The Alpha's Gamble - Chapter 94: Chapter 94

NOAH
No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t look away from the shell of the great man I once knew. Logan was watching me, unsure of how to react or what to say. Honestly, I didn’t give a fuck. If he wanted to throw out some inappropriate remark or rub our father’s mistakes in his face, push him deeper into the quicksand he’d stepped into, go right ahead. I wouldn’t intervene. I wouldn’t pull him back. Every decision our father made led him here. Despite my warnings, despite Logan’s pissy, but accurate, comments, we laid a blueprint out for him. We showed him exactly where he’d end up if he kept Clara in his life. And the bastard still invited her into his home. He gave her the torch she used to set him on fire, and now here we were. Exactly where I said we’d be.
“You three have your moment. I’m going to check on my daughter.”
I turned and gave Trevor a nod, eyes still on the door.
“She’s fine. Just got onto the bed,” I said with a smile. “Reading a book.”
It didn’t matter where my body was; my mind was always with her. My ears were tuned to her movements. They were always the same: the window, the bed, the desk.
Sometimes she paced. Probably going crazy.
I hadn’t visited her in a few days. I couldn’t—not until I had good news to share.
First, I had to find out why her wolf wanted everyone dead.
Then, I had to rip the head off the person responsible.
And once that was done, I’d bring it to her on a silver platter and tell her everything would be okay.
Tell her that I fixed it.
I didn’t even realize my claws had extended until they pierced the skin of my palms. Blood slid down my hands.
“Noah.” Trevor’s baritone voice cut through, calm but low. His eyes dropped to the crimson dots falling on the carpet.
“I’m sorry, son,” my dad said, his voice weaker than I’d ever heard it. It pulled my attention, something like pity, clenching my chest.
I flexed my fingers and pulled my claws back in, calming Onyx so he would step away.
“For what?” I asked, grabbing the cloth from the table. It was still damp with Olivia’s blood, and now a few drops of my own stained the dried fabric.
“I know you care for her.” I didn’t respond. He knew nothing about what I felt for her.
Even if he did, it didn’t change that he was still the one who sent her to her death. A thick, ominous silence settled over us, the earlier flicker of pity suffocated. Logan straightened his spine, lifted his chin, and the fire in his eyes burned hot.
Trevor’s wolf was close to the surface, too close, maybe. But this was his daughter, and none of this would’ve happened if my father had kept his dick out of Clara.
“Don’t bother wasting your breath on redemption,” I said. He hung his head, chest sinking as he sighed. And I fucking hated the sound of his nails scraping through the stubble on his face.
“Let me guess,” Logan muttered. “The pussy’s not good enough to fuck the pack over anymore?”
Dad’s head snapped up so fast it was almost inhuman. He glared at Logan like he wanted to tear him in two. But Logan’s tongue must’ve been handcrafted as some cosmic joke, and I had to suppress the chuckle rising in my chest.
“Watch your mouth.”
“Watch your dick.”
The chair screeched as it rolled back, hitting the wall. My father’s fist slammed onto the desk, one finger pointed at Logan.
“You’ve always been ungrateful. Never once used that quick tongue for anything meaningful. No academic excellence, no leadership, just this constant disrespect, as if it’s your God-given right to tear people down when they don’t do what you want. I did not raise you to be like this. Your mother would be ashamed of the man you’ve become.” Logan stepped forward, hands clasped behind his back, steady on his feet.
“You’re right about one thing,” he said. “You didn’t raise me. Noah did. He stepped up when Mom died. While you were out screwing your way through every bimbo in the pack, he held me together. He tucked me in. He taught me how to control my anger when I started breaking things.”
Our father’s eyes sank. His shoulders slumped, and his breath turned shallow.
Logan didn’t stop.
“You used to say, ‘the pack before anything’. That was your motto. Well, Noah lived up to every single one of your expectations. He was born with strength and resilience, ready to lead before you were ever ready to pass the torch.” Logan leaned forward, his knees pressing against the desk.
“But you know what Noah never did? He never put me second. Or third. Or last. He put me first. Then the pack. And nothing crumbled.” He paused, letting the words hang.
“That pissed you off, didn’t it? Watching him lead more victoriously than you ever could. It was never about Noah not being ready. It was about you being afraid the people would finally see what you were never able to be.”