“I – Is that not a bit too much? It is okay to send her away from the pack,” I said. There was no way Cassius would cut April’s hands so I had to play on that and appear at least a little benevolent by suggesting a lesser punishment. “Cassius, what do you think?” I did not forget to push the decision to him. Ultimately, I was after April but I could not publicly go after her. Let her see that the man who brought her in was not shit anyway. Let her see that whatever promises he had made to her would be difficult to carry out and let her begin to doubt his words. “It – is there – we do not have proof.” It was unlike Cassius to sound so unsure so I almost smiled as he stuttered out his words but I held myself, laughing inwardly. I wanted to see how he would deflect this. I needed to know how precious this girl was to him and most of all, I wanted to one-up April. Just because I was no longer interested in her good-for-nothing mate did not mean I would not like to see her crestfallen
It was chaos after that. Cassius shouted her name with a loud growl and my father almost punched Cassius in the face. Thankfully, the enforcers caught him before he tackled him to the ground. I reckoned he would have killed him. “You – You are lying.” It was my my turn to put on a play so I put in my best work. I stumbled and Sylvia rushed to catch me as a single tear rolled down my cheek, my eyes still on her. She could not hide the gloating smile on her lips as I pretended my world had just been ruined – ended even. “I am not lying.” Then she bent her head. “Cassius is my mate.”“April!” Cassius yelled at her, taking several steps towards her as if he would make her disappear from the world. “C – Cassius – is this – is this true?” I cried out and he rushed to my side. “No – No, do not touch me! Don’t touch me!” I pushed his hand away as he reached out to grab mine. “Perse, listen to me, please. This is –““You still have the nerve to talk to her. You found your mate and brought
“No, no, no! Don’t touch me! I do not want to hear anything from you! Go away! Leave me alone!” I screamed at the top of my lungs. There were people gathered at my door and they could hear me screaming but I did not care. I wanted them to hear everything being said in this room today. This scandal had to be publicized for me to change my public image. I needed people on my side and a foolproof way of getting people on my side was by inducing sympathy. There was nothing more sympathetic than a woman who had been betrayed by her love. “Perse, listen to me, please,” Cassius begged, holding my hand in a tight grip. “Listen to what I have to say!” “What do you have to say? Every word that proceeds from your mouth is nothing but a lie! Go away!” It was the fifth day since April disclosed to the world that Cassius was her mate. By now, everywhere would be abuzz with news of my heartbreak and my subsequent hysteria. Many letters had come for me, some out of genuine concern but most
CASSIUS’ POVHow did things go so wrong? No, what was I thinking in the first place? No, no, why the hell did April do that? I wanted to find her right away and squeeze the life out of her eyes but I feared my wolf would die along with that silly woman who was about to cost me everything. The image of Persephone crying and fainting was forever burned into my mind, haunting me at every moment. I did that to her. Persephone was everything to me yet I hurt her. With the way she went after April that evening, I knew she suspected her – suspected my relationship with her – but I do not think she knew our exact relationship. Finding out she was my mate must have been too much for her. The question I had now – what was I going to do with April? I told myself that I could squeeze out even the smallest of roles for her but now, I did not even want to set eyes on her. She betrayed me. What would I gain from such a foolish woman who did not even see the bigger picture? He is mine! T
KOA’S POV Persephone Adelard.People were talking about her.“I heard that she tried to hang herself,” a woman sitting two seats away from me in the coffee shop said.“If I were in her shoes, I would leave his house immediately. No matter how much she has invested in him, such a traitorous man can never be trusted,” one of her companions said.“Yes, I would leave him in the blink of an eye. How can he do such a thing to her? He found his mate and hid her under the same roof!” The third woman exclaimed. “And it was just the other day they got engaged.”“It’s lucky he has not put a mark on her yet. That Cassius man, he may be handsome, but he is nothing more than a leech of the Adelards.”“But isn’t she a foolish woman?” The first woman spoke again. “No matter how heartbroken she is, isn’t it too much for her to remain there and do nothing but cry? I am hearing Alpha Adelard is going to leave Cassius’ pack but it seems his foolish daughter is still clinging to another woman’s mate.”“H
The first emotion I processed was fear. Fear that paralyzed my limbs and made me feel like the world was closing in on me. My heart pounded loudly in my ears and without knowing it, I reached out to the person closest to me and grabbed their hand with a grip tight enough to cut off blood flow. Still, none of these helped with the mind-numbing sensation that spread throughout my body. I swallowed when my throat felt like a dessert but there was no reprieve from this damning situation. “Go out. Miss Persephone is busy so come back later.” Sylvia’s voice reached me from a faraway place. It may have been a dream as I watched the men bow themselves out with how out of it I felt. “Perse, are you okay?” Sylvia turned to me when the men had left and I took in a shaky breath. In truth, I was not okay. Seeing Liam and Lucas like that made me remember my death all over again. I had mourned the woman I was in my past life but seeing them opened a fresh can of worms that stole my breath.
My father’s life was in danger again because of me. Was I such a weak link? People always took advantage of him using me. In the past, it was Cassius and now the Alpha King who was heading down the path to damnation. Why was my father always caught in my mess? In my past life, I never had any interactions with the Alpha King. He was just that; the Alpha King, a man with no influence in my life whatsoever so what changed now? As I asked myself this question, I knew the answer. In the past life, I never left Cassius alone. Even when he brought April on our engagement day, I continued to cling to him like a fool. My father never left this pack or even showed even a small hint of wanting to leave. Now, there must be people gossiping about me leaving Cassius and about my father leaving the pack so the Alpha King wanted to snatch this golden opportunity to recruit us into his failed army. “This crazy bastard, indeed,” I all but snarled. This man and everything that concerned him d
“You look ridiculous.” Those were the first words Alpha Koa said to me the moment we met. Dressed in a cloak that would be suspicious even to the oblivious, I understood the sentiment but it did not mean I appreciated his rude remark. “Thank you, I was trying out your style,” I responded, lowering the hood of my cloak. “You are funny.” His eyes were sharp as his lips curved into a false smile. I took a good look at him. A very good look at him. I had decided to invest in this man because I expected profitable returns. He was in a position where I could gain a lot from him and the only thing I needed to do was use my knowledge of the past to help him. He was my sword and a very sharp one at that. “Why are you looking at me so intently?” He asked. “Have you only now discovered my astounding looks?” I scoffed at such a remark but ignored it. I had come here for much more important things. More important than an irrelevant back-and-forth with this man. “I received a proposal from th