Page 134 of The Alpha's Protective Mate

“Your father and sister decided the jig was up, and that’s why Arabella took it upon herself to try to kill you.”

“I was—” Arabella can hardly speak, she’s crying so hard. “I was only going to scar your face. Father told me I had to! I had no other choice!”

“Shut up!” Terrence roars. “Don’t pity her, Charlotte! How can you pity someone who was so cruel to you—”

“I did everything you told me to do, Terrence!” Arabella suddenly screams, clutching my dress as if frightened I’m going to abandon her.

A terrifying flash of rage crosses Terrence’s face. “Do you think lying to Charlotte is going to save you? You and your father stabbed me in the back! You—”

“What do you mean, everything he told you to do?” I ask Arabella, my heart pounding.

“Everything!” Tears stream down her face. “He told me and Clyde to hurt you so that he could rescue you! Clyde enjoyed it, but I didn’t! But he said I was special, and Father said I had to listen to what Terrence said!”

“Shut up!” Terrence roars, but when he moves toward her, I block his path, a sick feeling forming in my stomach. My phone vibrates again, and my eyes lower to it just long enough to read the message Ricky has sent me.

The macaroons had poison in them. Call me now.

The macaroons?

For a moment, I’m confused, not knowing what he’s talking about. But when I lift my gaze to meet Terrence’s, he looks unhinged, and I remember.

“The macaroons,” I murmur, my head spinning. “You gave me those macaroons.”

“So?” Terrence frowns.

Robert told me about the poison that had taken my abilities away. Of course, Ricky knows about it, too; Robert said the vet had been the one to discover the poison in the blood I threw up. There’s been a lot going on lately, so I haven’t had the time to think about everything properly, but Ricky’s message is dragging me down memory lane.

“You always used to give me food to eat,” I say numbly, staring at the man who proclaims to love me. “I lost my abilities after I met you. You poisoned me.”

Terrence’s jaw tightens. “That’s nonsense. Who is filling your head with—”

“That day at the coffee shop,” I cut him off, my brain beginning to put the pieces together. “I vomited because you put something in my coffee, didn’t you? You didn’t know that Robert had been feeding me his blood. You never would have thought that a wolf Alpha would do that. That’s why I threw it up, along with all the leftover poison in my system. And the macaroons. You brought the macaroons because you remembered I used to like them. You put poison in them, too. You wanted me to lose my abilities. Even when I was a child. Why?”

My heart is aching because I genuinely believed that Terrence and I could form a path of friendship, when all he was trying to do was poison me. But for what possible reason?

“I was a child,” I whisper, my ears burning with a painful emotion. “I wasn’t a threat to you or anyone else.” I look down at my trembling sister. “Arabella isn’t lying, is she? She’s finally telling the truth. She did all those horrible things to me because Father told her to listen to you. As simple as that. After all, who could defy our father?” Meeting Terrence’s gaze, I see the utter lack of remorse, and I wet my lips. “So why did you do it?”

The betrayal hurts, but not as much as it could have had Terrence managed to convince me to accept him as my mate or had he gotten to me before Robert and I ever met.

“Fine.” Terrence’s eyes sharpen. “No more playing pretend, then. I knew who you were the moment I first laid eyes on you. The reincarnation of Jean Sanguinite. My family was her records keeper. My ancestor was her most trusted advisor. The Sanguinite bloodline retained my family as their advisors over the next centuries. Even when the clan decided to erase the shameful mark Jean left on our clan by mating with an animal, we were duty bound to preserve the truth. We hid it all away, the records, the scrolls, her legacy. It passed from father to son, including the prophecy that spoke of Jean’s rebirth, born from the womb of the weak, the true Queen who would unite a continent under her rule. My father never paid attention to the prophecy, but I found it interesting, and when I met you, I realized it was coming true. Your mother was weak. A powerful healer, but a weak vampire. And you, Charlotte, would have gone on to become powerful, too. I had to intercede.”

He sounds so confident, so cocky.

My phone is vibrating, but I don’t dare look down, knowing he’ll break it if he sees it. Moving my finger, I accept the call without looking at the screen.

“So this is about some wackadoodle prophecy?” I hiss. “You messed up my life because of some stupid writing on a piece of paper?! You didn’t even know that the prophecy was about me or that I was Jean’s reincarnation—”

“I knew!” Terrence spits out the words. “I had Jean’s portraits. I knew what she looked like as a child, as a woman. The prophecy was that you would reunite with the animal Jean kept by her side. Did you think I was going to let that happen? I had to be the one to stand by your side. I had always been intelligent; I was ahead of every child my age. I had to be the one to rule this continent, the clans. It was my destiny! So, I knew I had to isolate you from the clan. I had to make you lean on me, trust me. I was going to become your whole world. You would be weak and helpless, and I would be the one to protect you, to guide you. And once the time was right, I would show the prophecy to everyone, a version of it. With the prophecy and your portrait as proof, the clans would submit to you. And I would rule them all. I was going to wipe out those filthy, infested animals, or keep them at our feet, where they belong!” Spittle is flying from his mouth. “But these idiots ruined everything! The drugs started to work, and I had wrapped things up in Tallinn. It was time for Beruth to honor his word. Instead, he brought her to stand before me! Your father wanted this bitch as my mate! He thought he could control me if Arabella were mated to me! All my years of work, undone. He’d hidden my letters to you and let this crazy creature think I wanted her! As if I could desire something so mundane! She’s got nothing to offer aside from her looks, and even there, she doesn’t compare to the regal queen I chose!”

Arabella is crying now, hysterical sobs, and my whole body is trembling in a combination of horror and rage.

He’s crazy. He’s absolutely fucking nuts.

“You’re the one behind the drugs and the murders,” I snarl. “You killed Robert’s friend!”

“Which one was he?” Terrence looks like he couldn’t care less. “All those animals are the same. I have to say, though, I am disappointed in you, choosing to go down the same path as Jean, getting into bed with a flea-infested mutt, when you could have had me. I have single-handedly destroyed seven wolf packs. I perfected the recipe for a drug that is going to put us on top of the food chain. We will become the apex predator, thanks to me!” He lets out a shuddering breath in an obvious attempt to calm himself down. “Anyway, you’re here now. I’ve made preparations. The clans are arriving as we speak. I will announce the truth, show them the creatures who now serve me, and we will declare you as my mate.”

He steps toward me, his hand coming to cup my face. “You have been making a string of bad decisions, Charlotte. I cannot let you take any more missteps now. You will take the Ersa root after this meeting; it will return you to the way you were. I think that will be better. I’ll take care of everything. You are merely going to be the face of this clan; I will make all the decisions for you. Once that Alpha is dealt wi—”

---