The Mate That Wasn't Mine novel Chapter 46

Chapter 46

Chapter 46

“I need to see Tessa,” I insist but the two bulky, icy royals are having none of it. Alpha Hale shoves the broken armor into my arms to carry. Remy takes the packet of mushrooms from me.

Remy whispers to me as we stride out into the corridor, “She’s in her room. She’s safe. I promise.”

Alpha Hale sniffs. “I was warned about rebels in the packhouse. Remy, promise him nothing.”

“She isn’t a rebel!” I shout, like I’m begging to have my vertebrae crumbled.

“Stake your life on it Maxim? I’d have sworn my life to my Luna only you’re telling me she’s cheated on our bond over and over?”

“Your bond is still real. The power of the Goddess matters!” The ideas I’m spouting don’t even apply to my situation, but I need to appease Hale. “Drugged and unaware, she is the victim of this.”

“That’s right, the victim,” Remy adds vehemently.

Alpha Hale strides in front, ignoring every fearful bow and nod from the crowds. His boots crunch the gravel down with brutal force. Remy and I walk side

by side behind. His gentler face is grief–stricken.

Quietly, out of earshot of the passersby, Remy muses. “I wonder what triggers her to go back that far. To that specific time in her life.”

“Has Donlon given Luna Sabrina any gifts? Perhaps when she’s drugged, if she’s looking at something, thinking of a place from that time, it is what’s sending her back?”

He rubs the back of his neck, “I wouldn’t know. I don’t keep tabs on things like that. Alpha?”

“I don’t know, son,” he grunts bitterly.

For the second time today, I entered the tower leading to the royal suites. We ascend, passing by Luna Sabrina’s parlour, where I spoke to Hazel. Climbing the stairs, a large room of blood red supremacy and polished granite columns opens to us.

Alpha Hale’s throne room.

The carved mahogany wonder of his throne is permanently illuminated by lanterns. Behind the throne, a huge red and white stained glass window illuminates the space in moody hues of blood and grey.

“Remy take Maxim. I need to talk to your mother. But he goes nowhere,” pointing at me.

“Come on,” Remy asks flatly. At least he isnt itching with violence like his father. He is just painfully devastated.

The small sideroom contains one wooden bench. No windows, just stale air and stacks of old paperwork. Gripping at my gritty hair, my mind is utterly

fucked.

Tessa being hurt, it unlocked something deeper than I’ve ever allowed myself to feel before.

She’s a part of me. Nobody else is. There is not another soul in the world that can claim ownership of me. But that peculiar, bewitching mix of fiery and shy? Who landed on me by accident and agreed to form a lie with me? Brave yet meek. Quiet yet fierce? She’s stolen all I can give. Every ferocious bite she’s laid upon my heart has stolen another piece./

I would never have shouted back at an Alpha, almost killed another Beta. My career is over. I’ll never be trusted as an assassin now but I don’t care. All I

want is to know she is okay. That she doesn’t hate me.

“Hey?” spotting Remy has placed his ear to the door. He puts his finger to his lips. cupping my ear and straining for the sounds.

“What is wrong my love?” she whispers fondly. “I feel fine now, I promise you.”

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Chapter 46

“I am glad. Please, sit

“It has been a while since I sat upon the throne with you.”

*Still a perfect fit, my love,” he murmurs, the heartbreak clear in his voice. “Now, I must ask you some questions, and my darling, they re going to hurt us both. But I believe we finally know what has been causing your illness. Your…absences.”

“Really! Oh, Ask me anything you like,” followed by the sound of soft kisses. In my imagination he sits on his huge throne, she is across his lap, legs dangling. Like giddy honeymooners. Extra close. Able to hold her tight. Pretend for a little while longer.

“Before our mate bond. Was there anyone else? Anyone serious?”

Sabrina laughs lightly. “What a strange question. A couple of dates with boys my age. One older man.”

Alpha Hale’s voice is tense. “Darling, I need the names.”

