Chapter 2

Mallory's POV:

"Let me go!" I screamed as my stepmother dragged me by my left wrist and led me out of my room door.

I was unclothed, yet, she didn't care and wanted to report me to my father.

"Leave me alone!" I forcibly bit her right hand, and she flinched away, letting go of me.

I hastily ran back into my bedroom to get dressed, as I locked up the door as soon as possible.

"Mallory! Mallory!" Luna Lily banged on my room door, and I knew that I would be reported. As my father could have possibly heard my stepmother's voice. Or she could have mindlinked him.

The clock showed it was 10 pm, and I glanced at the door once more, and went to pull it open after I was done wearing my clothes. As I donned a red dress that barely passed my knees.

As I unlocked the door and pulled it open, my father stood there and glared at me. He smacked me across my left cheek as soon as the door opened, revealing me.

"Mallory, what happened here and what were you doing inside your room without responding to your stepmother? And why does this place smell of sex? Who was he?" Dad glared at me, walking into my bedroom. As he strode up to my pink bedsheet and picked it up. He sniffed it. His expression shifting to anger.

"Tell me, Mallory! Who did you mate with?" My father yelled, glaring at me, but I immediately glanced away and knew that he disliked me too.

"I wasn't mating with anyone," I lied, lowering my gaze and avoiding meeting my father's dark face.

He marched up to meet me and grasped me by my shoulders.

"Mallory, I already made the promise to your mother that I will protect you until you found your fated mate and hand you over to him. Yet, you couldn't wait to find your fated mate, and you foolishly slept with someone here in my house. Speak now! If I find out from the monitoring cameras who you slept with, you both will be banished!" My father threatened, his gaze darker as his blue eyes narrowed at me.

I didn't want Ace Lennox to be banished. He was destined to be our pack's future Alpha, since my father has no son. Ace was skilled with combat, fought resiliently and he had never been defeated by other pack warriors even as he was a Beta by birth. Ace had defeated some packs that wanted to destroy our pack, and my father really liked him and saw him as a son he never had.

I glanced away from my father's face, hesitating to tell him the truth about who I had mated with.

"Speak now, Mallory! Or forever remain silent!" My father yelled, his voice colder than ice as he was dressed in a black garment.

My stepsister, Sonia came rushing into my bedroom and dressed in a white nightdress that was shining, as she loves to purchase the best quality of clothes. While I had few good clothes.

"Dad, Ace and I did it," I finally announced to them, and my father's eyes widened in shock, before a look of disbelief washed over him and his gaze darkened.

"You are lying about Ace, and why couldn't I detect his scent here? Has it gotten to the extent that you have to lie on Ace Lennox?" My father yelled, while I lowered my head.

"Ace is the one who came in here to meet me," I said, but my father barked, "Shut up, Mallory! I am going to ask you for the last time. Who did you mate with here in your room?"

My father did not want to believe me, as he glared at me.

"It was Ace Lennox. He was here and he left through the window," I said, pointing at the opened window.

My father left my arms and moved away to the open window to inspect it. As he stood by it and gazed out. He sniffed in the air and his gaze darkened as he sharply turned to look at me.

"Ace cannot be able to fly out from this window. You don't want to tell me who was the man that you had slept with. As much as you don't have any scent, Ace has a scent of pinewood, and you think that I don't know what my pack members' scents are like, much more the future Alpha of our pack," Dad yelled, marching up to meet me, and Sonia cried out.

"Father, Mallory is lying. Let us call Ace and ask him for the truth. Mallory wants to force Ace to become her mate because she sees me and him together."

I looked at Sonia's face with disbelief washing over me, since none of them wanted to believe me.

Even though Sonia was taller than me, and believes she would become the next Luna, I was her older sister. And I wasn't jealous of her.

"I am not lying, Father. Ace was here, and he used me. Maybe he used a scent suppressant," I said, folding my arms around my chest as my father stood watching me with a look of doubt.

Luna Lily came into my bedroom and marched up to meet me. She smacked me very hard across my left cheek and yelled, "Shut up, Mallory! I cannot continue to stand by and watch you slander our future Alpha. Alpha Bruce, Mallory needs to be punished tonight or expelled from our pack, so that she can learn her lesson. Maybe it's because she knows that Sonia and Ace are friends, and Sonia is bound to become the future Luna, and marry Ace. That's why she wants to destroy their future together."

Luna Lily glared at me, as she glanced at my father's face, awaiting to hear his judgment since he appeared so thoughtful.

"Alpha, if you cannot punish Mallory, allow me to pass the judgment on her as she's only worthless, and of no value in this pack," Luna Lily muttered, moving away from me as my father stood there silently.

"Hmmm. You are right. Guards! Take Mallory downstairs, and Sonia, call on Ace. He needs to answer to Mallory's accusations before I decide on her punishment," My father proclaimed, walking away from me as he exited my room.

"I am not lying. Ace and I are true mates! Let me go!" I yelled as two burly guards came in and dragged me away from my room.

"You all have to believe me!" I cried, as my stepmother followed the guards dragging me out of my room. As I was taken downstairs to the grand hall.

My father stood there beside his throne, and I was forced by the two guards to kneel down.

"On your knees!" They commanded, while I glared at them. As my father stood there waiting for Ace's arrival.

A few minutes later, Ace came into the hall, wearing a yellow dress shirt and black shorts. As he appeared like he had taken his bath.

His brown hair was wet and softly dropping water beside his face, and he looked at me, and then to my parents. Before he marched up to meet us and bowed.

"Greetings, Alpha. You sent for me," Ace bowed before my father, who was standing there at the Alpha's chair.

"Yes, Ace Lennox. Rise on your feet. I need you to tell me the truth, before I decide on your punishment with my daughter. You should know that lying to your alpha warrants banishment from our pack. And I hope that you're aware of that," My father uttered, glancing at Ace, as he stood there with his hands behind his back. His face deadly serious looking from me to Ace angrily.

"Yes, Alpha. I am very much aware," Ace replied, with a subtle bow of his head, as he avoided looking at me.

His parents then rushed into the grand hall to find out what was happening.