"This is stupid, Dad. Conner told us we would have a week alone together, not one day."

Dad ignores my protests as typical. It's hard for him to concentrate on our conversation when he's pedal-to-the-metal lead-footing it across three states to Louisiana.

"So... Uncle Alex wants us to pretend we're not mated? We just fucking completed our fucking Claim, Dad!"

Iliana's fingers twine tightly into my t-shirt. "Brax, it's a solid plan," she whispers to me.

I turn to look down at her beautiful grey eyes. She's sandwiched between Sean and me in the backseat, her face pale and her eyes dark with stress. She's lost the relaxed look that she wore just hours ago at the cabin. Her she-wolf has denned herself up, only her nose peeking out of the shadows. My own wolf has settled halfway inside her den, his nose pointed at his mate, his ass hanging out in the open.

"Xander wants to bait the council into admitting they know about genetically modified shifters," Dad grunts for the fourth time.

"What the fuck does that have to do with us?" I ask, again for the fourth time.

Dad is quiet. "You should ask Luna Bailey. She understands this shit more than I do." The SUV picks up speed, the only true hint of his agitation.

I perk up. It's more than he's said in six hours.

"So, you know nothing?" I ask.

Dad blows out a long breath. Ili's huddles into us even more tightly. I tense, feeling Dad's acute discomfort as if it's beating me on the head. He knows Iliana is suffering. Dad adores Iliana, always has.

"Dad?"

"We think it's a possibility that Georgina is a modified she-wolf. An experiment."

The interior of the SUV falls quiet. Shock reverberates through the bond, mine, Ili's, and Sean's. Quietly, Ili says, "my auntie Fiona-"

"-is her mother, father unknown, yeah? For years we thought that Fiona just didn't want to tell us. Now we think that she got artificially inseminated with a high-rank male's sperm then had extra shit done to her."

"Why? What... what is the point of anything extra? What were they trying to achieve? I thought the pups were just to help infertile parents?" Iliana asks him, sounding bewildered.

Dad rolls his shoulders, "We know from the Wilkinson pup that RedMoon and others were trying to have superpups. There's a problem with lab-grown pups. A huge fucking problem. One thing that fucks up all these plans of superpups and mutated bloodlines."

"Mates," Sean says quietly. "Wolves will mate their truemate regardless of rank."

"Your dad was part of a shitty pack," Dad says abruptly. "Nate may have abandoned that fucker, Hugh, but that doesn't mean your family gave up on having the perfect bloodline."

A horrible thought occurs to me and before I can stop myself, I blurt out, "please fucking tell me that Sean and Georgie aren't actually siblings. That's beyond fucked-up."

Dad shudders. Sean chokes a little and Iliana sinks further into the seat between us.

"That's fucking disgusting," Dad says mildly. "And when I suggested it to Xander he laughed in my face." I nod sagely. See? It's a good question. "No, they're not related by blood, but Georgina was modified for Sean."

I want to throw up. My head starts to pound and I'm not sure if it's me or Iliana who is so close to a migraine. On her opposite side, Sean goes rigid. "What?" he chokes out. He already has his left arm slung over Iliana's shoulders onto mine, but with Dad's words, his right comes up and crosses over her, caging her between us more securely.

"Yeah. The Tremaine line," Dad scoffs. He lets out another huff of air. "Xander explains this shit better than me."

"Try, please, Beta Teague. What do you mean she was... modified?"

"They found a way to test for mates," Dad replies softly. "Not full-proof, but it's literally in our DNA. Bailey noticed an odd serum used in the DNA testing that she had never come across before. Turns out, when she tested her DNA against Connor's, it didn't match. So, she tested us..." Dad falls quiet. "My blood didn't match, but your Papa's and Mom's did. When the couple are truemates, this serum allows the blood to mix freely as if it's one DNA strand instead of two separate ones. Or something," he mutters.

"Oh, Goddess," Ili breathes. "And... um... Did Bailey know? About Georgina?"

"Figured it out just before I came to get you three," Dad confirms. Ili relaxes a bit. I don't think she can take any more betrayals right now.

"Explain," Sean grunts.

