Page 87 of Their Pretty Little Monster

“But you ripped me out of my life, made me leave my mother behind. You were going to give me to my father, even if he could have harmed me.”

Lips thin, he nods, and something dangerous swirls inside me, something angry, vengeful.

“You had no right!” My voice rises, and I’m on my feet, pacing, unable to hold back the anger. My insides are torn between the truth and knowing I can’t exactly ask them to take me back home now. Not with how much I’m changing, with how I won’t fit back in the village. If I was an outcast before, how much would I be after word spreads that a monster returned me?

I’m looking out at the storm, my eyes stinging, a sickening pain deep in my chest.

“Sage,” his voice grows tender, coming right behind me.

I twist and find him there, staring down at me, his brow furrowed, while a flare of violence swirls through me.

He reaches for me, but I step away.

“I can’t, Wolfe. You lied to me. You were about to barter me off to a brutal man for land? Or was the whole plan to use me as a distraction while you attacked him? Was I your entry into the kingdom he banned you from?” I gasp and blink away the tears, hating that I want to cry instead of being strong.

But the frown on his face, the way he swallows hard tells me that was exactly his plan. I was their way to reach my father. Nothing more than a key. Assholes!

“And what about now?” I state. “What’s your new plan?” I’m shaking, arms tight at my sides, and I want to throw something at him. I’m not a violent person, but right now, I’m trembling with anger.

They brought me here, not because Killian picked me as his bride. I was their way in to get to my father.

“I’m so sorry, Sage.” His words are barely a whisper, wavering and carrying on a long exhale. “The blame is on me, my sights so deeply set on giving my Shadowfen a permanent home, on getting revenge on that fucking bastard, that it clouded my judgment.”

“No, it didn’t,” I snap. “You knew exactly what you were doing.” I hold his gaze, and there’s a flare in his jaw.

My whole life, I took all the insults, the pain of being invisible, and that coldness courses through me once more. The past surfaces like a reminder that nothing will ever change for me. It thumps my insides, and I’m close to screaming, to crying at always being the one others toss aside. I’m crumbling on the inside.

Silence pulses inside my chest while Wolfe stares out at the oncoming storm, shadows falling over his expression.

“I was thirteen when the Great Desolation destroyed our kingdom,” he murmurs, drawing my attention. “It was on this day that many Shadowfen perished, that my home came crumbling down. It happened so fucking fast I had no idea that would be the last day of the world I once knew.” He stares out at the lightning show across the ocean in the distance, his posture stiff, hands balled tightly at his sides. “I was running for my life to escape the crumbling castle when I saw them… Bren, your father, arguing with mine.” He pauses, taking sharp inhales.

“What happened?” I ask, caught up in his story.

His top lip curls. “While the world was breaking apart, Bren plunged a blade into my father’s chest.”

I gasp loudly, hugging myself.

“And I still dream of Bren’s last words… Ruined… Kingdom… Change is coming. I will rule.”

“Shit!” The shred of bravery I’d been holding on to falls away as I stare at a man who’s lost everything.

My head hurts.

My heart burns.

He twists to face me, and the slightest touch of his hand on mine leaves me breathless.

“We didn’t expect you to mean anything to us, and I fucking loathe even saying that. I don’t blame you for hating us for it, but I can’t regret the decisions I made. If Killian hadn’t found you and brought you back, we would never have discovered you as our true mate. I would never have experienced the racing pulse of my heart every time I walk into the room with you, the longing that tears me apart, the hunger to have you in my arms, to see you smile.”

“You have no right to say those things while we’re arguing.” I glare up at him, tears rushing down my cheeks. Especially when I’m wondering what they would have done if we weren’t true mates. Then I think of our strong attraction from the beginning, even before the Veil Ritual.

I shake away the thoughts.

Wolfe wears a thin grin, but his eyes are drowning.

I suck in a strangled breath, my inhales coming too fast, yet I’m melting on the inside at his words.

He steps closer, and I pull away, shuddering in my shoes.

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