The King stands in front of Dad, explaining that he’ll keep Lorcan away from me and have the Moon Goddess break our mate bond as soon as possible.
I sob loudly, heartbreakingly, upon hearing this.
How could they do this?
My father is killing me slowly. Once the mate bond is broken, I’ll no longer be connected to Lorcan. But my heart belongs to him, mate or not, and it’s breaking in my chest.
I don’t care about the stupid mate bond; I just want to be with the man I love.
“I know it doesn’t seem like it now, Gianna,” I turn my face away from the King; the blood rushing to my head makes me dizzy. “But you’ll come to see that. . .”
A-ROOOO-OOO
“What?” My mother gasps and turns her eyes to me. “Lorcan?”I open my mouth to say something, but Gianna slams her fists down on my desk with such force it rattles.“That is not true! Lorcan has never forced himself on me! How dare you call him a rapist?!”Orrin raises an eyebrow at Gianna. She’s disrespecting the King, and that is worthy of the death sentence in his eyes.However, my mate is standing up for me when she shouldn’t. I did not rape Gianna. Yes, I was forceful, and I coerced her, which in the eyes of some equals rape, but had she once told meno, I would have stopped immediately.Gia
“Gianna, are you okay?” Antonio enquires.Gianna snuggles into my chest, and I kiss her head.“It’s okay, baby,” I whisper, and she nods against me.Gianna turns her head to look at her father and nods.“I’m sorry, Dad, I tried to stop her. But you know what Lyra is like when I’m upset.”“Yeah,” He laughs. “I do.”“She just wanted you all to stop attacking my mate.”“I know, sweetheart. It’s okay, I promise.”Gianna apologises to my parents, my siblings, then their partners. Each person smiles and tips their head, letting Gianna know that everything is okay.“Lorc
Mum’s mouth opens and closes like a fish out of water.But I’m not done yet.“When Jenna freed me, when I saw you, standing there in front of me, I hoped you’d be pleased to see me. But you weren’t, were you? You were disgusted and turned away from me.“You cast me out of your house faster than I could blink! Mum may have glamoured Zidiah into believing that I had always been here, along with my siblings. But I wish she’d glamoured you too so that just once I could hear you speak to me the way you do the others.”I’ve waited years to get this stuff off my chest. But I don’t feel any better for it; in fact, I feel worse. Worse because Orrin Dalgaard stands there looking at me as if I were a phantom. He will never regard me as his son; I know that now.
“You have to speak to him, Orrin.”I scrub my hands over my face in frustration.Anja has been on my case all evening, and she’s starting to wear me out. I wanted to leave Silver Paw and go home, but my wife thought otherwise.I argued that I am the Alpha of the Royal Pack, the King of all Alphas. I should be back in Zidiah’s capital, ruling my people.But no, I’m stuck here waiting for Lorcan’s mate’s Luna Ceremony because my wife said so.How old does she think I am?I’m not a child!“Everything he said was right,”I stare out of the bedroom window with my arms folded over my chest.“Orrin, for Goddess sake,
Goddess, the sickening feeling in my stomach, thinking that Lorcan could have gotten Gianna pregnant, wouldn’t go away. It wouldn’t because I knew once the baby was born, I’d see the proof marked on the child’s skull behind their ear.Figure 8 is the mark of rape, no one but a handful of people know how this came to be.Many years ago, my grandfather, a kind man, sought to punish those who would take what did not belong to them. My grandfather had many abilities, even the use of magic, gifted to him by a witch upon his fourteenth birthday.Having found his mate, my grandmother, he realised that she’d been raped mere days before meeting him. She was already pregnant and feared my grandfather wouldn’t want to mate with a pregnant rape victim. She was wrong, and they fell in love quickly.Before the
Rogues!Filthy fucking beasts!Gianna and I had just gotten dressed into the clothes we left at the edge of the forest when the fuckers attacked.I know what they want; they want Gianna because she’s my mate.I am The Bloody Alpha; after all, what better way to get to me than through my mate?Victor, the rogue leader, has been after me since I took over Silver Paw. He hasn’t been seen for a while, and I hoped the fucker was dead. But that was wishful thinking when I knew deep down that he was still out there.I should have been looking for him, and I was, and I still have people out there looking for him. But I also should have known better than to let my guard down.I knew someone out there would come for Gianna should I clai
I press the antiseptic pad to the cut above Lorcan’s eye. I know I don’t need to; it will heal within the next few minutes. But I can’t seem to stop myself.I’m worried because he should have healed already. The fact he hasn’t healed tells me how severe those injuries are.I don’t even want to imagine what would have happened had Lorcan been human.‘He’d be dead; that’s what would have happened.’‘Thank you, Lyra!’I don’t want to hear it, so I cut her off.Seeing Lorcan’s wolf fighting those rogues, seeing the dozens upon dozens of wolves attacking him, something in me snapped. I was so scared that I’d lose him, and I could barely contain myself.Lo
“I killed someone today,” I lay my hand on Lorcan’s neck, feeling his pulse thumping against my fingertips. “But if I had to kill a thousand rogues to protect you, I would.”A smile creeps across Lorcan’s face. “Ditto, little wolf. Are you hurt anywhere? That rogue attacked you, and I doubt you were unscathed.”I shake my head. “It was nothing that isn’t already healed.”Lorcan lifts the shirt I’m wearing, making me laugh as he checks me for wounds. He tells me to turn around so he can check my back, and I laugh again.Once Lorcan is finished checking me over, he covers me with the shirt and pulls me closer between his legs.I wrap my arms around his neck while straddling his waist.I can feel his e