Page 48 of Crimson Heart

“Nothing. She only met him once, three days ago, and my parents were with her the entire time. Nothing violent happened. But she claims she can feel that he’s violent. Now she wants me and Austin to look into him. She’s sure he’s got skeletons in the closet. But I know that the Alliance ran a thorough background check on the Leon pack. He’s a good match. He’s the son of⁠—”

Danielle’s heart stopped. “The Leon pack?” she choked out.

“Yes, like I said⁠—”

“Steve Leon?”

She barely had any air left in her lungs after she uttered the name she would never forget. A chill raced through her body, freezing the blood in her veins, and fear crawled up her spine.

Jude stared at Danielle. All color had left her cheeks. Her face looked ashen, as if something had scared her to death.

“You know Steve Leon?”

She swallowed visibly. “I told you about him. The Leon pack is the pack my mother and I joined after my stepfather’s death. The same pack that wanted me to mate with the alpha’s son: Steve Leon.”

“Fuck!” he cursed.

He remembered all too well what Danielle had told him shortly after their mating: that she’d fled from the pack because she knew that mating with the alpha’s son would put her life in danger. Only, she’d never mentioned the name of the pack. This changed everything.

“You have to believe Charlotte,” Danielle urged him. “She’s right when she senses that Steve is violent and evil. Because he is. I’ve seen plenty of his cruelty. You can’t have the Alliance, and your parents force her into this match. He will brutalize her and eventually kill her. You have to believe me.”

He didn’t even have to think about it. He remembered all too well how scared Danielle had been even talking about Steve Leon. He trusted her judgment one hundred percent.

“I trust you. There’s only one problem.”

“Only one?”

“Yes. In order to convince my parents and the Alliance, I need to tell them what you know about the Leon pack. And that means disclosing your past. I don’t think either of us wants to risk that. Because once the Alliance starts digging into your allegations about the Leons, they might dig up more than that.”

Danielle’s eyes widened, and he realized she understood instantly.

“They’ll figure out that I’m a suspect in my stepfather’s murder, and that the police are still looking for me.”

He gave a slow nod. “We can’t risk that.”

It was the reason why he’d created a whole new identity for her. And even though he’d used Werewolf Alliance resources for this particular task, the security around the system to create new identities was so strong that nobody in the Alliance would find out Danielle’s true identity.

“But you can’t let this happen to your sister. Please, you have to save her from him. I could never live with myself if she had to mate with him because I didn’t speak up.”

“I won’t let it happen. I promise you that. I’ll find a different way to make them realize that aligning ourselves with the Leon pack by having Charlotte mate with the alpha’s son is a bad idea.”

“And if you can’t convince them?”

“I will convince them.”

He had to. His sister’s life and happiness were at stake.

“But if you can’t, then we have to tell at least your parents what Steve is really like.”

“If my father knows, then the Alliance knows too. As an elder, he has to tell them. To my knowledge, my father has never kept a secret from the Alliance. And the more people know about your past, the more likely your secret will be leaked to those who will use it against you and me. I haven’t even told Austin, but given the circumstances, I might have to.”

She nodded, her expression serious. “Tell Austin and Mason. They’re family. You’ll need their help.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. You can’t do this alone. And you need to do it quickly, before your parents find out that Charlotte is here. You haven’t told them yet, have you?”

“No, I wanted to give Charlotte a couple of days to decompress. But my parents aren’t stupid. They probably already guessed that she came to me.”