Page 167 of Unforgivable

Instead, I look to the players in this game Thjis has decided to play. Only my Bear would use the make-the-mate-jealous cliche. Apparently, it works remarkably well.

Daan is partially shifted. The fur on his cheeks, sharp fangs and gleaming, slitted eyes all speak of a wolf who has lost control. Both Alpha Jax and Beta Max refuse to look at me, concentrating on containing their golden male. Drew is still looking stupidly bewildered and slightly disgusted.

Cloe looks wholly wrecked. She is standing alone, naked and forlorn, her arms wrapped around herself tightly. She looks breakable, like the merest touch, and she'll shatter. Tears glisten in her dolled-up grey eyes, roll down her cheeks. She is staring at Daan, her world, her choice, her love.

He is staring at me. I don't like it.

The familiar cackle makes my blush rage to epic redness.

"Well, don't you look terribly sexy, youngling?" Gloria waltzes, there's no other word for it, into the forest glade. She prances over and taps me on my nose, ignoring my teeth that snap at her finger. She makes a big production of sticking her nose in the air and sniffing. A Cheshire-cat, shit-eating grin crawls over her wrinkled visage. She cackles again. "I see your big male has been busy." She pats Thjis' chest, congratulating him on a job well done.

"Don't touch my male," I snap.

She just laughs but drops her hands. Spinning on her heel faster than I thought the old bird could move, she goes to Daan. She sniffs again, her eyes narrowing on her great-grandson. "You smell of rot, pup."

All eyes seem to fasten on his neck. On his neck is a Mark. Cloe'sMark on him is blackened at the edges and oozing puss. It must be paining him to have an open, infected wound on an area of a wolf that is supposed to bring pleasure.

Feather-light kisses dance over my skin. Thjis is probably deriving too much enjoyment out of torturing Daan. But, then, my sweet Bear takes my rejection personally.

"Is this how you're punishing me, Lyri?" Daan says. It's as if he doesn't hear his great-grandmother... or see his pack. "Are you trying to show me how it feels to watch your mate fuck another male? Males? Is this your new game?"

I feel that deep clench of misery, that remembered rage and bitterness. Games. My life, my efforts to win his approval was nothing but a game to him. But, the bitterness is an old feeling. And... there's something about Daan's words that strike me, hard.

I slowly turn to look at my alpha. The alpha who is pledged to protect the pack, to protect me, to uphold the law, and always do what is best for the pack.

Alpha Jax looks at the ruin of his pack with hollow eyes. His pain is more profound than I can express in words. His own son has broken him.

"You didn't tell him?" I can't keep the vicious humor from my voice. "He has no idea what you ordered done to me, does he?" I glance at Cloe, at her brother and father, her crying mother, with a sort of evil delight dancing in my veins.

Daan has no idea that I was Shamed. Which makes him the only one in the entire pack who didn't know.

"What is she talking about?" Daan growls, fighting the grip of the two enforcers again.

"The Luna is talking about how she ended up with three males gracing her bed, alphason," Luna Gloria sneers with a borderline-insane grin. "Shall I tell our little pup the truth, Jax, or are you going to?"

"I called for her Shaming," Alpha Jax says it without any inflection. I think he's genuinely in shock. Slowly, his eyes meet his son's confused ones. "I ordered yourmate," he emphasizes on a pain-filled exhale, "to be starved for days, then stripped naked and chained with silver under the Mating Moon. She scented of fertility and power and four-" he stammers, takes a breath, "fourteen males raped her."

"Repeatedly," Thjis snarls. "Repeatedly. For the entire night."

I watch my males carefully. I don't want any of them losing control and attacking. They won't lose a single drop of blood tonight. Not if I can help it. I want the pack to know. I want them to hear this with ears perked and tongues wagging. Then, I want to destroy Daan and Cloe for good.

"She nearly died. She would have died," Rhet continues when Thjis falls silent, shaking with rage. "When your precious best friend unchained her, we took her home."

Rhet throws a nasty grin at a stricken Mari. "Did you know your male was there, Beta female? Did you know he touched your true Luna?"

"I didn't!" Drew protests quickly. He's pale, trembling, looking between the four of us and his best friend and mate. Lost.

"You didn't?" Rhet asks.

I slide a look to my alpha-male. Is he lying? Mari would know if Drew cheated on her. At least, Drew wasn't there for the parts of the night that I remember. Towards dawn, I was falling unconscious, swimming in a fog of pain. Did Drew really violate me? That's disgustingly foul on a new, disturbing level.

"You came on her, jerked your cock, and made her skin reek of your foul cum before you released the locks," Rhet says menacingly. Oh, thank goodness it's not more.

"No. Fucker... My best friend... no," Daan rasps out through thick canines.

"But I-"

"You would have done more, Drew," Rhet interrupts him. "You would have kept hurting our Luna if we weren't there to stop you. She was free, and we took her away. From you."

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