Page 83 of The Alpha's Cursed Queen

“I know, but this is different,” Mary explains patiently. “Most shifters can be a little promiscuous before they come of age. Not everyone, but a lot of our kind. The instinct to find a mate is very strong after you come of age. That’s when shifters slow down. Even if they do sleep around, they don’t choose the same partner more than twice. Otherwise, their wolf wants to mark them. It’s all very complicated. But the point is, Willow hasn’t been knocked up, and Darian doesn’t even touch her in public. I don’t think he’s lying to you. Not only has he not mated her, he’s never even touched her. He’s been living like a monk all these years.”

My anxiety is growing worse. “What if you’re wrong?”

I hear the scoffing sound from the other end of the line. “I’m a senior healer, Alice. I’m not often wrong about these things. What I want to know is why he chose Willow when he never wanted to sleep with her? What kind of life is that?”

I can smell the blood coming from my palm where the shards of glass are now piercing my skin. “Mary—”

“What did he say to you, Alice?”

“He said everything he did was to protect me. But he was lying. He was lying, wasn’t he? How was doing what he did to me protecting me? He tortured me, Mary! He let the witches torture me! I still—” My voice grows thick with emotion. “There are times when I wake up in the night, still caught in that nightmare. I haven’t forgotten anything from that day—how it felt, where it hurt, nothing! I remember begging him, and I remember Willow kicking me in the face. He let it all happen. You can’t justify what he did to me just by telling me he hasn’t slept with her for seven years!”

“Alice! Alice, I’m not,” Mary says gently. “I’m not justifying anything. I’m not saying anything. You are.”

Shaking, I let the remainder of the paperweight slip from my hand to the floor. The shards scatter everywhere, but I pay no attention. My face is wet with tears, and I wipe them fiercely with the back of my hand. “I hate him. I hate him so much, Mary.”

She sighs. “Are you trying to convince me or yourself?”

I stare at the pieces of glass sticking out of my hand. Deliberately, I pull them out, one by one. “He was acting strange. It doesn’t matter what he said. I don’t care what his reason was for putting me through it all. I didn’t deserve that. I didn’t deserve any of it.”

“You’re right.” She pauses before asking, “Was there anything else? Anything he said that stood out to you?”

“Something about making a deal with the devil if it meant saving me. He was so full of it.”

Once again, there is silence from Mary’s end.

I scowl. “I can hear you overthinking.”

“I love you, Alice, but one of us has to look at the situation from a level-headed perspective. I want to know what he meant by making a deal with the devil.”

“I don’t really care, Mary. I just want him to go away. He has disrupted my life enough. If he wants to be a monk, let him go and be a monk. I don’t want to know his reasons for doing what he did to me. Because whatever he tells me, I’m not going to believe it. I’m not going to be a gullible fool again only for him to stab me in the back. I have Mira to think of now.”

“I understand that, Alice. I’m not telling you to do anything. Has he said anything about Mira?”

I sigh in relief. “He thinks she’s my daughter from my human husband. As long as the two of them don’t meet, he will never find out the truth. You’re flying in next week, and you’ll bring something to suppress her scent, won’t you?”

“Don’t worry. I have everything arranged. It’ll be alright, Alice. This was the first time you were alone with him, and the confrontation didn’t go as badly as I’d imagined. I don’t think you have to worry about running away anymore. Darian doesn’t seem to be interested in ruining your life like you initially thought.”

I have to agree with her. However, that doesn’t mean I won’t be careful.

Once we end the call, I ask Holly to get me some lunch from the deli nearby. However, the sandwich doesn’t taste as good as I remember. It seems bland. Maybe it’s me, though. My heart isn’t in it.

I don’t know how to deal with this situation. By letting go of this opportunity to work on Katherine’s collaboration with Darian, I jeopardized my position as a potential partner of this law firm. But nothing comes before protecting Mira.

I lean back in my chair, setting the sandwich down on my desk. A deal with the devil? Who was he talking about? What deal?

No scenario that I can imagine would justify Darian’s actions. He abandoned me, had the white witches torture me, and lied to them that I was a dark witch when I wasn’t. And then he announced his engagement to Willow. It’s like he was looking for every opportunity to hurt me. And he succeeded.

My office phone rings, and when I pick it up, Holly says, “It’s Miss Lockhart. Should I put her through?”

It’s been a week since I talked to Katherine. My head has been such a mess that I haven’t been able to figure out what to say to her.

When Katherine comes on the line, she sounds distressed. “I need to talk to you, Alice.”

I close my eyes. “You are talking to me. What’s going on?”

“Darian Kassel came around this morning,” she begins, and I immediately go still.

“What did he want?”

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