The Mark of Betrayal (by Cooper) novel Chapter 40

Chapter 40. Phone Call

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Roman

Sawyer has his own ringtone, so I knew the moment my phone started ringing that it was him. I didn’t mean to startle

Samara, but when you start snarling mid–kiss, there’s really no other response you can expect.

I keep my eyes on Samara, needing her to ground me. She’s here. She’s alive She’s safe. He never found her either.

*Sawyer,” I growl into the phone. Samara’s eyes are wide and she gently reaches out to touch me, reminding me that he doesn’t know that I know about his betrayal.

“Damn! Is that any way to greet a friend? I’m guessing that means that things between you and your mate haven’t gotten any better. I haven’t heard from you in so long I was beginning to wonder if she killed you in your sleep.”

I take a deep breath, pulling Samara closer to me, using her scent to calm me.

“Things are getting better, slowly.” I tell him.

“So, it’s your blue–balls that have you so pissy,” he smirks. Under normal circumstances, I would tease back, but not now. Not

when I know what he did, and never about Samara

“It was just some warrior that got out of line,” I growl.

“Sure, it was. So, when do I get to meet this mystery girl? Did you ever figure out where she came from?”

Tm still working on that,” I say. Seeing the worry in my mate’s eyes, I ask the question I know she needs the answer to

“How is Althea?

“She’s amazing, as always. She delivered another happy, healthy girl.”

“Another white wolf,” I say.

“Yes, indeed. As the last in her line, we both feel the need to try for at least one more girl,” he says, and I press my finger against Samara’s lips before she can growl too loudly. “And let’s be honest, I wouldn’t mind having another male in the family After what happened to Theo, well. better to be safe than sorry, right?”

My grip on the phone becomes so tight that I hear it crack.

“Right,” I growl.

“Hopefully you and your mate will work things out and you can start having some pups of your own soon. Sloane and Slade are already too old to become friends with your pups, but it would be nice if Aria could grow up with your pups along with

anymore that we have,” he says.

“Yes, that would be good,” I say, thinking that there won’t be any more pups, but Aria will definitely be growing up alongside

my pups.

Il out. I watch my mate tense, and her eyes fill

Il with te

Tears.

“HL Roman” I hear Althea call out

“Hey, Althea How are you doing?” I ask, stroking my knuckles over my mate’s cheek. She closes her e

eyes, and a tear slips

out. I wipe it away before it can drip off her face.

“I’m good Gillian healed me quickly and our daughter has her father’s voracious appetite. She has me up at all hours of the night to feed her,” she says, laughing

“She’s beautiful, like her mother,” Sawyer says Even now, knowing that he betrayed their family, I still hear the love in his voice for Althea. Maybe that was the reason he did it. Maybe he wanted Althea, and he thought this was the only way to get

her. His reasons don’t matter. He betrayed all of us and he will pay for that, but I hope that Samara can hear that her sister is

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safe and well–loved, even if her mate is a murderer.

Samara’s lips quiver and she smiles

sas another tears drips

us out of her

of her eyes.

“It’s good to have a powerful wolf who can heal you,” I say.

“Yes, it is. When do we get to meet this mysterious mate of yours?” she asks. Samara’s eyes flash open to look at me.

“Soon, I hope. Now that you’ve had your pup, I want to come meet her”

“You better! You’re going to be her godfather, just like you are to the other two,” she says.

“Isn’t Dylan jealous that I’m the godfather of your pups?” I ask.

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“Nah, he’s got his own pups. Of course, if you ever get around to having pups, we may

our future pups,” Sawyer says,

may have to rethink i

to rethink who the godfather is to

I hear Aria start crying. “Time to feed our little bottomless pit. Don’t be a stranger, Roman. I want make a trip here, I may just surprise you and drop in on you,” Sawyer says,

see you soon. If you don’t

“Don’t threaten me with a good time,” I growl. If Sawyer shows up on my pack lands, with or without his family, he’s dead.

He laughs, thinking that I’m joking. “We’ll talk soon, brother.”

My stomach clenches. The three of us always called each other brother. Even though Theo and I didn’t have a brother, we had

each other. Maybe it’s another reason why he and I were closer than either of us were to Sawyer. Or maybe, somewhere deep

inside us, we realized that Sawyer had a darkness in him.

“Talk soon,” I say and hang up

I put my phone away, holding Samara’s gaze. “Do you believe me now?”

“He really sounds like he loves her,” she says, sounding like she’s choking on her words.

“It just now occurred to me that it might have been his reason for killing Theo and your family. I mean, I’m sure he wanted to

be Alpha as well, but he knew, like all of us did, that Althea wanted to be a Luna Maybe he did all of this out of some misguided love for your sister,” I say, still gently wiping the tears that continue to periodically slip out of her eyes.

“I never thought that I could love anyone more than I loved Theo. And I am in no way saying that I agree with what Sawyer did, that’s definitely not what I’m saying. But the love I have for you is so much more than I ever thought possible. I would never have allowed your brother to stand between me and you and our mate bond. I wouldn’t have cared that he was my brother. I would have found a better way to get him to agree, something more along the lines of what I threatened you with,

but I would never have killed him.”

“You were willing to kill Alpha William,” she says.

“I wouldn’t have killed him. I wouldn’t have needed to. I could see how much you loved him and how much he loved you. I

used that to my advantage. It was a good bluff,” I say, smiling and stroking her now dry cheeks.

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