Page 8 of Mated To The King's Gamma
“She rejected me. She chose Liam over me!” he says, sitting on the end of the bed.
“Liam? She was with Liam?”
Gannon nods.
“And Liam helped me cover up her death?” he tells me, so not only was Gannon hiding this from me, Liam was, too. Am I some big joke to them, some oddity they can reminisce on?
“When?”
“I met her twenty years ago and discovered she was my mate. I killed her two years later after she tried to kill me. I couldn’t keep living like that.”
“Like what?”
“Feeling her with him? Two years I felt it, two fucking years, she rejected me, but bonds don’t break for Lycans. I felt every time she was unfaithful to the bond, every damn time, Abbie,” he tells me, and a lump forms in my throat. That was a pain I did know, all too well, and I can’t imagine living with that for the rest of my life.
“Is that why you…?” I point to his chest, and he looks down before nodding his head. He hangs his head, placing it in his hands.
“She was tearing my heart out. What did it matter if I did it myself,” he breathes.
“And her body?” I ask him.
“By the bridge by the old lookout,” Gannon tells me.
“The bridge near the castle?” He nods. “And you killed my grandmother?” it just gets worse. I always wondered why she never came for us when we ended up in the orphanage. I believed she would come for us, save us from Mrs. Daley. It wasn’t until a few months in that hope died along with everything else.
That was when it really set in. We were never getting out of that place, no one was looking for us, and no one cared for two rogue girls. We were vile creatures, she called us, and that hope and longing that she would one day come to get us, telling me she never stopped looking for us for the first few months, gave me hope. Then hope died along with me in that place.
“Is that all?” I ask him.
“Some things aren’t worth the risk of you knowing, Abbie; I wish I could, but it will only hurt you, and I won’t risk that,”
“What do you mean?” I ask him.
“Your grandmother, Sia, they weren’t good people. They were traitors to kingdoms,” I tried to remember anything that made his words make sense.
All I can remember is the cottage my grandmother lived in. My brows scrunch together as I try to sift through memories. but they are so blurry and tainted.
I was so young, but one memory that always stands out is the back room. It was the one and only time my grandmother scolded Azalea and me. We were playing hide and seek, and I walked into it. It had strange markings on the walls and a huge star on the floor.
Now I know it was a pentagram. It smelled funny, the air thicker. I remember that so clearly because my mother and grandmother had a huge fight over us going into the room. I was hiding under the big wooden table that held jars and jars of weird things, specimens, and herbs. I remember thinking it looked like a laboratory, only one from the Middle Ages, spooky. I ended up coming out of my hiding spot because the place gave me the creeps, and that was how Azalea found me. She heard me knock over the huge plant. It spilled soil everywhere, and we tried to scoop the soil up and put the plant back, but when Azalea grabbed the plant, it burned her hands, and she screamed. I panicked and called out to my mother.
My grandmother kept saying it was no big deal, that we wouldn’t remember, but I do. I remember her trying to get us to drink the murky water. I refused; Azalea though, didn’t. She accepted it, not wanting to upset my grandmother, but I spat it out. I couldn’t bring myself to swallow it.
I also remember my grandmother crying, trying to stop my mother from leaving. I remember my mother screaming at her.
“They aren’t our enemy, Mom. Sia, I expected this from her, but you? Hasn’t our family lost enough? I won’t lose my daughter to them, too. You promised you weren’t mixed up with this anymore. You lied to me,” she yelled.
“They took your father from us!” my grandmother screamed.
“No, Mom. You pushed him away with this crap. Working for the very people who hunt them. He found his mate. You can’t compare to a mate bond. You don’t understand how hard it is to go without them, Sia couldn’t understand, But I can. He left you; it sucks, but it’s been years, years, and you still blame a woman who doesn’t know you even exist! I am done,” my mother yelled at her.
“Abbie, say goodbye to your grandmother,” my mother said, nudging me toward her.
“Lina, I will do better. You don’t have to do this. Let them stay, I already lost your sister; I can’t lose you, too,”
“You already did. You did the day you chose to help them. You despise the packs, Lycan’s so much, yet you forget I am one. If you despise them, you despise me, too,” my mother said before grabbing both mine and Azalea’s arms and tugging us toward the forest.
“They worked for the hunter organization,” I tell Gannon, recalling the last memory I had of my grandmother.