I half-expect Dad to take issue with his tone, but I guess old age is mellowing him because he answers with a hint of sympathy in his voice, "Georgina was lab-modified to be a match to the Tremaine males. Nate was supposed to impregnate a female of their choosing, but that shit didn't work out," he perks up at fond memories. "Then Nate ended up with a human mate, and old-dog Tremaine was apoplectic."

"Our father is the only Tremaine male his age," Sean says lowly, "and we are his only pup."

"So they made Georgina match with Sean? What are the chances that they would do this to his truemate's sister?" I ask Dad.

Dad exhales. "That's the two-hundred million-dollar question. That's how much this shit cost, by the way. The only answer we have is that about a year after Iliana's birth, four-year-old Georgina was dropped off on your parent's doorstep by her mother. Jackie needed to use the lab to help her pregnancy with both Ili and Phoebe. Normal hormonal stuff that Xander knew about. The lab had both your DNA profiles. Sean's from his grandfather, and Iliana's because of our fertility programs. It's a strong possibility that they somehow knew that Iliana would be matched to Sean."

"And they sent Georgie to live with Sean's truemate, like a fucking cuckoo in the next," I snarl. "Why not allow Iliana to mate Sean, at that point?" I ask. "She's a full-blooded, Delta-line wolf?"

Dad is quiet, then Iliana croaks out, "who is Georgina's father?"

"Anthony Wilkinson, Trey's father."

---

There is no fool like a fool in love. Isn't that what the humans say? The mistakes males make for the female he wants?

It doesn't feel better, knowing that long-lost relatives wanted us to mate to the Other female. It doesn't lessen the guilt to know we were drugged down to our very biology to accept someone other than our sweet mate.

It is all meaningless because our precious mate doesn't bear our Mark and may never want to. Because we hurt her beyond comprehension. Because she is still suffering and we are nearly helpless to stop it.

We do not care that the Other female is designed for us, she is not meant for us. What wolf would want stringy rat meat when they could gorge on a plump, beautiful doe?

Our mate's wide eyes turn to us. Her lips twitch in the smallest smile before falling. Shock has darkened her eyes, accentuated by the thin lines of stress bracketing them. She turns back to the former alpha, listening, concentrating on this male's plan.

"We will not Claim the Other female," I say as my ears pick up his words.

"You will be delivered a truth serum," the former alpha, Alexander, replies calmly. "Understand this, Sean, the council knows that Iliana is your truemate and that she has Marked you. Still, they are pushing the Tremaine agenda to force you and Georgina to be together. You are Georgina's mate, in their eyes and her eyes. They made certain that she has no other mate and if she did at one point, they've changed her DNA so that he and she wouldn't recognize each other."

Our mate, our truemate, and the only one that matters turns in our arms and vomits into a conveniently-placed bucket. My wolf rages, snarling, clawing at the ground, and our insides, furious that our mate is being slowly destroyed.

"Years," she chokes out as she raises her head, the Brat wiping her mouth for her. "This has been in the works for my entire life."

"Yes," the former alpha says grimly. "Which is why we need to step carefully. Right now there is a war brewing in the north," he says quietly. "The northern council is their strongest ally. It is the biggest threat. We can't move until they have fallen."

"When will that happen?" our mate asks.

"Soon, but until then, we need to allow this council to think they are winning," our new alpha, Conner our feet supplies, responds. His jaw flexes, green eyes blazing. He is powerful, this male, an alpha-blood from a line just as impressive as my own. This council is pure idiocy.

"What will happen to my sister - to Georgina?" our mate asks softly.

"She is losing her mind," the new alpha Conner says, bluntly. "We spoke to her earlier. Uncle Alex is right, in Georgina's head, Sean is her truemate."

"How can we punish her? This isn't her fault?" our mate says.

We cup her cheek in our hand and draw her eyes to ours. "Our mate," we say softly. We kiss her mouth gently before moving back a few inches. "She knew that you were ours and we were yours. She knew you were slowly dying because of our stupidity. She knew and did not spare you a single thought. She did not show you the concern and care you show her."

"So I win because she's a bitch?" our mate asks bitterly, hurt shining in her eyes. "What if she was a better female?"

The Brat steps in. "She's not, babydoll."

"You had Caroline," she shoots back, before paling and mumbling softly, "sorry, Brax."

