Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 64392 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 322(@200wpm)___ 258(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64392 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 322(@200wpm)___ 258(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
Even when she was freshly turned, she was making her own choices. She escaped to the park to steal candy from strangers. When I brought her here to Denholm, she refused to stay in our room and went on an ill-fated spying mission throughout the house. Then she ran off to heed her aunt’s call—but I am not convinced that was merely because the woman called. Kira made her own decision then too. Then she bit Isabella and fought against Abel’s sedation.
All of these actions can easily be rationalized away on their own, but together they form a picture of a young she-wolf who, in spite of appearing meek and perhaps even weak, does not have a naturally submissive bone in her body.
“I am serious,” she says in the silence which follows her statement.
“I know,” I reply.
“What are you going to do with me? How long is it going to take you to realize I’ve never betrayed you?”
“I know you haven’t betrayed me,” I reply. “We’ve talked to your cousin. And your aunt. They don’t know a thing about your heritage. And it’s not your fault that your father happens to have been one of the most infamous villains in our history.”
“So why am I still here?”
“Because I don’t know what to do with you. I know the moment I let you out of this dungeon, the madness will ensue again.”
“Not because of me,” she says.
“Not, not because of you,” I reply. “You never intend any harm, but you have been part of several scandals. And I fear for Isabella if you are to see her again.”
“Then send her away, and your brother too. I don’t intend to forgive him for drugging me. It wasn’t necessary. I’m not dangerous.”
“You just told me you’d kill me.”
She pouts. “Only if you tried to lock me away forever and forever. At that point, it’s fair.”
“A traditional submissive mate would learn to accept her lot, whether it be in her alpha’s dungeon…”
“I’m not traditional then, am I? Let me go, Cain. Let me have a life.”
How can I reasonably refuse her?
She has been patient. More patient than I would be, and more understanding too. She’s right in that she deserves to live her life. There are only so many precautions we can take. There’s only so many suspicions that can be entertained. From the beginning, the pack has been prejudiced against her, and that was not fair then, and it is not fair now.
They can’t keep making me choose this way. I can’t keep her imprisoned just to make everybody else’s life easy. Maybe back in the day, that would have been an alpha’s prerogative, but I like to think I am better than that. And if I want to keep thinking that, I need to be better than that.
“Come with me,” I say, taking her by the hand. “I am getting you out of here.”
Her broad smile is all the reward I need in order to know I have made the right decision.
As we ascend the dungeon stairs, I find my path blocked.
Abel is standing in the passage at the top, preventing us from leaving the area.
“Stand aside, please, brother,” I say, keeping my voice calm.
“No. She cannot leave.”
“I have decided she can,” I say. “Stand aside.”
Abel shakes his head. “The pack has spoken, Cain. You know it.”
“The pack does not speak on matters of my mate. I do. Get out of my way.”
Abel plants himself even more firmly, his jaw set with determination. “I won’t, Cain. It’s for her good, and for our good. You know that.”
“I know no such thing. I know that you have been making trouble for me and my mate since I found her. I know you set up the conclave early. I know…”
“I was excited for the pack to meet her!”
“Nonsense. You wanted to sabotage things because you knew she was a dilute. You wanted to humiliate us. I let it slide. I will not let anything else slide.”
“You can’t keep her outside these dungeons,” Abel says. “She has the blood of evil in her veins. She is a monster, even if you don’t see it. The rest of us can. Her presence inside Denholm is like poison flowing in our veins. I’m sorry, brother, but you have to sacrifice her. It’s the only way.”
“Sacrifice her?”
“The preparations are being made for the next full moon. Her blood will be studied. She will not go to waste. And you will not have to suffer the shame of having a mate of Russian blood.”
My fury becomes a cold thing. Abel has more than overstepped. He has begun to act as alpha.
In an instant, I see it all so clearly. He has used my mate as a distraction, and now he intends to destroy me by destroying her. He knows what happens to alphas who lose their mates. They are broken shells of the men they once were. The surest way to bring an alpha down is to attack his mate. That is another one of the many reasons why there is a place in the dungeons for an alpha mate. Abel is not the first to come up with that plan.