AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"It started before you came along, Vera. Don't take this on yourself."
For a minute, we both fell quiet. "So you're not coming home tonight?"
"No, I'm sorry. Had I known earlier, I would have kept you in the city with me."
"It's okay. I like it here."
"I know, but I'm uneasy about you being so far away from me." Dale took a deep breath. "Vera, I want you to go stay in the main house for the rest of the week. You can cook for everyone up there."
"I'm not ready."
"Vera, please?"
Sighing at the plea in his voice, I huffed. "I'll go up later."
"Before sunset."
"Okay," I agreed to make him happy.
"I'll call you before bed tonight. I love you."
Unsure how to answer his farewell, I hung up and put the phone on the bedside table. Was I ready to go stay in the packhouse? I wasn't sure, but I'd promised Dale I would, so I turned to go repack my bag.
A man was standing in my bedroom door, bringing me to an abrupt halt. "Please be a dream?" My breath hitched, and tears started falling immediately because I knew it wasn't. He was standing there watching me.
"Viridia." Stepping into my room, Malcolm yanked his belt out of the belt loops and doubled it over in his hand. "I've never seen your skin so unblemished. You've always been beautiful, but without the bruises, you are stunning."
When Malcolm touched my cheek, I winced away but froze at the look in his eyes. Waiting for a second, Malcolm placed his palm to the side of my face.
Grimacing at his contact, I turned my face away. "I found my mate. You can't take me back."
Malcolm dropped his hand, annoyance singing through the room like a high-pitched chime. "I heard." Malcolm's eyes fell to the towel wrapped around me.
Moving my hand behind my back, I tried to find my phone on the bedside table.
"Don't do that," Malcolm warned in a tone I knew all too well.
Sobbing, I let my hand move away from the side table. When Malcolm moved to untuck the towel, I clenched it tight. "Please, Malcolm, you need to go. You have your pack; I have my mate. I'm where I should have been for the last twelve years. If you abided by tradition, you wouldn't have sent your pack insane."
Malcolm's eyes dilated, causing me to step back from his anger. "I sent them insane? I tried to appease them by letting them have their fun with you. Do you think I wanted to share you? I had no choice because you kept stirring them up. Had you gotten with child like a good woman, I wouldn't have had to fight them off all the time."
"Full-blood women can't bear children. Every Lycan knows that! The tradition to find our mates is there to protect our packs. I've met the Liderii. They told me it was your fault the pack became violent and insane because you didn't follow tradition."
Malcolm stepped back half a step. "Full-blood?"
"Yes. I'm pure Lycan."
"That can't be right."
"I assure you, I'm pure Lycan."
Jaw clenching, Malcolm glared at me, his eyes angrier than they were a moment before. "I didn't know."
"It wouldn't have mattered. What you did to me when I was fourteen showed you didn't care. You conquered my father, and you raped me as another way to conquer him. You didn't care what or who I was, just that I was the Alpha's daughter."
"Being mated has given you a backbone, Viridia." Grinning maliciously, Malcolm struck his belt across my face with a loud snap.
Falling backward and to the side from the impact, my eyes filled with tears, blinding me. Yanked up, Malcolm threw me on my stomach on the bed. Pinning my hands behind my back, Malcolm strapped them together with his belt.
