. Whatever dark hole they crawled out of twelve years ago, Astor is about to wish they’d stayed in it.

I start moving about the room, grabbing clothes to put on, but Kyler grabs my arm, stopping me. “Sophie. Stop.”

“No,” I retort. “I’m going to kill him.”

“We have people on the inside.” He starts with that nonsense again.

“And they’ve told us nothing,” I say. “I’m done waiting. I understand if you have to stay back because of your work, but my family won’t suffer because of me.”

Even if they gave up on me a long time ago. Just because they weren’t loyal doesn’t mean I have to let that change who I am.

I step away from him, removing his hold from my arm. “I’m getting dressed, and then I’m leaving.” My eyes look up at his, pleading with him to understand. “You don’t have to come with me. I won’t hold that against you, but don’t stop me, Kyler. I need you to accept that I can’t not do this.”

“Fuck,” he murmurs under his breath, then he closes the distance I’ve created between us and grabs my face with both of his hands. “I do accept you, but you can’t fault me for trying to keep you safe.”

“The sooner that son of a bitch is dead, the sooner I’ll be safe,” I remind him. “I need to get dressed. If you’re coming with me, so do you.”