Chapter 131 131

Chapter 131 131
Amy's POV

I thought the day was going a little well and I decided to go out. I'm not going too far but I received way too many information so I didn't want to stay cooped up at home. I should have seen this coming. I should have known a bastard like Brian would have still looked for a way to sneak into the pack despite how he was banned from coming here.

Looking back, I should have noticed him positioning himself near the east corridor for the past hour. I was distracted. My head was still full of everything from the night before and I had a lot to think about. Let's not talk about the fact that his uncle is literally the cause of my problems, and he's also in support of his uncle

He caught me when I was alone.

I had just left the room where my dad was resting and I was walking back toward the main area when Brian stepped out from the side corridor and fell into step beside me like we had planned to meet here.

"Amelia. We need to talk."

I almost kept walking. I genuinely almost just walked straight past him. However I wanted to listen to what nonsense he needed to say. Maybe he would try to lie to me or something, and I could use this opportunity to beat him up.

I turned and looked at him.

"About what," I said.

He glanced down the corridor both ways. Then he looked at me and something shifted in his face. The performance dropped. Just like that. He looked more straightforward and serious.

I didn't let my expression change at all.

"I know who you are," he said. "The real you. Not the Gamma's daughter story. The actual truth."

I looked at him. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yes you do." He wasn't aggressive about it. "You're the Lycan princess. The one everyone thought was dead. I've known for a while now."

I kept my expression neutral. Inside I was very alert but I made sure none of that showed on my face. There's no way I'm about to announce who I am to him without any leverage.

"How?"

"My uncle." He paused. "He's been searching for you for a long time. He figured it out from the power signatures when you and Damien went public. I confirmed it separately."

So he was admitting the uncle connection. Interesting. He was either very confident right now or he wanted me to know he had access to that information. Either way I was going to let him keep talking.

"What do you want Brian?" I said. "I'm very sure you didn't just come here to tell me something that I already know. About your uncle... You don't need to tell me anything, he's going to get what is coming to him."

"I want you to listen to me for five minutes without walking away." He looked at me seriously. "I'm trying to help you."

I almost laughed at that. I didn't. I just nodded slightly like I was willing to hear him out. "Fine. Talk."

He seemed relieved that I didn't walk away. He needed me to hear this. He had been working up to this conversation.

"Staying with Damien is going to get you killed," he said. "I know you think he can protect you but he can't. My uncle has been building toward this for so many years. He has resources and connections that Damien doesn't even know exist. Damien is strong but he's reactive. He responds to things instead of anticipating them. My uncle has been ten steps ahead of him this entire time."

"And you think your uncle is a better option," I said carefully.

"I think his protection is a better option," Brian said. "There's a difference. You come in under his umbrella, you're untouchable. He doesn't want to hurt you. He never did. He wants the power connected to your bloodline but he's not going to damage you to get it. You'd be safe."

I looked at him.

I needed to be very careful here. I needed to ask the right questions without making him realize I was asking them on purpose.

"What does safe look like exactly?" I asked him. "Under your uncle's protection. What does that actually mean for me day to day?"

He hesitated just slightly. "It means you're not a target anymore. You're an asset. He protects his assets."

Asset. He said that word without flinching. He didn't even notice it.

"And my child," I said.

"Protected as well."

"And Damien."

His jaw tightened. There it was. Just a small movement but I saw it. "Damien complicates things."

"Meaning what?"

"Meaning my uncle's protection doesn't extend to him." He said it evenly. "But you'd be safe. You and the baby. That's what matters."

So there it was. Come to Richard, bring the child, leave Damien to whatever Richard had planned for him. That was the offer. Dressed up as concern and safety but that was what it actually was. I was so angry especially since

I was an idiot who confessed to Brian when I didn't know better. Someone who massacred my entire family and clan members and now he wants me to go under that person's protection? Has he ever protected my people? Would we be needing protection if he didn't exist? Who's the root cause of all of this?

I wanted to kill Brian right there but I needed to be calm. If I was aggressive and wanted revenge immediately, how would I get useful information and evidence against them?

I nodded slowly like I was considering it. "When is your uncle planning to make his move? If I'm going to make a decision I need to know the timeline. I'm not going to agree to something and then find out I had a week to think about it."

Brian looked at me. "Why does the timeline matter?"

"Because I'm pregnant and I need to plan practically." I kept my voice completely calm. "If there's an attack coming and I'm going to be in the middle of it I need to know when so I can make arrangements. That's not suspicious Brian, that's just common sense."

He thought about it.

He actually thought about it and then he told me.

Four days. Richard was moving in four days. The retaliation war chaos was going to be the cover. He had people already in position around Damien's pack and the plan was to create a secondary incident that would pull Damien's attention and his warriors to the opposite side of the territory, leaving the main building under-protected. Richard's team would come in during that window.

Brian told me all of that.

I listened to every single word and I kept my face in the same neutral expression the entire time and I filed all of it away very carefully.

Then he said, "So will you think about it? Seriously. I'm not asking you to decide right now. I just need to know you're considering it."

I looked at him.

I thought about every single thing I knew about Brian. I thought about the girl I used to be who called him a friend, who trusted him, who stood in front of a room full of people and told him how she felt and watched him look at her like she was embarrassing herself. I thought about my dad with a wound in his side that Brian's hand had put there. I thought about him standing in this corridor right now telling me my partner was going to get me killed while working directly for the man who murdered my biological parents.

I smiled at him. Sweetly and genuinely. My best smile.

"Thank you for telling me everything," I said.

His expression didn't change for about two seconds. Then it did. I watched it happen. I watched the moment he replayed the last ten minutes of the conversation and heard his own words back and realized that I had asked him very specific questions and he had answered all of them and I had given him absolutely nothing in return.

His face went from confident to completely still.

"Amelia—"

"You should go," I said pleasantly. "I have things to do."

I turned and walked away.

I kept my pace normal. I didn't rush. I didn't look back. I walked all the way down the corridor and around the corner and then I stopped and let out a very slow breath. I thought he was smart but I was wrong. He's more stupid than any goat I've ever seen.

Richard was moving in four days and I knew exactly how he was planning to do it and I needed to get to Damien in the next five minutes. I also needed a moment to be furious about Brian.

Not about what he did just now, I had handled that fine. But about the fact that he sat there and offered to hand me to his uncle like I was something to be traded and dressed it up as caring about my safety. He looked me in the eye and told me Damien was going to get me killed and he believed that was a convincing argument. He genuinely thought I was going to hear that and choose his uncle's leash over my own life.

He never knew me at all. It's a good thing he rejected me in the past. I would have fallen right into a trap if I continue to love him all these years. I straightened up and headed for Damien's office.

We had four days to plan our counter attack and I was not wasting a single minute of them talking to irrelevant people anymore. I barged into Damien's office while he was busy and he turned to to look at me.