Cynthia Dion: "Easy!" Atticus laid his hand on my father's chest, signaling him to step back."Alpha Atticus!" My father was taken aback by the sight of Alpha carrying my bags and joining me on my journey back home. He respectfully bowed to Atticus and then shot me a disapproving glare.'One more person added to the list,' Thea growled inside, causing me to clench my teeth secretly. She was now including our dad on her list of people to seek revenge against.'No!' I grunted at her, rejecting the notion.'Why? Did you forget how he forced us to marry that awful man?' She argued, but I chose to ignore her for the time being.'Don't shut me out. He's the reason all of this started, really. A father should protect his daughter, not barter her away,' she added with a disdainful snort."What is she doing here? I can't have her stay here. After everything she's done, people around here will scorn me for harboring her," my father inquired once more. Just because the Alpha was present didn't
Cynthia Dion:"See, you can't answer my questions," the moment he scoffed, he realized he had made a mistake."You shouldn't stay here," I gathered my composure and straightened my posture, refusing to appear lost in front of him. He leaned back once more, pulling out his phone and avoiding eye contact this time."Don't worry about me; I'll be fine here," Atticus continued, as if nothing had transpired between us all these years. He settled back and continued to gaze at his phone's screen."Your mate is waiting for you. Go spend time with her," I retorted, frowning."By that logic, I should stay here," he muttered, keeping his eyes on his phone."But you don't have to. I don't want you near me," I insisted, unprepared to have him close when a significant part of the reason I was enduring this ordeal was connected to him, or at least most of the trouble could be attributed to his actions."Okay, but I'm not leaving," as he reaffirmed his stance, I rubbed my face in my hands and stared
Cynthia Dion: "What? She can't. There's no way she would do that. Tell me, what did you do to her?" I began to shout at my father, my heart racing. There was no conceivable way she could have just left. She was still practically a child. "Cynthia! Calm down," Atticus slammed his plate down and swiftly rose to approach me. "You want me to calm down when my 15-year-old sister is missing?" I slapped Atticus's hand away, growling in frustration. When I had married Mr. Holt, my sister had been almost 13, and she had recently turned 15. How could a 15-year-old just run away? Where could she have gone? "You're blaming me for this? She learned all of that from you. Ever since you left two years ago, your sister just wanted to be like you. She started desperately seeking out mates and boyfriends, particularly rich ones, and then one night, she ran off with her lover. Everyone knew she was out of control; she would shout at me and throw things because I didn't want her boyfriend around," my
Cynthia Dion:"Here!" I opened my eyes as Jack arrived, bringing a glass of juice for me. I wanted to hold the glass myself, but Jack insisted on helping me, so I allowed it. Of course, I enjoyed seeing Atticus in discomfort. He had done a lot for me, so that was the only thing I could give him in return."Thank you so much, Jack, but I'll look after her here," Atticus spoke up, his heart darkening with jealousy."Your Highness, it's okay. I don't want people to accuse her again," Jack's way of speaking caught Atticus's attention, and as he squinted at him, Jack continued to explain, "Your brother-in-law used to visit here to meet her father, but obviously he was too wealthy to be accused of anything. Poor Cynthia received all the blame, even when no one had concrete evidence against her." Jack didn't turn towards Atticus because he was ensuring he didn't spill the drink on me, but his words touched me deeply.Did he genuinely believe I was innocent? Had he changed this much?"Okay! N
Cynthia Dion:"What is going on here?" Mara stepped forward, demanding an explanation even though she had overheard everything. She left the door wide open, ensuring that anyone who hadn't heard the neighbor's slurs could now listen in. I stayed silent and let Atticus handle the situation with his mate."Ugh!" Atticus grunted, visibly frustrated as he paced back and forth."This is what I've feared from the start. I knew she would gain your sympathy," Mara yelled, tears welling up in her eyes, her lips downturned in disappointment."Why my mate? Didn't you feel satisfied after taking other people's mates? Why mine now?" Mara stormed inside to confront me, her voice filled with anger and despair. I noticed our neighbors peeking in, expressing sympathy for Mara, who was crying profusely.I stood up, my voice quivering with emotion. "I did this to you?" I asked incredulously. "Out of all the people in the world, you should be the last one to question my character, given that you knew how
Cynthia Dion: Just when I thought he'd finally depart, having already stepped out the door, I witnessed him returning, wearing a visibly distressed expression. It didn't take more than a few minutes; he quite literally came back immediately."Why have you come back?" I whispered sharply."I'm not going anywhere," he replied with a harsh tone."Of course he's not going anywhere. You have him in your grip," as Mara started to speak again, Atticus silenced her with a stern glare."Mara! Leave this place immediately," Atticus cautioned her, pointing his finger, urging her departure so that the crazy neighbors could follow suit."Why? I'm not abandoning you with her," she yelled at the top of her lungs, causing the women behind me to turn their attention to us, their faces contorted with disdain."How about you take him and go," I stepped out from behind him and raised my voice at her. Atticus was taken aback by my words, and he turned to look at me in disbelief."No, I'm serious. I'm tir