“Jay Robins and Frankie Devin from my village…the older man…It was. Oh do not be angry, it was Donlon,” she whispers.

“Donlon?”

“But I met you, sparked our bond within three months! He was such a dreamer back then, I was already disillusioned with him before our bond?”

“Did you love him?”

“I confess I said it yes.”

“Sabrina-”

“But what twenty year old doesn’t think their first real boyfriend is the love of their life? He just constantly spoke of dreams and fantasies. But you, there is nothing you say that doesn’t come true. My darling, are you upset with me? It was so long ago.”

“Never. Not at all my sweet. But why did you never tell me?”

“Because we went back to being friends as soon as my bond with you was unlocked. I didn’t want to ruin his career over nothing.”

“Did you…”

“No! My first time was with you. Just as I told you that night under the moon. Remember when you found the waterfall, the stars, the yellow moon?”

Another series of kisses and something murmured too low to pick up. It takes an age but in a gruff voice he he finally answers. “I remember. I treasure everything we have together.”

“We balance each other out,” she offers as a joke but Hale isn’t biting. His voice is utterly morose. Dreading the truths he cannot help but drive tewards. “Has…anyone gifted you anything from your past? Trinkets, books I don’t know.”

“Not that I can think of? I mean…the butterfly painting in my parlous is probably the last new thing I received. That appeared over five years ago? Or was that a gift to Hazel on her birthday? All my gifts are from you my darling.”

From my position against the door I observe Prince Remy’s face screw up in anguish. Fucking butterflies. Dose her evening snack and leave her staring at butterflies, slowly winding her mind back to a time she enjoyed being called such a thing.

Hale’s voice lowers. “Have I been a good mate? Have I deserved your love?”

“Why are you crying? You are my world, look at our beautiful family. Everything we share together. Your heart and mine, our wedding vows?”

His voice drops. “Do I make you happy? Tell me please?”

Hale? Hale talk to me? What is this about?” the sound of an anguished sob from a broken giant forced me to peel my ear away from the door.

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Chapter 46

Remy keeps listening but I can’t. It’s clear when Hale finally explains just what has happened to her when her piercing scream rises up. She begs him to take it back. Howls and at one point hits out him, declaring him a liar.

It is every kind of agony, swirling between the pair of them. Time ebbs away as she struggles to comprehend the horror of her so called illness Eventually it sounds like Hale is holding her, kissing her and promises her justice.

Every single person who was involved will die.

“I wanted to kill them here, but this is our space,” he growls.

“Do it. Please. For me. Make the world right again Hale, darling.” she whimpers.

“I’ll make it spin the other way round if it will help to heal you.”

“I would never, not for a second have betrayed you knowingly. You believe me? You know I love you beyond the stars?”

“I do. I do darling. Come here.”

Time limps along before the sound of Luna Sabrina’s footsteps leave the room. “Come out,” Hale rasps, his voice stripped of its strength. His eyes are red- rimmed, his complexion sickly pale.

“I mind–linked Warden Marshall earlier. He has taken the mushrooms hidden in the rest of the armour to Warden Bea.”

Remy stands with his arms folded tightly. “What did she say?”

To my surprise Alpha Hale looks at me with blunt anger. “They’re from the farming district. The industrial pollution means they can’t grow in that zone. This variety needs a very specific soil mix. From the northern end of the farming district. Where shitty little villages hide away on the outskirts.”

“What are you saying?”

“Marshall went and checked some more armour. He smashed up enough to find more mushrooms. Including one set wrapped in threads of an old grain

sack.”

“I don’t understand.”

“The grain sack had Darnell written on it. It’s come from her fucking family. Her fucking farm! Don’t you dare tell me the girl who recognised the poison is still innocent when it’s her family’s damn trade!”

Remy gasps. “She should be put in the cells with Donlon-”

My heart pulses too hard to ignore. “No! NO!”

“It’s not your choice Maxim. The facts are the facts.”