Page 67 of Claimed By the Alpha

Takingashakybreathas Joanne stepped into the light with the same man who guided me here. She looked defeated, sad even. This fire inside her eyes had dimmed, and my body itched with this need to run toward her. To show myself, but I had one last thing to do first.

“Finlay, what are you waiting for?” Joanne asked as she stomped past him. So, Finlay was his name. He glared my way, but when Joanne huffed again, he turned to follow her.

She didn’t sense my presence, seeing the pull between us had dimmed and it pained me that I remained rooted on the spot.

“Isaac,” the same voice that spoke to Joanne flowed toward me, and my eyes snapped up.

Celine. Joanne was talking to Celine.

“What did you mean by that? Will I kill her?” Slowly, I revealed myself and stood before her. Now without her tricks, the ones she played in my mind when I was dead. Now we faced each other in our true forms, and I was waiting for that hue or that power gushing from her, but it didn’t come.

“I am only trying to fix it,” she sighed and turned to see Joanne fading in the distance.

“Show me. Show me what I am missing,” I urged, needing all the answers.

“I can. I can open some doors to your past lives.”

My brows knitted, but I wouldn’t let her words confuse me. I only wanted to know the truth. I needed to know what I could do to stop everything. To save Joanne, even if it was from myself.

Tears brimmed in Celine’s eyes as she edged closer. Her hair moved with the wind as she reached up, her cold hands cupped my face, and I leaned closer.

“I’m so sorry, my son.”

I flinched back at the sound of her words, her grip tightened, leaving me no escape.

How she could be my mother was beyond me. The woman I wanted and yearned for when I was a kid was now in front of me. And how could she be the moon goddess?

The world around me blurred until a bright light followed. Images I had never seen before, memories I hadn’t experienced flowed inside me. Pouring their knowledge and feelings. Pushing away all I knew and felt in my life to be replaced by my past.

“We shouldn’t be doing this. You are my brother’s mate.” My voice called in the distance, pulling me closer until I heard her.

“But I don’t love him, Isaac. I never did. He was forced upon me. I only want to be with you. Please don’t push me away.” Flashes of Joanne’s pleading gaze filled me. Watching as tears rolled down her cheeks, and with a slight tilt of her head, I noticed the bruises behind her ear.

I reached, but nothing happened, reminding me this had already occurred and was only a memory of another me.

“We could run away, just you and me. They say there is another place.” Her words were laced with this tiny bit of hope, and all I wanted was to wrap her up in my arms and never let her go. But sadly, my voice said something else.

“Joanne, we can’t. That isn’t a world for wolves like us.”

Pain flickered in his eyes, and she inched back. “Then we stay here, but I want you beside me. Not him, the ideas he has for this place.” She shivered; repulsion radiated off her.

“My mother won’t let you reject her first son, Joanne. Please, try to be happy,” I pleaded, hoping it would help her somehow. I was naïve back then; that was what I learned from this. Because how else could I explain my own blindness?

How did I not see the fear in her beautiful hazel eyes, the bruises that were covered by her long brown locks? How could I have sent her back to whoever was her mate, who was my brother.

The scene before me faded, and another took its place. Blood coated my hands, dripping down the marble floors. My breath came out in short pants, my body trembling as I slowly peered up.

“What have I done?” I fell to my knees. William’s body lay lifeless next to me, his heartbeat almost nonexistent.

Small warm hands grabbed mine, and I looked back. Joanne’s smile reassured me, and then I saw it.

The black eye, the cut on her arm, and the tiny baby bump. He was her mate, the one hurting her. Meaning he was my brother.

“I didn’t want you to see this. I know he is your brother.” She felt bad that I had to see the bruises my brother’s touch had brought her, but it only flickered this rage inside me and this shame. Shame that I couldn’t protect her.

Guards stormed inside, and the voices around me faded until the scene followed. The images that came next were a whirlwind.

Joanne and I lived happily together, me sitting on the throne with her beside me, ruling in peace over the Lunar Realm.

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