Page 48 of Betrayed Alpha Bride

“Yes… They all died,” Faye says. “I came too late. I heard that Dane followed her into the shades not long after. She was tied to him, and I’m not surprised she pulled him in with her.”

Tears flow unchecked down Clara’s cheeks as she begins to sob. “They found him drowned in a small pool on the night of a full moon.” Clara’s voice trembles as the words come through her shuddering sobs.

“As it had to be,” Faye says harshly. “Poor baby Clara, alone in the world, cursed to be alone, always apart, painfully dull and powerless. Her fears for your future cursed you to damnation.”

“Listen here,” I say sternly. “Stop this nonsense. You’re acting like Clara’s fate is sealed, and I can tell you it’s not.”

“My son,” Clara begs, reaching for Faye. “My son has magic. Wild magic, and I can’t help him. I don’t know what to do!”

Faye sighs, shaking her head. “Unfortunate. The child has inherited the shifter gene as well as our magic. What was denied to you has bloomed in him threefold.”

“You have to help me!” Clara moans, clinging to Faye’s hand. “I can’t bear for him to get hurt!”

Faye stares at her for a few moments, tilting her head like a bird spying on prey. “The only thing for the boy to learn is trust in himself. If he has fear, then his power could melt him from the inside out. As with all those who have power, he must embrace it. When it comes to his wolf, though, I cannot say. This complicates things, as I’ve never known anyone to have both powers.”

“I will teach him,” I say determinedly. “I will protect him!”

Faye just chuckles, brushing Clara’s hand away. “I must go now, away from the dead—lest I become one of them. They call to me too strongly. Seek no more here, Clara, for there is nothing else to tell.”

She walks away, the fluttering white of her robes winking in and out of the shadows until she disappears.

Clara turns towards the headstone and stares at it, tears trickling down her cheeks.

“I’m so sorry,” I say, putting my arms around her. “It was a terrible thing your mother did to you.”

“No, Galen, you don’t understand,” she moans. “I can’t blame her for it—I can’t blame her at all! If she suffered half as badly as I did, then I know why she did it. She was trying to protect me, and she had to stay loyal to the coven because they were the only ones she could turn to!”

Protests rise in my mind, but voicing them won’t help. So I just hold her, waiting for the torrent of emotions to slow.

“I had no one to turn to!” she hisses. “No one! My mother had something I never did: a family!”

Clara shoves me away almost violently. Her eyes flare with rage, and for a moment, they look as cold and hard as Faye’s.

“Clara—”

“No, Galen. You rejected me! I had been an outcast my whole life, used to being in the shadows, but then you noticed me. It was like my entire world lit up with beauty and warmth. I felt so safe, so accepted, that I opened my body and soul to you. I did things I never thought I’d do—”

Her voice cuts off as she chokes on a sob. My cheeks burn with shame as I remember some of those wild, passionate nights, how far we went in our lust. Even though I’m ashamed of what I took from her, my wolf reacts to the raw, primal lust of it. My body hardens, and my hands twitch, desperate to feel her again.

“And then you took it, Galen!” she wails. “You took everything I had to give, and you left me with nothing!”

Her voice is thick with tears, and even though my arousal doesn’t die, the flames of it are quieted by her sorrow, and my protective urge overcomes my desire.

“Clara,” I say, swallowing hard. “I need to tell you something.”

“What can you possibly say?” she answers, shaking her head. “You can’t fix this.”

“No, I can’t,” I reply. “But I can tell you why I did what I did.”

She looks up at me warily, as if she thinks it might be a trick. The words are heavy in my heart, like stones I have to force through my mouth.

“My father found out about us,” I begin, my voice harsh with old anger and fresh shame. “He pushed me one night, asking why I didn’t court any of the daughters in the higher-class families. He wanted to know where I was going every day. We were in the process of him stepping down and me taking my place as alpha, and he wanted to make sure I made the right choice for my mate.”

Clara wraps her arms around herself, listening closely. Her face is drawn, but I can see her anger fading.

“After dinner one night, I was getting ready to leave—to see you,” I continue. “He started grilling me about where I was going, and I dodged him as best I could until he finally exploded at me, and I went after him in return. I told him about you, that I was going to marry you, and there was no one else in the world for me.”

I can see fresh pain on her face, but I can’t stop now. The words that I couldn’t bear to say have broken down the floodgate, and my tale is desperate to be told.

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