The Lycan King’s Mark (Nevara) by Tiffanie L. Campbell novel Chapter 119

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Chapter 119 The Long Game

Thoren

David’s shoulders finally dropped like a man who knew there was no way out.

“She’s my sister,” he said, voice brittle. “Bethany.”

Silence stretched like a blade between us.

I clenched my jaw. “You want to repeat that?”

+25 Points

“I’m her younger brother. She sent me to get a job here three years ago. She told me not to mention it

when I got the job here. Said it would ruin the credibility of the lab if anyone found out.”

“Because she planned to use you,” I snapped.

He nodded. “From the beginning.”

Kael made a noise of disgust beside me. “So this wasn’t some last–ditch scheme?”

“No.” David’s voice was hollow now. “It’s been in motion for three years. She knew eventually, it would come down to a paternity test. She just had to wait for the right moment. I got the job. Got established.

Earned trust. She waited.”

“And then she pulled the trigger,” Kael muttered. “When Jonas got sick.”

David nodded. “That was actually one thing she was genuine about. The boy was truly sick but kids are resilient and go back to being themselves the moment they feel better. So it looked like she was stalling when she wasn’t. She told me my job was to swap the printout. Said it had to be official–sealed and convincing. The only thing I couldn’t touch was Nora’s original file. So I tampered with the envelope

instead.”

I stepped forward. “You realize how idiotic that was, right?”

David flinched. “I told her it wouldn’t work. That you’d never accept it. But she… she was banking on your silence. Said you’d do anything to avoid scandal. That you were pathetic and pouting over the loss of your mate that she’d be able to manipulate everything easily.”

I narrowed my eyes. “And Nevara?”

David hesitated. “She didn’t think the mate would come back. She thought the bond was dead. That she could use the child to secure her place permanently.”

“He’s five years old.” Kael frowned. “So if she had this plan in motion for three years, what was happening

before that?”

“Why wait?” I demanded.

David looked up, eyes flicking to mine. “Because that’s when the former king died.”

Chapter 119 – The Long Game

The air changed. Sharp. Still.

“What does that have to do with any of this?” Kael asked slowly.

David didn’t answer. He didn’t have to.

Nora’s eyes widened. “No. No, wait-”

25 Points

She turned to me, voice cracking. “Thoren, I put it in the report. The full sequence. There was a partial DNA match. Enough to suggest close relation… but not enough to confirm you as the father, it was at the bottom of the report.”

“That part must have been removed when David changed the report.” Nevara finally chimed in.

“What does that mean?” Kael asked.

Nora’s breath shuddered. “It means the child isn’t his son.” She turned to me, eyes full of horror. “He’s your

half brother.”

My spine locked.

Kael straightened. “What the hell are you saying?”

David cleared his throat, voice grim. “Jonas isn’t your son, Your Majesty, obviously you knew that part. He’s

your father’s.”

Kael swore.

I didn’t move. Couldn’t breathe. “My father…”

“Bethany and he-” David paused, shaking his head. “It wasn’t supposed to last. He gave her a position in the palace. She fell in love. He didn’t. When she came up pregnant he sent her away and told her never to

return.”

“She passed the child off as mine,” I said slowly, fury blooming behind my ribs. “Waited until he was old

enough to be believable, then spun her web.”

“We had learned of the prince rejecting his fated mate. But it wasn’t until the king’s passing that Bethany

concocted the plan to use Thoren as her scapegoat.” David admitted.

“She needed a connection to the throne,” David continued. “And you were next in line. A child tied to you

would guarantee her position. Legally, Socially. Politically.”

“Except the child was my father’s,” I bit out.

“Yes.”

I turned to Nora. “And you saw it?”

“It was in the raw data,” she admitted, guilt tightening her voice. “I assumed you’d recognize it–that you’d read the full profile. I put a note at the bottom of the secondary page… but the version you received was

falsified.”

< Chapter 119 – The Long Game

25 Points

“Because he swapped the envelope,” Kael growled, jerking his head toward David.

“Yes exactly as I said,” she placed her hand on my arm in attempt to not misplace my anger. “It was not on the report we received because it was swapped out. That doesn’t mean Nora had anything to do with hiding anything from you.”

David lifted his hands helplessly. “I’m not defending what I did. I knew it was wrong. But I didn’t have a choice. She said she’d ruin me. Said if I didn’t help her, she’d expose me for stealing research data at my last job. She always has leverage.”

“She had a backup plan for the backup plan,” I muttered.

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