The Brat rubs her back and kisses the top of her head. His eyes meet mine as we share our worry. Our mate shakes her head, sorrow and defeat clinging to her like a second skin. The former alpha clears his throat, regaining our attention. "Let's plan this, quickly. We go in front of the council in less than an hour."

---

Once upon a time, a very long time ago, a human wrote about Hell. He assigned layers to that place of eternal torture. Seven or eight, maybe nine, of them. He called it "the Inferno." The council's chambers of cold white marble is around mid-level, I'd say. It wouldn't be that bad, except that my truemate is standing in the witness box, as I stand all alone in the circle reserved for the criminal on trial.

"I wanted popularity and an easy mating," Sean says quietly. "I believed that my mate would never want me. I am half-human. You call me a Tremaine, but I'm a Green. I'm nothing. She was and is a world above me."

I feel icy shivers and sway in place in the box. I haven't been this cold in weeks. I want nothing more than to scream at the council, at a smugly smirking Georgina, at Sean. I want to snuggle into Braxton's warmth and have Sean stare at me with those dark eyes that devour me with every glance. I want this bleeding of his soul to stop.

"I let this happen. Allowed a female who is not meant to be mine to rule me, to lie to me, to mark me as hers. I lied to the one I belong to with my words, my body, and my heart. I was weak. I was stupid. I can't even..." he swallows heavily, his jaw flexing, "I can't apologize. I can't bring myself to, because how could my mate ever forgive me?"

Some of the wolves are tossing me the dirtiest looks, but I can't tear my eyes away from Sean. He steadies himself, still refusing to look at either me or Georgina. I wipe my eyes with my sleeves.

"I love my mate," he rasps out. "She's... so much, isn't she? Incredibly strong, utterly beautiful, and so smart and forgiving. She makes friends so easily... males, females, human, witch, and wolf, it makes no difference, they are all moths to her flame. Her talents are world-class and only matched by her gorgeous face. I would never truly want any other female but her. When I look at her, I see my entire world."

Those words...

I wish you were my mate, Georgina. You're right about Iliana. Your little sister is... a little too much, isn't she? A little too weak, a little too ugly, a little too boring. I would never want some loner freak over you. I'll reject her after her first shift. Then it's just you and me, sweetheart.

I'm crying so hard that there's no longer a dry spot I can reach with my sleeves. Braxton starts to take off his shirt and step toward me, insistent on offering his help even when a dozen guards and two thick wooden walls stand between us. His Papa stops him with a hand on his wrist. The same wrist that sports light white marks in the same pattern of my canines.

"She knows how sorry I am," Sean continues. "She feels how black my soul is without her, but, no, I will not apologize, Elder, because my mate has the kindest soul, and she'll forgive me when I don't deserve it."

My mouth parts, words of forgiveness hovering on the tip of my tongue, just like Sean said I would. Before they leave my mouth, Georgina's tearful voice slices through the tense silence of the courtroom.

"Of course... of course, I forgive you," she sobs. A female I don't recognize wraps her arms around my sister's shoulders in sympathy. Our mom... my mom, sobs as Dad comforts her. They are sitting near the middle of the semi-circle of seats reserved for onlookers. It rises in the back of the courtroom, through a separate entrance that I was brought through. They aren't very close to Georgina, but they aren't close to me, either.

Sean doesn't look Georgina's way. He doesn't even blink. He maintains his stoic silence, his unnerving stare at the elder from WhiteLun.

"Ah..." the elder clears his throat, "that was very heartfelt, young Tr-Green, but this is not about an apology to your mate. It is not a private matter between just you and your mate. This situation must be rectified. A Beta wolf Claiming a mate who is not his- I mean, hers, is strictly prohibited."

Another elder speaks, "how close to forming the Claim are you?" his eyes dart to me, then to Georgina.

"I am Marked, as is Beta Thomas, and we have consummated the Claim," Sean says. No lies. I'm Marked, but the scars belong to Braxton, not Sean.

The courtroom buzzes. Consummation, a full Claim, indicates that at least part of the Claim was consensual. Georgina starts to cry harder, even though she already knew that Sean and I had screwed like bunnies. I guess she wasn't aware of the Mark I'm sporting on my neck, though.

The female comforting her asks to address the court as if Georgina has a human lawyer. "It was during Iliana Thomas's heat and as a powerful male Sean Tremaine was asked to assist."

