Page 63 of Once You Go Pack
She didn’t understand what had happened in that cave, let alone know how to manipulate the ancient magic.
But as she looked at Cade’s face, her heart nearly stopped. His jaw was clenched, his green eyes burning with fury—but underneath the anger, she caught a flicker of something else.
Doubt.
Oh my God,she thought, nausea rolling through her stomach.He actually thinks I might have cheated.
“That’s ridiculous,” Cade snarled, but the words lacked conviction. “Mila doesn’t know any magic spells.”
“Are you sure?” Lyra’s voice was careful, almost gentle. “Brother, you’ve admitted yourself that her ancestral powers aren’t fully understood. Maybe she?—“
“Stop,” Mila interrupted, her voice sharp with betrayal and hurt. “Just stop talking.”
She scrambled out of bed, wrapping the sheet around herself as she faced them both. Cade’s doubt felt like a dagger being twisted into her heart, making her chest ache with the kind of pain she hadn’t felt since her mother died.
He thinks I manipulated him,she realized with growing horror.He thinks I used some mystical spell to make our mate bond unbreakable.
“Mila—“ Cade started.
“No.” She held up a hand, her eyes blazing with wounded fury. “Don’t you dare try to explain this away. I can see it in your face, Cade. You’re actually wondering if I cheated. If I used some ancestral magic to trick you into thinking we were true destined partners.”
The silence stretched like a chasm. Cade’s expression was carefully controlled, but she could feel his uncertainty through their deepened bond—a cold, questioning energy that made her want to scream.
“We’ll be there soon,” he finally growled into the communicator, ending the call with vicious efficiency.
The air between them grew thick with dread and doubt as they dressed. Mila pulled on her clothes with mechanical precision, her mind spinning with the implications of Zarik’s accusation.
Used my ancestral blood to create a spell?She wanted to laugh at the absurdity, but the sound would probably come out as a sob. She didn’t know any magic. Hell, she’d barely understood her own lineage until a few days ago.
But somehow, her ancestral connection had made her a scapegoat in this twisted game Zarik was playing. The man simply couldn’t accept his defeat in the duel, couldn’t let them have their peace and happiness.
God, this guy just can’t let it go,she thought bitterly as they walked outside to the royal car.He can’t stand that we’re going to lead the territory together toward a better future.
Cade drove faster than was safe down the winding mountain path, his knuckles white against the steering wheel. The silence was suffocating, filled with unspoken accusations and fears that neither dared voice aloud.
Mila stared out the window at the purple forests rushing past, her reflection ghostlike in the glass. Everything she’d thought was settled, everything she’d believed was solid ground beneath her feet, had just crumbled away.
Welcome to being the future queen,she thought grimly.Where even your own mate questions your integrity.
The morning air bit at Mila’s skin as she stepped out of the car, but the chill was nothing compared to the ice forming around her heart. Cade moved to her side, his powerful frame radiating tension as he reached for her arm.
“Mila, we need to?—“
“Don’t.” She jerked away from his touch, the movement sharp enough to make him freeze mid-step. “Just don’t, Cade.”
His eyes flashed with hurt, but underneath she caught that same flicker of uncertainty that had gutted her back at the cabin. The doubt that whisperedmaybe she really did manipulate the trial.
“You don’t understand the position we’re in,” he said, his voice dropping to that commanding tone she usually found irresistible. “We have to present a united front in there.”
Mila laughed, the sound bitter as the winter wind. “United? You think I might have actually cheated, Cade. I can feel it—that cold questioning energy rolling off you in waves.”
“I never said?—“
“You didn’t have to.” She turned toward the imposing council building, its crystalline spires catching the light of Nova Aurora’s twin suns. “Your face said it all.”
She soon was upon the chamber doors, carved with those ancient wolf symbols that seemed to mock her human heritage.
This is what I get for believing I belonged here,she thought, squaring her shoulders.For thinking I could be more than ordinary.
