MATED TO SERIES COLLECTION

40. LUCAS: A NEW DISCOVERY

Ariana tensed. "I told you about my plan because I didn't want anybody else involved," she hissed at him.

"Your plan was flawed," Grayson growled. "I made some adjustments."

"What makes you—?"

A ferocious growl fell from his lips, making Ariana whimper and move closer to my side. I glared at him but took note of the fact that Eva didn't even flinch.

"What plan?" Emeric asked.

I wrapped an arm around Ariana's waist and lifted her onto my lap. Eva's eyes darted over to us and locked with mine for a few seconds before she looked away.

There was no time to make sense of the emotions that had flashed through her eyes when she had looked at me because Grayson was speaking again.

"Ariana wants to confront Oliver."

"No," I sneered at her. "He wants to fucking kill you."

"I don't want him to hurt anybody else," she said. "I just want to talk to him and—"

"He'll kill you before—"

"Which is why Eva will be going in Ariana's place," Grayson interrupted.

I glared at him. He had to be fucking kidding me! Eva might not want a mate and I might not be able to stand Eva at the moment, but there was no fucking way I would allow either of them to be placed in danger. So, Oliver was part of mother's original plan, but things changed the moment he went after Ariana.

"Don't look at me like that, kid," Grayson sneered at me. "We all want this to end and the only way for that to happen is to get rid of Oliver."

"You want to put the girls in danger!"

"Not both girls! Ariana will stay here and Eva will go in her place."

"No!" Ariana yelled as she jumped to her feet. "I told you that I don't want anyone else involved!"

Grayson's hand on the desk slowly curled into a fist. I could tell by the tensing of his muscles that he was about to explode. One thing I had learned from training with him was that he had a short fuse when it came to back talking.

Leaning forward, I took hold of Ariana's wrist and gently pulled her back onto my lap. I wrapped both my arms around her waist to prevent her from getting up again.

"It won't work," she whispered but we all heard.

"It will." Grayson's eyes darted from one twin to the other. "Their futures are similar enough that if Eva changes her hair colour she will look like Ariana. Oliver wouldn't notice the difference."

"He would," I told him. "Ariana has a fragility about her that Eva does not have. She's thinner too while Eva has more curves."

Ariana turned her head to look at me. I shrugged in answer to her silent question. I have spent most of my childhood studying the two sisters from the photos my mother always seemed to find, so I knew their physical differences even though a lot had changed since the last photo was taken.

"He's right," Emeric muttered as he straightened. "The differences are easily noticeable. Besides, the obvious differences, there's the fact that Ariana's animal is dormant while Eva's animal is easy to sense."

"The guy is human he will not notice it."

Emeric frowned at him. "He will. With Ariana's animal dormant it makes her weak. She acts like prey instead of facing the danger head-on as Eva would."

Another low growl fell from Grayson's lips. "Why the fuck are you all ganging up against me? You want to get rid of the fucker so I find you a solution and you throw it back in my fucking face."