ANDREI's POVHow are you going to explain this, Elder Flinn?" I asked him. His eyes went wide as he looked at the phone in my hand, with genuine shock."Your Highness...I don't...I don't know where that came from! It's not mine!" I said."Is this how you communicate with the mole?" Abel asked coldly."No, no, Your Highness! Of course not! I have never betrayed this pack in my entire life before! I have always been loyal to you! I am not communicating with outsiders!" He told me.I looked at him coldly. "So how do you explain this mobile phone? There's only one phone number in it!" I said. "Someone must be trying to frame me, Your Highness! The only thing I did was cheat the citizens! All I did was take more than was necessary on taxes! I did not betray the pack!" I said. "I think that you're only saying this to lower your punishment! Who could have gotten into your house to frame you? And it was in the same place you hid the appeal letters from everyone!" Abel said to him."I don'
ANYA'S POVThe five of us were left alone in the meeting room. Andrei had a worried look on his face. "What do you think, Abel? Who do you think is guilty? Elder Flinn or Elder Timothy?" Andrei asked. Abel had a conflicted look on his face. "I have no idea. We found a phone with Elder Flinn, but I don't think that's enough to pin him as the culprit. It could be someone else. Or even Elder Timothy. I know he has been stealing from the pack, but what if the outsider he was contacting also paid him in cash?" Abel asked. Andrei nodded his head. "You are right. But Elder Flinn is the most suspicious one here," He said. "Also, I think Elder Flinn and Elder Timothy are not the only suspects here. When you announced that a search was going on, Elder Harris's gaze was very suspicious. And he looked scared and guilty all through the meeting. I suspect that he may be the mole. The guards found nothing in his room, but this doesn't mean he's not a suspect! Abel said.I gasped at this. I hadn'
ANYA'S POV"I said she's not leaving! She's going to stay here! Anya is my mate, and I can't let my mate stay with some other man!" Andrei yelled. The look on Kern and Abel's faces was priceless, and even though I knew we were mates, I was just as shocked. I was speechless. I never thought he'd say something like this...he never wanted me as his mate.What is going on with him? "What ...what did you say? She's your mate?" Abel asked as he looked between the both of us. "Yes. Anya is my mate. So she's not going anywhere. She's safe here!" Andrei said. He stormed out as soon as he said this, leaving me alone with the questioning gazes of Abel and Kern..."Anya....what is going on? Why didn't you tell us that he's your mate?" Kern asked."Yes. You had many opportunities to tell us about this, so why didn't you say anything about it?" Abel echoed. He looked outraged. I took one look at his face, and I looked away almost immediately. I could not bring myself to face him. "I....""Wh
ANYA'S POV"Why don't you people think from my perspective?! You keep blaming me for this, but why don't you think about why I kept quiet?" I yelled. "Anya...." Abel took a step towards me and tried to take my hand in his, but I took a step away from him.Tears had gathered in my eyes by now. "All of you keep blaming me. Have you ever thought that maybe I didn't know I could do all this?! Do you think that I liked the way he treated me and the way he degraded me? Of course, I don't like it! But I felt like I didn't have a choice then! I had to do it, or else I will only have myself to blame! I just....you don't understand at all!" I yelled out. I felt stupid and used. How foolish could I be?! I could have done something to make Andrei stop since I was his mate, but I did nothing! "Anya...we don't mean to blame you! We just...." Kern tried to touch me, but I moved away from him, too. "You just don't understand!" I said. I turned and ran out of the room. "Anya! Wait! " I heard Ker
ABEL'S POV I paced up and down in my room, really angry. All that I could think about was what Andrei had done to Anya. What right does he have to treat her like he treated her? I knew he had had to deal with the brunt of our parent's death, and he had to grow up at a young age to take over the pack, but that doesn't excuse how he treated her. He should have been kind to her...she is his mate, after all! But he treated her as if he could not stand the thought of her! He was just so mean to her. He treated her like a toy to play with whenever he was mad! I thought about Anya's attitude when we confronted her about why she let Andrei treat her like that. It was clear from the look on her face that she felt helpless and that there was nothing she could do to stop the situation. I felt sorry for her. How horrible was it for her that she felt as if there was no one she could talk to and there was nothing she could do about how Andrei treated her? Andrei had such a good mate, yet he
ANYA'S POVI looked at Abel blankly, wondering what he wanted to tell me. The words they said to me and how much of an idiot I was kept ringing in my head. I could have done something...I could have stopped Andrei from treating me like he did, but I just let it happen. "I just wanted to apologise for the way I talked to you. I could have done better!" Abel said to me. I was genuinely shocked to hear this. I never thought that he'd apologise to me. "What?" I asked him. "I said that I am sorry. I should have been nicer...I was just angry. You've been going through so much from Andrei, even when he is your mate...I got mad," he said to me. I shook my head. "I have thought about it, and I was foolish too. I could have done something, yet I....j just let it happen," I said."No, you didn't just let it happen. You did not have a choice. I understand that you must have felt helpless... like there was no one you could count on," He said. I was shocked that he considered apologising,
ANYA'S POVAbel scoffed at this. "Who knows if Anya will become the Queen? She may be his mate, but he doesn't want her. She can always reject him!" Abel said.Andrei glared at Abel when he said this. For a second, I thought he would counter what Abel said. But then he just changed the topic."If you guys are not ready to train today, just tell me so I can leave. I have other things that I want to take care of. I don't have all day to spend arguing with you," Andrei said.Of course, it wasn't as if I was expecting him to say anything good about me. Anyway, I don't care. I will be gone from here very soon, and I won't have to listen to him or watch him display his disgust for him every second. Kern cleared his throat; forever the peacemaker, he tried to smooth out our tensions. "Let's not talk about who will become the Queen now. We should focus on Anya's training and ensure she becomes strong enough to defend herself if anything happens!" Kern said. "Talking about being strong enou
ANYA'S POVI was in my room thinking about all of the things that I was going to do once I got my freedom in the next three days. The first thing I would do was get as far as possible from this pack. I won't make the mistake of staying anywhere close. I will have to disguise my appearance for a while. Andrei is going to try to find me if I am gone, and I don't want him to find me. My life will be much worse if he does bring me back. He won't try to find me because he cares about me but because he doesn't want his pride to be hurt. I was still thinking about all of these when someone knocked on my door. I looked up at the time. It was almost time for dinner. I walked over to the door and opened it. Kern was standing outside my room. He smiled at me. That sweet smile that I was going to miss. I hope that Kern will live a happy life after I am gone. He is a lovely person, and he deserves everything good in his life. "It's time for dinner, Anya. I was asked to come call you!" He s