Chapter 36

I bite down hard on my bottom lip, looking for anything in the room that might help me to break up the fighting and regain their attention. I notice a large glass vase at the refreshment table on the other side of the room. Without waiting to think, I sprinted over to pick it up, and smashed it on the ground in front of me.

The men dropped each other, looking up to stare at me in confusion. “What the hell was that?” Lucas shouted.

“A warning,” I said sternly, glaring at each of them in turn. “It is what will happen to you if you don’t start behaving like adults.”

Caleb released the collar of the Bear he has been sparring with, and strolled over to me. He placed a hand at the back of my neck, leaning in to whisper in my ear, “Are you sure you know what you’re doing?”

I pulled back just enough to meet his eyes, smiling. “Trust me,” I said. I could see the gears turning in his mind as he tried to figure out my plans, but in the end his face relaxed.

“I do,” he said, releasing me from his hold.

I held up the printed papers Lucas had shared with us before the fighting broke out. “These are the evidence pieces that Lucas wants you to believe. They show Caleb apparently hates the Bears, and that he doesn’t think they are worthy of his respect.”

Vic growled, his teeth bared, and for a moment I was afraid he might leap again without listening to the rest of what I had to say.

“But!” I whipped my phone out of my pocket, and pulled up a quick search of Caleb’s social media history, “These posts don’t appear anywhere on his active social media accounts. The avatar has also been photoshopped on Lucas’s prints, you can see the seams of the image aren’t correct.”

Brutus snatched a paper out of Joseph’s hands and scanned through the text.

“How do we know Caleb didn’t just delete this text?” Brutus snarled.

I nodded, acknowledging the question. “I have timestamps for every post ever made on his social media accounts, including deleted ones, and none of them match the date printed on these papers. If you look through his posts yourself, you’ll see how much money and social work Caleb has invested in Lycan-Bear relations over the years.”

Vic raised an eyebrow, glancing back at Lucas who had begun to shake feverishly.

“We had been told that funding was coming from Lucas, how can we believe you’re telling the truth?”

I beckoned to Joseph, who was still panting out of breath from the fight. “I have receipts and documentation for every donation made by Caleb over the last five years. It is all his own money, and his own initiative. Everything Lucas told you was a lie.”

“Lastly,” I said, gaining confidence as the tension in the room began to dissipate, “I have an eyewitness who can testify to Lucas’s true feelings for the Bears.

I looked to the back of the room where the entrance doors were still solidly shut. There was a moment of silence, and for a few seconds I was afraid that Rachel might have gotten scared and decided not to help us.

But then the hinges creaked slowly open, and she popped her head around the corner, shyly walking to my side.

“This is Rachel,” I said as she bowed her head briefly to the Bears in front of her. “She has been coerced by Lucas for years into helping him drug and blackmail Bear leaders into making agreements with him.”

Vic growled low and deep, the noise nearly made me jump. “Are you suggesting we are easily manipulated?”

“No!” Rachel exclaimed, with more power in her voice than I had ever heard. “The Bears are noble and honorable, but you have been deceived by someone who only wants the power you can give him.”

She pointed an accusing finger at Lucas, who stared back at her with hatred in his eyes. “I have been forced to steal information, to trick your subordinates, and to lie about Lucas’s intentions. He never wanted an alliance, he wanted to absorb your power and rule you.”

Lucas looked as though he might strike her, “They’re desperate, they’re just bringing out an unhappy whore to make me look like the villain! I’ve never been anything but charitable to you, is it so easy for you to turn your backs on me?” He asked.

Vic looked between Caleb and Lucas, considering the two men. For what seemed like a lifetime, I held my breath for his decision.

“Whatever deals we have made with you in the past, you clearly don’t respect us enough to treat us as equals.”

I exhaled harshly, was Vic coming around?

He plucked the faked evidence from Brutus’s hands, waving the papers in Lucas’s face. “You treat us like gullible children who can be swayed with printed pictures?”

Lucas shook his head furiously, seemingly realizing he was losing the battle. “No, I would never–”

“Then why have you?” Vic asked, replacing the anger in his voice with exhaustion.

Rachel took a step forward, taking the opportunity to tell her whole story. For several minutes, the Bears listened, horrified and captivated by her experiences under Lucas’s thumb. More than once, I heard Antonio cursing under his breath as the violence she suffered.

When she finally finished, Lucas’s face was steaming red like he was finally embarrassed by his actions. She lowered her head, looking at the ground, overcome with emotion.

Vic approached her slowly, reaching his fingers to gently lift her gaze to meet his.

Time in the room seemed to stop. I had never seen the mate bond click into place for anyone else, I had only experienced it in my own head when I realized Lucas was my mate. But now, seeing the gold sparks dancing on their skin, I realized what a miracle it truly was.

Rachel’s eyes were dazed like she had looked too directly into the sun, and Vic took in a short gasp, nearly losing his balance and falling to his knees.

“Are you…” he whispered, lifting his other hand to clasp her shoulders. The sparkling lights flickered once more, then vanished.

“I think so,” Rachel responded, breathless.

Vic cleared his throat, trying to regain his composure, but it only lasted a moment before he collapsed into her arms.

Watching them was beautiful, but also hard as it dragged up my old memories of my past life. I couldn’t forget the mate bond I shared with Lucas, even if I had been marked my Caleb. It was a beautiful thing, but I knew better than anyone how much pain it could cause.

Vic pulled away, sharing a tearful kiss with Rachel before turning back to Caleb. The two men shook hands solemnly. “We are at your service, Future King.”