“Calm down? I fucking slept with a Pteron.”
“You slept with her?” Levi pulled me back around to look at him. “You slept with my sister?”
“Oh, get off it, asshole. You didn’t know you were related until a few hours ago. I’m the one who slept with the fucking girl.”
“She didn’t know.” Allie’s soft voice surprised me. I hadn’t heard her come in.
“How would you know?” I turned and glared at her.
“She had no idea. She’s freaked out. She turned to Toby for help.”
“That just makes it better. She lets me fuck her then goes crying to Toby. Fucking perfect.”
“She’s a victim here too.” Allie crossed her arms. “If there’s anyone to be mad at it’s Robert.”
The door burst open and Levi’s grandmother walked in. “Where’s that idiot father of yours?” Georgina glared at Levi. I don’t generally find old women scary, but Georgina was downright frightening when she was mad.
Levi ran a hand through his hair. “I don’t know. He isn’t picking up his phone.”
“Make him. I’m going to kill him.” Georgina curled her hand into a fist at her side.
“Did you have any idea?” Levi asked more calmly than I could have.
Georgina dropped a large handbag on the desk. “No, but at least we have answers.”
“Answers?” Owen took a seat on the desk, careful to stay clear of Georgina’s overflowing bag.
“In all of my research on Enchantresses, I never discovered any plausible rationale for their existence. I didn’t find any explanation for why a human sometimes picked the king instead of the crown staying in the same family.” Georgina paused dramatically. I resisted the urge to tell her to hurry up. Georgina wouldn’t take that well.
“Now we have the answer.” She paused again.
“And?” Levi didn’t have the same restraint I did.
Georgina finally continued. “We’re always warned that if the king or crowned prince steps out on their mate, they’ll lose the crown—but it’s not instantaneous. Instead, it goes down to the next generation.”
Levi shifted uncomfortably.
Georgina glanced at Levi. “That’s why Allie was an Enchantress.” She gave Allie a slight smile. “Thankfully, you chose Levi.”
“Seriously?” Levi put his arm around Allie. “After all the shit my dad gave me, he’s the one who almost lost it all for us?”
Georgina fumed, her smile wiped off her face. “Robert couldn’t keep it in his pants and almost destroyed our family.”
Owen laughed. Maybe if I wasn’t feeling so disgusted with myself, I would have laughed too. Georgina wasn’t the type of woman to use that expression.
“I’m going to let him have it. I also have some apologizing to do to Helen…” Georgina looked off. There was a story there, I’m sure.
“What’s next? Where do we go from here?” I needed to separate my feelings from what was going on. This news could potentially destroy the Laurents. It was my job to protect them.
“We find out who the mother is.” Levi scowled.
“She may be a victim too…” Allie said the words lightly, but there was no softening what she was implying.
“As horrible as Robert can be, my son wouldn’t rape a woman. But, that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t use his position for persuasion or to mislead her.” Georgina turned to Levi. “Talk to him. You need to find out more.”
“Me?” He pointed at himself. “What are you going to be doing?” His reluctance to confront his father was clear as day. I didn’t blame him.
“I have a granddaughter to meet.”
“What?” I lost the fight with my emotions. “You’re going to see Casey?”
“Of course. She needs to be formally welcomed to the Laurent family.” Her steely gaze set on me. “Not that I need to explain myself to you, Judd.” I was starting to think she liked calling me by incorrect names. I also had a feeling she’d overheard the part of the conversation where I admitted to sleeping with Casey. Fantastic. Georgina was going to hate me even more now.
Levi narrowed her eyes. “But she’s not really a Laurent. Dad hasn’t recognized her.”
Allie glared at Levi. “She’s your sister whether Robert acknowledges it or not.”
Georgina nodded. “Allie’s right. That’s why we’re going to New York today.”
“I’m coming?” There was excitement in Allie’s voice. Of course, she was already planning slumber parties with her future sister-in-law.
“Yes. You’ve met her, haven’t you?” Georgina watched Allie.
“Yeah. She’s really cool.” Allie smiled.
“Leviathan, talk to your father. Boys,” she addressed Owen and me, “get a plane ready for us.” She turned to Allie. “I’ll give you a few minutes with Leviathan. Be ready to leave within the hour.”
Allie only waited until Georgina walked out of the office before starting in on the questions. “When are you going to call her?”
“Why would I call her?” I knew I sounded like a jerk, but I had no choice. I’d slept with a Pteron. Worse, I’d liked it—no, loved it. My dad had my brother shipped abroad for doing that. I wasn’t going to lose my position over a girl. We needed to pretend it never happened.
“Jared. Don’t be an ass,” Allie hissed.
“What?”
“You can’t ignore her. Think about what she’s going through. You promised you wouldn’t use her.”
“Yeah… I promised you that when I thought she was human. All bets are off. She’s a Pteron. She’ll recover. Besides, she’s already gone back to Toby.”
“She went back to him for help. That’s different.”
“Get off my back, Allie. This isn’t your problem.”
“Just drop it. He’s not going to listen.” Levi pulled Allie against him. “Are you really going to New York?”
“First of all, I’m not letting Casey deal with Georgina alone. Second, do you really think I have a choice?”
Levi laughed. “No. Definitely no choice. Have fun.”
“I’ll tell her you said hi.”
Levi nodded. “Okay.”
She squeezed his hand. “This is a good thing, Levi.”