Page 55 of Alpha's Hated Mate

“Check on the others.” Chad’s commanding the rest of the security team, and I’m only vaguely aware of everything else that’s happening around me.

“Saffron?” Yarra rushes up to us. “Are you two all right?”

“Yes” is all I can say. It’s all I need to say. Aydan’s hand squeezes mine. Then he releases it, and his arm moves around my shoulder as he pulls me into his warmth.

Chapter Twenty-Three—Aydan

Aweek passes in a blur of meetings with the academy board as it conducts investigations surrounding Nadia’s actions. The faculty treats me with a strange mix of suspicion and gratitude. My sister remains under guard in a special holding facility on campus—monitored around the clock. Mother came to visit her and said the healers and mages must complete mental and medical evaluations before deciding if—and under what conditions—she can bring Nadia back to Claymore.

I haven’t visited her. I can’t bring myself to see her face. Not yet.

Part of me feels guilty for betraying my own sister, but I know it was the right thing to do.How much blood stains the Vaultmore name?My father experimented on Scarlet wolves. My sister continued his twisted legacy. And me—completely oblivious while it all happened.

The whispers follow me through the halls of Moonhelm. Students part like water as I pass, their eyes darting away from mine.

“That’s the Alpha who took down his own sister.”

“I heard she turned into some kind of monster.”

“His dad was doing experiments on Scarlets for years.”

“But isn’t his girlfriend a Scarlet too?”

I keep my shoulders squared, my chin up. A Vaultmore never shows weakness in public. But something has shifted inside me. The pride I once felt in my name now sits like poison in my veins.

In the cafeteria, I load up my tray with breakfast and spot Saffron sitting with Yarra and Chad across the room. Saffron’s red hair catches the light, and for a moment, everything else fades away. She meets my eyes and gives me a small smile.

“Morning,” I say, setting down my tray and taking a seat next to Saffron.

Her hand finds mine under the table—her touch grounding me. “Sleep any better?”

“Not really.” I squeeze her fingers.

We’re supposed to sleep in separate dorms, and sometimes we actually do, but she knows about my insomnia. Whenever I shut my eyes, I only see two things—my father killing Saffron’s mother and Nadia naked and wounded on the forest floor.The villain and victim of her own insanity.

“How about you?” I ask.

“Better,” she replies. “No more visions or sleepwalking . . . but I can’t stop thinking that once the Alpha King finds out I’m Raphael’s daughter, he may come for my head.”

“He won’t!” Yarra says. “You haven’t done anything wrong.”

“If anything,” Chad chimes in, “you stopped the person who tried to assassinate the Luna Queen.”

Yarra tilts her head, studying Saffron. “I can’t get over that you’re a princess, Saffron.”

“Oh, Goddess,” she says. “Don’t say that! I’m the worst fucking princess ever.”

We laugh. It’s good to laugh.

I look around the cafeteria, at the faces watching us—some curious, some hostile, some hopeful.

A few tables away, I notice a group of wolves sitting with several Scarlets—something unheard of before last week. The day after the “incident in the woods,” Dean Fowler called an assembly and hailed Saffron, the Scarlets, and me as heroes. Not sure if most of the student body believes that, but the lines are blurring, cliques are starting to crack. The old hierarchies won’t hold any longer.

A loud knocking on my dorm door interrupts my thoughts as I am about to head out for my two o’clock class. When I open it, Dean Fowler stands there with an envelope bearing the ornate wax seal of the Vaultmore pack.

“This just arrived via courier, Mr. Vaultmore.” His expression is carefully neutral. “Given recent events, I wanted to deliver it personally. Do let me know if there is anything we need to be concerned about.”

I take the envelope, feeling the weight of the thick parchment. “Thank you, Dean.”

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