Cynthia Dion:"Well, if you've finished your daydreaming, could you please go? I need some rest," I raised my eyebrow, keeping a watchful eye on him, signaling for him to let me be, as I had no interest in his games."Give it some thought," he mumbled, trying to draw my attention back to that specific point."Shut the door behind you when you go," I sighed, opting not to engage with him. I can't help but wonder why I used to be so terrified of him. Maybe now that I have a wolf, I'm not as frightened, but back then, everyone appeared like a complete nightmare to me."That's why you're going through all this hardship, because you don't heed your old man," my father grumbled as he exited the room.'At least you've found your voice again,' Thea commended, and soon I drifted off to sleep. I'd formulated some ideas before dozing off, and a big part of them revolved around locating my sister's whereabouts.Maybe she'll attempt to get in touch with me once she realizes I've returned home?I w
Cynthia Dion:"He informed him about Cynthia getting into some trouble. He didn't mention any names because I swiftly grabbed the phone from his hands at the right moment. However, that's not important because the moment he arrives, she will spill the beans," he added as he noticed the others exhale a sigh of relief. They were back to feeling anxious again."Wait! That's only feasible if he manages to meet her in one piece. If she ends up as a crisp, he won't ever hear a peep from her against us," Just as sinister as his daughter, Mr. York suggested the idea of burning me alive."What about us?" Jack's father whispered in his ear, wearing a mournful expression because they didn't get to harm me. What a despicable individual."It's a matter of our survival or some twisted amusement," Mr. York whispered back, as if he thought no one else could hear him. "I mean, we don't have the luxury of indulging in too much punishment. We need to make the most of what time we have left and dispose o
Cynthia Dion:It’s been two years since that unfortunate event happened.Maleeka couldn’t accept that she could no longer force Zeon to be with her.Atticus finally cleaned Eva’s grave, cleared her name, and even buried Zeon next to her. We also renamed the specific block in school to be Eva.I do think that day when I was cleaning in that block, it was Eva’s disturbed soul still wandering around.Maleeka was in the mental asylum, showing no signs of improvement. Atticus made it very clear that even if Maleeka gets better, she will be severely punished.However, things have changed in our relationship as well.We were not only two, in fact, we have welcomed a cute baby girl into our lives after a few months of that whole sad incident.We named her Flora."Flora! Stop running around," I rolled my eyes at her as she ran into Niles, Rosalie, and Enzo’s son.We have gathered around my father’s pack that I’ve recovered to celebrate my pregnancy news with my people."So, how did it go?" Att
Cynthia’s POV:As he finished telling us why he did all that, our faces changed colors. My eyes were teary, and the counsellors looked guilty, too.Maleeka had been breaking down after her dirty criminal history was displayed to everyone.I didn’t even know what to say anymore. The story of Eva and the horrible life she had because of the mean and selfish people around her was so bad.The fact that my mother didn’t even help her out and let the poor victim take a fall broke my heart.I know she was thinking she was doing it for me and Flora, but to push someone else’s daughter into such a shitty situation just for the sake of your daughters is not an excuse.Not to mention, I wonder if what Flora and I went through our entire lives was our mother’s karma, and maybe Eva’s broken heart cries are shadowing our happiness."Zeon!" Since Atticus couldn’t even say a word, I whispered in tears, "I understand your pain and Eva’s suffering, but hurting others wouldn’t bring her back. You can le
Author’s POV:Years Ago:It’s been a month since Eva passed away on the school grounds, and Zeon killed those rogues. Rowdy was the only one that survived, but he went into a coma after that night.Zeon had no clue what to do because it seemed like everybody was more focused on the ones that got killed than on Eva."She was innocent," he yelled at the counselors, who shook their heads at him."We will call our first witness here, who will explain to us how Eva had been clawing at the other boys and meeting them in the library." The elder of the counselor spoke as he pointed at the door. All eyes turned to the door, waiting for this so-called character witness.Zeon didn’t have a very good feeling about it. It seemed like something bad was about to happen. Why did they even need to have an investigation?A she-wolf got gang raped and killed. Why were they investigating her? It was beyond his mind, and he was just plain hurt and lost. There was nobody on his side. He was suffering and w
