Chapter 263 263 The Alpha Behind The Shadows

Chapter 263 263 The Alpha Behind The Shadows
Sebastien and Joseph stood facing each other in the lounge, both of them growling low in their throats like one wrong move would tear the whole room apart. The air between them tightened until Ashley could barely breathe. Joseph had placed her behind him out of instinct, and Sebastien’s eyes had darkened with possession the moment he saw it. Neither man was ready to back down, and for a few seconds, it felt as if Ceenas itself had gone quiet around them, waiting to see which Alpha would strike first.
“You aren’t taking her anywhere she doesn’t want to go,” Sebastien warned.
Joseph growled back, his body still shielding Ashley from him.
Joseph did not miss the possessive fire burning in Sebastien’s eyes. It confused him more than he wanted to admit. Why would Sebastien care so much about Ashley? Why would he look at her as if Joseph had placed his hands on something sacred? Joseph tried to brush the thought aside. Maybe Sebastien thought this was another way to hurt him, the same way he had hurt Ethan by taking Cynthia from him. Maybe the man simply had a strange hunger for women tied to the McClouds. It was a bitter thought, and it made Joseph’s anger rise higher.
“And who will stop me?” Joseph asked coldly. “She is coming home. Her mother asked me to bring her home.”
Klein went mad beneath Sebastien’s skin. His bones shifted slightly, his claws threatening to come out, and his control almost snapped. Malcolm and Adam were nearby, unaware that a real fight was about to break out. Joseph could feel Rex pushing too, ready to answer violence with violence if Sebastien took one step too close.
“You aren’t taking her with you, Joseph. She is mine!” Sebastien growled.
The force in his words hit Joseph like a slap. Mine. Not prisoner. Not guest. Not pawn. Mine. Still, Joseph was a stronger Alpha, and he refused to be moved by a man who had stabbed Ashley and almost destroyed his family.
“Stop me,” Joseph said.
He was about to advance when Ashley suddenly slipped around him and ran to Sebastien. She stood in front of Sebastien instead, facing Joseph with pleading eyes. Joseph froze for a second, confused and irritated at the same time.
“Out of my way, Ashley,” Joseph ordered.
Ashley felt the command push against her, but she fought it with everything she had. She was not in his pack anymore, and even if the old habit of obedience shook her, she refused to move. Not this time. Not when the man behind her was her mate.
“He is my mate, Joseph!” she said.
It felt like someone had emptied a bucket of ice over Joseph’s head. Rex receded at once, not fully gone, but shocked enough to stop pushing. Joseph stared at Ashley, then at Sebastien, his mind trying to arrange the words into something that made sense. His gaze fell on Sebastien’s neck, and then he saw it. A mark.
Ashley pulled off her turtleneck before Joseph could ask. The movement left her in only her bra, and the mark on her neck was clear. Sebastien immediately pulled her back against him and made her wear her shirt again, his jaw tight with anger that she had exposed herself in front of Joseph and Adam.
“Are you crazy?” Joseph asked her.
Ashley flinched at the harshness in his voice.
“You let him claim you after what he did? Are you that desperate to be Luna?” Joseph asked.
The words hurt her because she knew how it looked. She knew what people had always thought of her. Desperate. Ambitious. Hungry for status. Tears slipped down her cheeks even though she tried to hold them back.
“Things aren’t as they seem, Joseph. If only you could just relax and hear us out,” Ashley said.
Joseph shook his head.
“I won’t be brainwashed,” he said.
Ashley turned slightly and pinched Sebastien, silently begging him to do something before Joseph stormed out with the wrong idea and ruined everything.
“I know you signed the wrong name on the deed,” Sebastien said.
Joseph froze and looked at him sharply. Then his eyes moved to Ashley with sudden disgust, believing she had told him. That was the only leverage they had. The only thing they had used to buy time. If Ashley had sold that out for her stupid ambition, then he did not even know what to say to her.
Sebastien saw the suspicion and shook his head.
“I knew it from that day. Ethan’s name was supposed to be on the document, not Cain’s,” Sebastien said.
Joseph frowned. That changed things. If Ashley had not told him, then Sebastien had known all along. Which meant he had allowed it to pass. Joseph did not understand why.
Sebastien sighed.
“If we can just talk like civil people, it will mean a lot, Joseph,” Sebastien said. “As for Ashley, we are fated. I did not mean to poison her. I used the wrong blade when I stabbed her. I wasn’t supposed to join the fight. I was supposed to observe because the Alpha did not trust me.”
Joseph’s jaw tightened, but he said nothing.
“I had to get involved, or those warriors that defected from your pack would have killed her. You did not see it, but they were coming for her. I stabbed her so she would stay down. I stopped the reinforcement from coming so they wouldn’t kill all of you. I did not plan to kill anyone that day, but those were the orders the Alpha gave the men. I just wanted to meet the guy. Please, we need to talk,” Sebastien pleaded.