She came back to Gideon and he spread his arms to take her into his lap as she

showed him the caller ID. She could feel his whole body going rigid under hers.

“What does he want?” the lycan king grunted, wrapping his arms possessively

around his

still naked mate.

“Let’s find out,” she giggled, leaning into him and answering the call.

“Ri,” she heard her ex-husband’s voice and couldn’t believe that he still had the

audacity to call her that. What was he thinking? “Thank you for picking up,” he

sounded slightly lost. They were not together anymore, but she still knew

everything there was to know about him. Something was wrong.

“How can I help you, Alpha Thorn?” she asked in a business-like manner, dry,

cold but

respectful.

“Help is the right word,” he sighed, as if it was hard for him to speak, “Help is

exactly what I need from you, Riannon.”

“Wow, that was fast,” her lips curved into a smirk, “You had your own pack for

one day and you already need my help?”

“It’s complicated,” Brayden was getting more agitated.

“Just cut straight to the chase,” she suggested, giving her mate a disapproving

look as he was slowly starting to caress her body again and making her feel

things that she didn’t want to feel when on the phone with her ex.

“Something happened right before you came to my pack,” The Alpha on the other

side of the line continued, “I checked the footage from my land and saw Roxy

and Harper taking a walk when they were attacked and kidnapped by two

masked guys.”

She was happy that he couldn’t see her rolling her eyes. Just what did she see in

him in the past? Ria looked at her mate and realised by assessing his facial

expression that he was thinking the same thing. Daily new chapters in

www.noveljar.com

“Seriously?” she did her best not to laugh, “You seriously believe that?” “I saw it

with my own eyes,” Brayden sounded confident.

“Very well,” Riannon snorted, “what is your so-called mate and the other is your

sister. What does it possibly have to do with me?”

“I was getting to that,” it seemed like this conversation was hard for him, “The

kidnappers contacted me and they want to meet.”

“Go meet them then,” she tracked her shoulders, “Again, why do you call me?”

the Luna of the pack. I tried to explain to them that we are divorced, but they are

not convinced

and still insist on us coming there together. They said that they would start cutting

their

fingers off if we don’t agree.”

“You do realise it’s a trap, right?” She tried to keep the serious tone but Gideon’s

hand went all the way down between her thighs and made her bite her lip. He

knew how to play her like an instrument now and the mate bond was on his side.

“Of course, I do,” her ex gritted his teeth, “It’s always a trap. But I still have to try

and

save them.”

“She is not your mate, Bray,” Riannon placed her head on the lycan’s shoulder,

trying to control the sounds coming out of her. She wanted to grab his hand and

stop him, but he caught

her arm and held it in place. While her other one was busy holding her cell. She

was trapped

and he continued reminding her who her mate was now. Not that she objected.

“I still am not convinced,” she heard her ex saying in a dark tone, and was glad

that she rejected him back at the Summit and there was no way for him to know

that he wasn’t the focus of her attention now. “Besides,” his voice suddenly felt

slightly broken, “Roxanne is

pregnant.”

“But it doesn’t mean that you are the father,” she made her point, “Dean went

willingly with her, Bray. She had power over him. Just like she has it over you.

You are hardly her only

man.”

“Even so,” it was evident that he didn’t want to agree, “There is still a chance that

the pup is mine. And anyway, Harper is there too. You wouldn’t want to leave her

in this situation, Ri,

right?”

“Hmm,” she bit her lip as Gideon found that one spot again and every circular

motion he made was forcing her body to react. Otherwise, she would have burst

out laughing. “I don‘t know, Bray. She hates me. Do I owe her anything? I don‘t

think so.”

“You’ve changed,” her ex grunted. Daily new chapters in www.noveljar.com

“Yes,” she almost screamed as she was reaching her peak and, on top of that,

Gideon was now breathing into her fresh and still sensitive mark. His tongue

flickered over it and this time her eyes rolled for very different reasons.

“Ri, are you all right?” Brayden sounded concerned, but this time the lycan king

grazed his teeth over her skin and she shuddered on his fingers, as the new

climax took over her.

“Yes!” she repeated, trying to get her breathing under control as the tingles were

bursting

his fingers, and she jabbed him with her elbow. But after a second thought, she

leaned towards him and slammed her lips into his, thanking him for the pleasure

he gave her. But as he felt him ready to go on, she motioned for him to stop and

let her finish the conversation.

“Are you sure everything is fine?” her ex did not give up, “I can come now if you

want me

to.”

She wanted to tell him that she had already come. But that would be rude and

she bit her

tongue.

“Back to the matter we discussed,” she cleared her throat and distanced herself

from her

mate, who looked too tempting now. But this was important. The scenes from the

past were

still before her eyes and she couldn’t be careless. “Give me a reason to help you,

Bray. I don’t see why I should even bother with it. And don‘t give me any

sentimental crap. After what the three of you made me go through, I am not

buying any of that. You need my help? Fine. But I need something in return.

What can you offer?”

