Read In the Alpha's Bed (Stealing the Alpha Book 3) for Free Online

controls it. I don't know why she wants it, but she has killed for them before." Krista didn't include their history with Ava, nor did she explain the horrible lengths that the woman had gone to in the past, but the other lions in the room took her at her word.
    "Where is her territory?" asked Sinclair. His lips were barely visible under his thick beard.
    "She operates out of the East Coast," said Mel. "But she doesn't have an official territory.
    "She's been around for ages, but no one knows exactly how long. Unofficially, she controls at least fourteen covens in six countries, but most of the other witches leave her alone. Those that don't, suffer dearly," Krista added.
    "This is her MO. She finds someone's enemies or rivals and makes a deal. It's symbiotic. The rival softens the territory, making it easy for her to step in and get what she wants. The rival takes over after she leaves and then she has allies. Most people never realize that the slaughter was anything more than a simple territorial dispute." As Mel spoke she could almost smell the blood that had seeped into the ground that night so many years ago. She sucked in her breaths slowly and past tense lips to try and keep her cool.
    Jonas rubbed a hand over the dark stubble on his chin. "If we didn't know about this Well, and how does she? Why can't she just find one that isn’t in our territory?"
    "Wells are incredibly rare," said Krista. Mel could hear the frustration in her voice at needing to explain something so simple. Krista wasn't used to working with shapeshifters other than Mel; everyone in her world knew everything there was to know about magic. "Only three have been discovered in the last 100 years. And as to how, she has people study lore. There are spells to discover such things. She's the foremost expert on finding them and she wouldn't risk coming into your territory unless she was damn sure that there was a Well here."
    Brynne looked at each of the lions in the room. Her hair fell in dark ringlets past her shoulders, and she wore a pair of thick rimmed eyeglasses. "I'm just floating this idea, so no one take my head off." Her voice held a hint of something middle-eastern, though it was nearly impossible to discern. "What if we just give her the Well? We can just tell her that she can take the power and leave as soon as she's done. I realize that it’s not an ideal solution, but it would avoid bloodshed."
    Luke held up a hand and shook his head. "This is my home. Our home. I'm not letting someone steal what is ours." Mel decided that it wouldn’t be prudent to mention that she had already stolen what was his. 
    "She wouldn't go for it even if you tried." Mel had to point it out. These lions had no idea how dangerous Ava truly was. "If she thought you would give it to her, she would've negotiated. Actually negotiated instead of doing what she has done. You know, kidnapping Cassie, hexing her, and threatening her life. At the very least she's teamed up with some vampires, presumably the people she plans to let take over the territory once she's through with you. She will not play fair."
    Sinclair looked between Krista and Mel twice before speaking, his voice incredulous. "How do either of you know all of this? You are both, what, twenty-five?"
    "I vouch for them," said Luke, his tone brooking no resistance.
    His inner circle clearly did not like that explanation. They shifted in their chairs and huffed their displeasure.
    "No, Luke," said Mel. "They aren't going to trust us if they don't know why we know Ava." And even though she knew it had to be done, it took Mel a moment to collect herself before offering the explanation. "Here's the Cliffs Notes version. When I was a child, Ava murdered my family because there was a Well our territory."
    She had been too far away to hear the screams when it happened, her life only saved because she had been playing in the forest before dinner. "After that I was adopted into Ava's coven."
    Krista squeezed Mel's