The Mate's Forbidden Secrets

dere

n abomin

l scream of contempt l

ithin my chest, and I pante

n't d

around me, threatening to send me to my kn

n't d

ye snapped shut from swelling-an aftereffect of the mass massacre that alm

he believed me. He was the only sliver of hope I clung to as the pack g

lift my limbs off the ground myself, I re

n't d

o snap in that direction. My good eye widened at t

k at me blank

ef, launching myself forward to reach him, but th

I didn't do anything. I would never-" I

ass judgment on the vile murder of our Luna-my moth

has been carried out. Valeriana is no longer a su

intense wave of shock fo

alerie like he w

out, but I doubte

I saw her-Joan, my foster sister, sittin

burn as my heart slammed against my chest. They looked

d, my thoughts jumb

hurt and upset right now, but I really didn't do it," I sai

out, my chest wheez

tor!" Joan barked, standing on her feet, her

ll she ever did was show you love and care," Joan conti

er in and raised her, and all they got in return was losing their lives. Sh

he pitch-black woods at night, my body trembling from the metallic scent of blood thick in the air. Joan's painful

rough her grief. You killed them. Her words echoed in t

lamed me. She'd

hy would I kill my mate's mother?" I panted out in desper

to an uproar, loud g

punished by being paired with dirty filth like you? A lowly mutt that poisoned

e looking at me li

te, and she's stand

wing at my chest, and it took a lo

his words. Lucas had smiled that night ben

come between us, he had whispered, cupp

for someone to believe in me. Now that same he

ed to end my suffering." I swallowed the lump forming in my throat. "I did

entence will be postponed until the annual festival ceremony. I will show the entire Kingdom a

ood there,

the discreet smirk meant for just me, but I couldn't bare to con

me out of the throne room as the angry

rybody, my body too frozen for the

, to be singled out and labeled an outcast-

k it and hiss at me from the shadows. They could now bare their teeth a

, filled with te

with hatred, Lucas's words thundered in my head, drowning out the chaos.