Author’s POV:Years Ago:After that day, Zeon and Jacque were escorted out and even got detention. Days turned into weeks, and weeks into months. Nothing happened to Maleeka; the guards were even assigned to her to stop Zeon from coming after her.She would go to school every day and watch Zeon and Eva together. She was not at all satisfied with what she had done; in fact, if Eva were still alive, she would consider herself a failure.Although she was surprised to hear Eva get pregnant again, And this time, she couldn’t even get near her because all the eyes would be on her."This is the girl," she had asked for some rogue criminals to meet her after school."She is beautiful," there were five rogue young boys, probably 19, the same age as them."She will be alone in the school today, doing some assignments in the library. You can enter the school and get your hands on her. Listen, her mate will be there, but you can take him out with wolfbane. Remember, you are not supposed to hurt h
Author’s POV:Years Ago:"What do you mean by she stole your mate? Zeon is her mate. That’s what everybody knows." Mrs. Dion, who thought of Maleeka as this innocent and sweet little girl, was ready to accept any lie she was going to tell her."She was the second chance, mate. Zeon accepted me two years ago. We used to be together; we were never separated, and then i--- then I got pregnant with him, but during that time, she joined school. She caused my abortion. I know it is not an excuse to do the same to someone else, but think of it as your own daughter. You have a little daughter that you gave birth to with so much difficulty. Can you imagine anyone hurting her? Just imagine what I have been through." She sniffled as she shed crocodile tears. She was sneaking glances at Mrs. Dion, too.She wanted to get out of this mess by any means."I am so sorry that happened to you, but I still have to tell the counsel about the video. You can rest your case before them. If you are innocent,
Author’s POV:Years Ago:"How the hell did it happen?" Ever since Zeon got informed about Eva’s accident at school, he has been wandering in the school’s hallway and crying.Jacque and Bonnie had been sticking with him and feeling worried about him.He was in disbelief that such a horrible thing happened to Eva on the school’s grounds."There is no way she just fell off the stairs," he shook his head, not ready to believe what the school staff has been telling him."I understand your concern, but getting all stressed out won’t do anybody any favors," Jacque stepped forward to comfort Zeon, who was going crazy worrying about Eva.Bonnie and Jacque were worried for their friend and Zeon; they had never seen him so stressed out. On the other hand, Maleeka had returned home but was a little panicky. She has hurt Eva before, but this time she was directly involved.It just made her feel a little stressed. What if somebody saw her? It happened in a school, so there was a huge possibility so
Author’s POV:Years Ago:Eva was hanging out with Maleeka a lot after that day. She told Zeon that Maleeka apologized and promised to act well around her. Although he didn’t believe Maleeka, he couldn’t force Eva into deciding who to hang out with and who to ignore.He was just too concerned because Eva was too pure in her heart. One day, when Zeon was sent to the councillors for some pack-related stuff since he was supposed to be the royal beta of the pack in the future, Maleeka visited Eva.She knew Eva would be alone at home, so she didn’t want to miss this opportunity to mess things up for her. She has heard from Eva’s friend that Eva was pregnant, and it has enraged Maleeka.She was glad she heard her friends talking because she was ready to do any dirty job in order to stop Eva from giving Zeon an heir."I am so happy," Eva was pleased, clapping hands every two minutes and imaging having a child with Zeon."You two got married, too. I am surprised you hid it from me," Maleeka wa
Author's POVYears Ago:Zeon’s confession of love to Eva has left everyone in shock. Prior to this day, everybody assumed Zeon was going to accept Maleeka, but it all changed. Zeon didn’t hesitate to send back everything Maleeka had bought him in order to keep him to herself. He had cut ties with Maleeka entirely and had Eva move in. He was back in his old home, but because Eva was happy there, he didn’t feel any difference. In fact, he liked it more that way.One day, when Eva had fallen asleep, Maleeka kept blowing up his number. It had been months since Zeon and Eva had moved in together. He had been taking care of her in school to make sure nobody bullied her. He knew the instant he left her alone, Maleeka would approach her to say something."Talk to her; give her closure," Eva finally raised her face and told Zeon to speak to Maleeka."I have many times. She is not ready to understand anything," Zeon got up from behind Eva as he unwrapped his arms from around her and picked up t
Author's POV:Years Ago:"What did you say?" Zeon expressed, shocked when hearing her concern.Did she really think he was capable of killing her? Did she really think of him as an animal enough to kill someone?It surprised and unsettled him at the same time."Are you going to do something bad to me?" she proceeded to ask him while tears ran down her cheeks.That moment was the moment of realization for him.He never intended to hurt her. He was just making sure she didn’t leave until he told her what he felt."No! No! EVA NO!" He yelled in desperation, "Before even laying a finger on you, I’d end my life," he rested his hands on the tree and brought his face closer to hers."I didn’t bring you here to hurt you. I brought you here to let you know how much I’m hurting," As his tone softened and his eyes were filled with mist, she realized he was suffering and had used the wrong way to express his emotions."I’m sorry that I did that. I shouldn’t have stolen the chance of making a deci