Page 26 of Forever Mine

“Do you? Do you really? Because this is not what's best for me, Madelyn.” His voice was full of pain and despair and I could feel his resolve strengthening. He wasn't going to let me go without a fight.

I was grateful there was not a single other person around to witness.

“You're going to have to accept my decision, because it is final. And I would really appreciate it if you wouldn't share my whereabouts or even that I'm still alive with anyone. I need you to forget you ever saw me.”

He snorted in retort. “That will never happen, and you know it. You only get one true mate, Maddie.”

“My name is Jane. Jane Winthrop. I can't be the girl you remembered. She's dead, Liam.”

“No, you're not, Maddie. You're right here. I'm right here.”

I didn't know what was happening until it was too late. His mouth descended on mine with a wild desperation. Every part of me screamed to respond in kind and I tried not to, but it was so hard. I should have been panicked. I should have been quivering in fear at such dominance over me, but I wasn't panicked and I wasn't afraid—but I was enjoying it far too much.

I pulled back, breathless, trying to fortify the wall I'd attempted to erect between us.

“Please, just tell me why.”

That was it, I couldn't take it anymore. I sat down hard on the ground just off the path and lay back into the grass. “I don't know how to make you understand without telling you things I've never told anyone.”

“I'm your mate, Mad, there're no secrets between us.”

I looked back into his hopeful eyes. It hurt me to see the hope there, knowing we could never be.

“Start from the beginning. Eight years ago, you went to a concert with a friend. She lost you in the crowd and no one ever saw or heard a thing about you since. What happened at that concert?”

I knew fear radiated from me. Joining me on the ground, he lay next to me and wrapped his arms around me, pulling me to him. He lay on his back while I found myself using his chest as a pillow. He stroked my back softly, begging me to answer. The positive of this position was that I didn't have to look at him.

I closed my eyes and began. “Jordan didn't lose me in the crowd that night. We'd met some college guys who were hitting on us. Us. Two sophomores in high school and six hot college guys. They were drinking, and offered us some. Jordan wouldn't take it, but I did. She got upset with me for drinking, and left. The guys said they had a suite we could hang in, so we did. It didn't take long for things to change once they had me alone in the room.”

I stopped talking. I couldn't tell him what they'd done to me. I didn't want to admit to him of all people how they'd ruined me, and how I'd likely never have another child because of it.

“Go on,” he said, and I felt a surge of power crawl over me. I shivered at the sensation. It was Alpha power, but I didn't think Liam was an Alpha, so I wasn't sure how he was doing it, yet it was like I was compelled to respond.

“They hurt me. Please don't ask me to go into details. I have to relive enough of it every time I close my eyes. I don't want to talk about it. Just know that they did really bad things, Liam. I was drugged, unable to move or fight back, but coherent enough to remember it all, until I finally blacked out. According to reports it was several days later before I awoke, beaten and bruised, with several broken bones. I told them I didn't remember anything, but I did. I still do, every second of it all.” I paused and let that sink in. His body was drawn tight and his heartbeat erratic. He was furious for what I'd been through. I knew it without asking or even seeing his face. “I found out a few months later I was pregnant with Oscar. I'll never even know which one of them fathered him.”

He took a deep breath, and through gritted teeth said, “Go on.”

Tears fell from my eyes and I shook my head.

“Maddie, go on, I need to hear it all.”

“Why? ?Cause being gang-raped by six men isn't enough? I've never confessed that to anyone and all you have to say is 'go on.”

“Go on,” he said again, as he released more Alpha power over me.

“They killed her. Is that want you want to hear? I can't be your mate because I don't have a wolf, Liam. She died, eight years ago, and so did Madelyn Collier.” I had never said it aloud before and it nearly broke me. I sobbed loudly before the hysterics set in. I lay there crying once again in his arms until no more tears would come.

He didn't talk, not one single word. He just held me, and despite all the horrors I'd faced and shared, in that moment I felt loved and cherished.

Liam

Chapter 11

Nothing she could have said could have shocked me more. What was she talking about? My wolf responded to her. She responded to me. On some level, I felt her wolf. Didn’t I? I was starting to second-guess everything.

“What do you mean you have no wolf? That’s not possible.” I could see how upset she was, but I had to know, so I pressed her to answer.

“There were signs she was going to emerge early. I could feel her, then it-it all happened, and when I woke up I was alone. All alone, Liam. She was gone. I don’t know how else to explain it. I’m twenty-four years old and I’ve never shifted. I don’t have a wolf.”

---