I want to throw up again. It's the truth, Sean was "asked to assist." It makes me sound like a rankwhore. I suck a breath and hold it to keep down my tears. Yep, this is me, the powerful female Beta, just melting down because this is terrifying and still... even now, I can't tell the truth. My she-wolf paces, her stomach blown out. The stress of it all is making her chew on her paws again. She's losing fur. Fear is choking me, smothering me, the truth of my mate and me. We are fading away all over again.

"Yes... and the Mark isn't fading." The echo of my own thoughts snaps my attention back to the council. "Unfortunately, it would seem that Beta Thomas is an exceptionally strong-willed female." Bitter, insane laughter swells up inside me.

"She is very strong," Sean agrees without hesitation. Liar. Didn't he take the truth serum? I'm so weak I can barely stand and I'm shivering so badly my teeth are clacking together. I dare another peek at Georgina. Does she feel this bone-deep chill, too?

"There are ways to break the bond," one of the elders speaks up.

"Severing is a last resort, sí?" Alpha Carmichael speaks up, seeming almost bored by the court. He's dressed in his motorcycle leathers and black studded boots, slumped over as if he is just stopping in from a casual bike ride and not moving half his pack to a new, secret location.

The elder tosses him a quick scowl. "In extenuating circumstances-"

"It is still the law," Alpha Carmichael stresses. "You are jumping from this Mark shit to a Severing before we have voted," he says flatly.

"Then we vote," an elder snaps. "Each pack may cast a vote either for or against Severing this so-called bond."

Well, I guess we all know how he's going to vote. Oh, goddess, I may throw up. We're going to vote. I don't think there's anything left in my stomach, but I'm going to be sick, anyway.

I watch as the courtroom buzzes, then each representative steps forward. Many packs, like ours, have other wolves in attendance. A male who looks like Alpha Carmichael confers with him before walking toward me and taking his place amongst the 'nays.' He's not in the majority, but I notice that most packs are refraining from voting, their wary eyes on Conner and Alpha Carmichael.

Conner walks toward me. ClearHowl doesn't have a vote, but no one tries to stop him from approaching me. Behind him, Bailey is led out by Alpha Carmichael's brother. "You holding up?" he asks quietly.

I nod shortly. It's a lie and we both know it, but neither of us is going to acknowledge it.

"The voting is complete," one elder announces. "The Severing should commence in two days to allow for appeals." Bribes and politicking are what this elder really means, but my lips are sealed shut in horror as my she-wolf whines.

"In that case," Conner says into the noisy room. Silence falls as all eyes turn to him. "We waive our right to appeal and agree with the Severing," I swallow hard as he says, "if Iliana can choose another male." He smirks confidently at the council.

I watch the suspicious looks, the avarice, being tossed at both my alpha and myself. My confidence is shrinking rapidly. I hate that this is my lot in life. I have to force my words out, "I'll choose a new male. Mark him, and let the Mark on Sean fade." My she-wolf whines pathetically. Silently, I apologize.

The buzz in the courtroom is so loud that my she-wolf winces. Protesting voices rise quickly to shouts. If this farce was true, then my suggestion would put Sean, as my only Marked male, through excruciating pain. He already was put through it, I remind myself, even if it was only for a few moments.

Georgina, I notice, is quiet. She won't protest the release of her 'mate' from her sister's evil clutches, even if it nearly kills Sean. Goddess, what made my so-called sister such a bitch? Was that part of her genetic programming? Or am I being unfair? After all, Sean is, in a way, hers.

"And who do you propose you Mark, Beta?" another elder spits out with hostility.

I reply in a faint voice, knowing that this will seal my reputation as a rankwhore, "Braxton Grim. My alpha's younger brother." Braxton, who couldn't compete in the competition that resulted in me Marking Sean because he nearly killed a competitor. The rumors of Braxton's insanity and power can only add to this story.

The noise is deafening. It isn't until Trey Wilkinson stands up to speak that the noise dies down. "I agree with the exchange," he says mildly. He is glaring at Conner hotly. Oof. He's a better actor than I am an actress. He's selling the hostility toward Conner with perfect precision.

"I will also accept Sean Green and Georgina Thomas into my pack," Trey adds. I look at him and wonder if he knows Georgina is his sister? Much like Sean, he refuses to look at her. Yes, he knows.