Chapter 13
“My fated mate is-”
“Raymond!” I shouted, leaping to my feet and grabbing his arm. My heart pounded against my ribs like a trapped animal.
“Please, not here,” I whispered urgently.
His eyes met mine, burning with frustration and something that looked almost like hatred. For a terrifying moment, I thought he would shove me aside and finish his sentence, destroying everything. But something in my desperate expression must have
reached him.
Raymond’s jaw clenched tight. With a growl of frustration, he yanked his arm from my grip and stormed out, slamming the door
with enough force to rattle the crystal glasses on the table.
I forced a smile that felt like shattered glass cutting my cheeks. “He’s just nervous about taking over as Alpha,” I said, my voice
barely above a whisper. “I’ll talk to him.”
I excused myself quickly, before they could see the tears threatening to spill. Raymond was already gone, his scent trail leading
toward the forest–toward Glana.
I drove home in a daze, my vision blurred. As I pushed open the front door, my father’s scent hit me–rage, disappointment, and
alcohol.
“So,” he said, his voice deceptively quiet as he emerged from the shadows of our living room. “Raymond almost exposed everything tonight.”
I froze. “How did vo
you
“The Alpha called me,” he spat. “What happened? What did you do to make him snap like that?”
“I didn’t do anything,” I whispered.
The slap came without warning, the force of it whipping my head to the side. Pain bloomed across my cheek as my eyes watered.
“Don’t lie to me!” he roared, grabbing my shoulders and shaking me. “You’re ruining everything! Do you have any idea what’s at stake?”
I tasted blood where my teeth had cut into my cheek. “It’s not my fault. Raymond loves Giana. He always will.”
“I don’t care who he loves!” My father’s fingers dug painfully into my shoulders. “He will marry you, and you will be Luna. That’s all that matters.”
I looked up at h
power.
him, searching for any trace of the father who had once loved me. But all I saw was a desperate man clinging to
“Why are you s
are you so certain it’s my fault?” I asked, my voice breaking. “Why can’t you ever take my side?”
+15 Bonus
“Take your side? Against the future Alpha? Are you insane?” He released me with a shove. “Raymond is the best husband you could ever have. He’s becoming Alpha. Do you understand how fortunate you are?”
“Fortunate? To marry someone who loves another woman?”
“Yes,” he hissed, leaning close enough that I could smell the whiskey on his breath. “And you will endure it. For your mother. Fort our family. For the pack.”
He turned away. “Tomorrow, you will go to Raymond. You will apologize for whatever you did to upset him. You will fix this.”
That night, I barely slept, my dreams filled with wedding dresses that strangled me and Raymond walking away, never looking back.
The next morning, I ignored Raymond’s calls and texts. I knew I couldn’t avoid him forever–my father had made that painfully clear–but I needed time to rebuild my walls.
When the knocking started at my bedroom door, I buried my head under my pillow.
“Aurora,” my father called, his voice dangerously calm. “Raymond is here to see you.”
A scraping sound at my window made me bolt upright in bed. Raymond’s face appeared behind the glass, his expression determined as he jimmied the latch just like he used to when we were teenagers.
Before I could react, he had pushed the window open and climbed inside, landing softly on my bedroom floor. For a moment, the familiarity of the gesture made my heart ache with longing for simpler times.
“You can’t ignore me forever,” he said, straightening up. Then he noticed my face, and his expression shifted to concern. “What happened to your cheek?”
I turned away, pulling my knees up to my chest. “Nothing. Why are you here?”
Raymond sighed, running a hand through his dark hair. “To apologize for last night. And to thank you for stopping me.” He reached into his jacket and pulled out a small box, setting it on my nightstand. “A peace offering”
I stared at the box without touching it. “Climbing through my window doesn’t change anything, Raymond.”
“I know,” he said, sitting at the edge of my bed. The familiar weight of him made the mattress dip, I shifted away. “But we need to talk about where we go from
here.”