“I...” He really did not expect this turn of events, hoping that she would just do

this little favour for him out of the kindness of her heart. But then it occurred to

him that she probably already knew about the money. And this was exactly what

could persuade her now. “I will give

your pack half of the funds that I have. I am sure you already know that...”

Daily new chapters in www.noveljar.com “That you stole from me,” she snorted,

pulling on a silky robe, “Yeah, I got notification from the bank, Bray.”

Now there was a heavy silence between the two of them.

“I will give you a half back,” he managed to say after a while and she giggled.

“Oh, Brayden,” she sat on the top of the desk in the room and the sight of her on

top of that made Gideon growl, “I already have a half. Or did you forget that I was

the one managing the money?”

“You mean...” Brayden was lost for words.

“I mean that I thought that you could do something like this after our divorce and I

took precautions,” she smiled, knowing that even though he didn’t see it, he knew

she was doing it.

“What did you do?”

She chuckled before answering, “Oh, I did a lot of things. Invested here and

there. Opened a new account in my name. On top of that, my Luna salary... I

never spent a penny out of it, so it’s all still there. In my name. So, I am fine. In

fact, I am better than you.”

“But you didn’t pay attention,” she giggled, “You know, I would have given you

that other half of the money if you didn’t decide to steal from me, knowing what it

would mean for a whole

pack. You can call it a test. And you didn’t pass.”

“The half of everything you just listed should be mine according to the law,”

Brayden tried to get out of this mess, “It all could be traced and checked.”

“That’s the beauty of small print that you hate so much,” Riannon jumped off the

table and circled the desk to sit in the chair, “According to the new law which you

personally helped me to push through, I get what belonged to my father’s pack,

considering inflation and all. Plus,

I get what I earned as a Luna during my time as one and everything that was

gifted to me or bought in my name during the marriage. And before you say

anything, I have your written permission, verified by both our lawyers years ago.

Everything is legal. And thank you for your generosity.”

She heard the sound of something breaking at the other end of the line and

waited, giving her ex time for his tantrum.

“So, you wouldn’t help me,” he growled angrily after a while.

“Oh, I will,” she smirked, locking her eyes with Gideon, “It‘s just that it’s going to

be on my terms and now yours. You will do as I say or I am out.”

Daily new chapters in www.noveljar.com “What do you want?” he asked,

admitting his defeat.

“For now, I want you to set a date,” Ria’s tone changed to icy cold because all the

jokes were done. Gideon noticed the shift, admiring his Queen’s ability to keep

her cool at all times.

“When?” he asked, “I wanted to get them as soon as possible.”

“One step at a time, Bray,” Riannon warned him, “I am not walking into a trap

unprepared. Tell them that we will meet in 48 hours. Don‘t tell anyone about our

deal, not even your new Beta.”

“I think it should be my decision.” Brayden still wanted to be in control.

“Very well,” she pronounced the words in the sweetest tone, “Suit yourself. And

good luck with all that rescue thing. Bye!”

“Wait!” the Alpha sounded desperate. Finally. He knew that she had him. “I‘ll do

as I say. Just help me.”

“This was just one of the conditions, Bray,” Riannon informed him calmly, “You

will owe me one. And we will make a written deal about it. You can make a few

conditions of your own.

He didn‘t give her the answer at once. But she knew that he was considering it.

“Fine,” her ex agreed after all, “You have a deal. I will not tell a single soul. I

wasn’t going to anyway.”

“Great,” now her voice was cheerful, “I will call you tomorrow to give you more

details of my plan. Remember that what I say goes. And don’t you dare play any

tricks on me when we are there. It will cost you. Literally. Don‘t forget that I

was...”

“There is no need for this,” he interrupted her and then let out a sad sigh, “Ri, I

know I screwed up with you. But you are not my enemy. You will never be my

enemy. Whatever you do. Even if I am angry. You are...”

“I think it’s time to finish this conversation,” Gideon was next to her in less than a

second, fuming slightly. He didn‘t want that pathetic wolf to try coaxing his queen.

“Remember about the deal,” Riannon said dryly, not wishing to hurt her mate.

Brayden was her past. But Gideon was her everything. “See you soon.”

She switched off her phone and threw it on the top of the desk.

“You are a scary woman, Riannon Michaels,” the lycan smirked, “I am lucky that

you are on my side.”

“You sure are,” she let out a snort, tapping her fingers over the hand rest of her

chair. Their eyes met and smiles dropped from both their faces. It was time to

work.

“Let’s start,” Ria furrowed her brows.

“That’s clearly a trap,” Gideon stated firmly, “And they are interested in you,

because that fox already told them everything.”

“But we can still use it to our advantage,” his mate’s lips curled into a sneer,

“They have no idea how much we know about them now. All we need is a good

plan...” Daily new chapters in www.noveljar.com

NOTE: I need help with the name of this chapter again and I will leave this to you

because you are great at this. The UK is threatened by storm Eunice atm and it

may affect the internet etc tomorrow (unlikely, but possible). I will, however, try to

write and schedule the next update earlier for you to make sure you get your

dose of TPL.historical