Page 16 of Wicked Fate

“You believed you could beat Fate to the finish line?” Sun asked and shivered.

Glancing at the wooden floor, Cassi’s face scrunched. “I just wanted to give back to the Blackwood—”

“No,” Reid interjected, his chest heaving and his face straining from what had to be pain. “Even though I would be proud to lead the wolf shifters, I would nevereverbe willing to give up Sun for that. Having her by my side is the most important thing to me.”

“But if you didn’t know she existed, and you completed the bond with Ember, you would never have known, and you’d feel differently.” Cassi clasped her hands together. “You’d have a woman you loved and the throne.”

Ryker snarled, taking my hand and edging in front of me. “Unbelievable.”

“No, what’s unbelievable,” I snapped, my voice trembling with fury, “is that you let me stand on that cliff to be rejected in front ofeveryonethere. You even knew what was going on, and you still tried to push it!”

“I didn’t want it to end like that—”

“Bullshit,” Ryker growled, stepping toward her. “You didn’t care how it ended as long as it served your plan. You used Ember and didn’t even try to intervene and make things right, despite knowing what was going on.”

Reid slammed his palm against the bed and winced. The white cloth on his neck became stained pink and then a deep crimson, proving this conversation was taking too much out of him. “You humiliated her. You humiliated all of us.”

Sun's eyes burned as she stood and came to my other side. For once, her hatred wasn’t directed at me. She pointed at Cassi and said, “You knew I was his fated mate and that we’d finally met, and youstillmessed with our bond?”

Cassi flinched like Sun’s words were claws raking across her skin. “I didn’t mean for any of it to happen this way.”

“But itdidhappen this way.” Ryker’s voice was low, vibrating through my core. “You played Fate with all our lives and caused problems that shouldn’t ever have been there in the first place.”

“I was trying to help—”

“You were trying to control us,” Sun cut in, her voice like steel. “You wanted a perfect story. A leader. A queen. You decided who should be with whom, and to hell with the consequences.”

Behind me, Briar’s breathing picked up, her body humming with restrained emotion.

“You didn’t just lie. You changed the course of our lives.” Gage smacked his lips like he tasted something bad. “Ember’s. Reid’s. Ryker’s. Sun’s. And everyone who counts on them.”

My breath caught. Gage was right. Maybe if the bonding ceremony hadn’t happened, my pack would still be alive and wouldn’t have been targeted by the vampires. And if I hadn’t been influenced during those few weeks between the slaughter of the royals and Ryker’s packs, maybe I would’ve met Ryker earlier, before he’d had that spell cast on himself.

“I thought things would fall into place....” Cassi’s shoulders sagged.

“They fell into place all right.” Xander snorted without any humor.

Kendric muttered, “What the hell is wrong with people?”

Valid question.

In fact, it was more than valid. The question snapped whatever reticence I’d had. “It fell apart.You may believe you understand the impact, but you didn’t experience or even see the repercussions on my side. You’ll never know what it felt like or truly understand what I experienced watching the man I thought was my mate look at me like I wasnothingand telleveryonesomething was wrong with me.”

Ryker’s body shook with rage. Any second, he might unleash his wolf.

Grimacing, Reid placed a hand on his wound. “You were right about one thing, Cassi. Ineverwould’ve wanted a forced bond with someone. Period. Even if the option would’ve placed me on a throne.”

Sun ran back to his side and tried to get him to lie back down, but he refused.

“A throne I didn’t want, on top of that,” I said, my voice caught between a growl and a human tone. My wolf inched forward, just as angry as me, hating this witch for all the damage she’d caused. Especially me holding back from Ryker, believing it wasn’t possible that the connection we had could truly mean what it did.

“This is why I asked you to come here, Ember.” Reid’s face paled even more, but his eyes glistened. “I’m sorry for how I treated you that night. I couldn’t explain it then, but the connection with you... it started to feelwrong.Like my instincts were trying to break free, and every time I tried to push past it, my wolf became more agitated. I wanted to go after you to explain, but chaos erupted. I never meant to make you feel shame or anger, or to embarrass you.”

A lump formed in my throat and my eyes burned with tears. All this time, I’d condemned him and his pack when they were just as much victims as I was. “It clearly wasn’t your fault. I’m sorry that I blamed you.” I turned to face Cassi again.

She frowned. “None of this would’ve been a problem if both of your fated mates hadn’t shown up at the ceremony.”

My stomach twisted, nausea crawling up my throat. “You mean... if Fate hadn’t gotten in the way.”

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