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Part A: Chapter 5

I felt my life begin to flash in front of my eyes as Gerald squeezed my neck harder and harder. For someone his age, he sure was strong. I was gasping for air, trying to find the words that he wanted me to say but not having enough oxygen to say them out loud.

“C-can’t breath,” the words finally escaped my mouth as I clawed at his fingers wrapped around my neck to let me go.

He slowly eased his hold on my neck just enough that I could make coherent sentences. “That should be enough for the little pet to answer my questions and leave a mark for my son to see.”

“I don’t know where or who I am other than my name and the fact I am a wolf shifter,” the words left my mouth. “I didn’t know anything about being a wolf shifter until I met Aidan and he taught me everything I know. I-I have no family and he insisted I come back with him. I swear I didn’t do anything to him.”

A sinister laugh escaped Gerald’s lips which were so close to my ear, his minty breath fanning my neck. “Of course, no one can fool Aidan and he’s not one to show mercy or pity to a stray which leaves me to wonder just what it is about you that made him make the choices he’s made.”

“He said something about me being his mate.”

Gerald paused and slowly eased his hold on my neck again. “Mate? Are you telling me that he has finally found his mate? After arrangements have already been made.”

The last words were quieter but harsher. What did he mean by that?

“All the more reasons for me to kill you now so you don’t ruin the plans already in motion.”

“Please! Don’t kill me, I know I’m not one of you or ever will be but please, spare my life just this once,” I was panicking as I felt tears prick the corners of my eyes. I couldn’t die without knowing who I really was or where I came from. There was so much I still didn’t know about everything. “Please don’t kill me, I will leave if that is what you want me to do. If not for Aidan then I wouldn’t have come here. I need to know where I come from and what happened to me.”

“Pathetic,” he scoffed as he finally let go of me and walked back to his chair and sat down, looking at me with utter disgust. “How can such a weak and pathetic wolf be my son’s mate? By the Moon, what was she thinking to make you his mate?”

I fell to the floor, holding my neck and gasping for air. What the hell had I gotten myself into? Just who were these people and what was going on? I had so many questions but I knew Gerald was not the right person to ask such questions. He might see me as being more pathetic than he already thought I was.

“I guess it’s not such a loss because I can sense that your little she-wolf is much stronger than your pathetic human form,” he went on. Gerald rolled his head back and sighed audibly. “This must be a punishment for the Goddess,” the words rolled from his mouth so quietly that I almost thought I was hearing things if it weren’t for the increased sense of hearing.

“Leave, I want to be left alone,” he waved his hand dismissively without so much as sparing me a second glance. “I’ll see you and my ungrateful son at lunch.”

I scrambled to my feet and out of the double doors as fast as my human legs could carry me. When I was finally out and a far distance away, Esther was waiting for me with a look of concern that quickly turned into relief. I fell to the floor with a loud thud, feeling all my strength gone.

“By the Moon, he didn’t kill you,” she said as she walked over to me and effortlessly picked me up. “Quick, let’s get you out of here and ready for lunch.”


Everywhere I looked, everything looked more expensive than the last. Was this what it meant to be rich? Having everything you wanted but not really needing it.

Aidan was at my side, dressed in black ripped jeans matched with a black muscle tee that hugged his muscles in all the right places and made them visible, he also wore black combat boots with his hair tousled and small droplets of water falling from it.

“I’m sorry you have to go through all this,” he whispered in my ear so I was the only one who heard what he said.

I gave him a quick look and gave him a closed lip smile. I hadn’t told him about the meeting with his father and I wasn’t sure I wanted to tell him just how pathetic I had been. I had spent the rest of the time locked in Aidan’s quarters waiting for him to return as I contemplated running away and going back to my old life that when Aidan had come in and hugged me, I was still spaced even as he told me about the lunch plans with his father that I was already aware off.

“Hurry up would ya, I’m hungry and I could certainly use some food in my system now,” Carter said from the other side of me before he walked ahead of us and opened the large double doors that led to the dining room.

Aidan and I walked in after Carter and I stopped in my tracks as I took in everything and everyone who was sitting around the large dining table. There was Gerald at the head of the table, Carter sat to his immediate left and next to him was a girl about my age with beach blonde hair and opposite her was a guy with dark hair and auburn highlights. Each one of them looked beautiful and attractive as if they had been taken from a magazine cover.

“Don’t let them intimidate you,” Aidan said, placing his hand on the small of my back and leading us to the other side of the table where he pulled the chair to his right for me and took the seat facing his father. It was a power move.

“Alpha,” the guy with the auburn highlights slightly bowed his head.

“Brother,” the blonde beamed but then scowled when her eyes landed on me. “Father tells me a lot about Jemila, it’s so lovely to finally meet you.” Her words were too sweet for my liking but I forced a smile back at her without saying anything.

The waiters arrived just then and served our food. The food looked just as expensive and fancy as everything in this mansion and I suddenly lost my appetite. Didn’t they have anything as simple as spaghetti?

I pushed the food on my plate around, wanting more than anything to get away form here and just be alone.

“So, Jemila, father tells me you don’t know anything about your past, is that true,” the blonde said pointing her fork at me as she beamed. “Is it true you woke up with no recollection of any of your memories?”

I swallowed, whatever little appetite I had was suddenly gone as the memory of that day flashed across my eyes.

“Shel, don’t start with anything,” Aidan warned as he clenched his fork tighter in his hand.

“What? I’m just making conservation since everyone seems not to have anything to talk about,” she said with a shrug and then threw me a subtle smirk over the brim of her wine glass. “So, is it true? That you didn’t even know anything about Lycans until you met Aidan? Isn’t that just a little strange?”

“Shelly,” Aidan warned again.

The girl whose name I finally learned was Shelly sighed and flipped her hair back. “Aidan, when did you suddenly become so stupid as not to notice all the important details about a person? What? Did being trapped in the woods alone with her suddenly make you weak and stupid?”

The fork in Aidan’s hand snapped and I could see the vein on his forehead throbbed.

“Shelly, mind your words, he is the Alpha and you can’t talk to him like that,” Carter warned as he threw Aidan a cautious look. “Apologise.”

Shelly rolled her eyes. “He may be the Alpha but he’s still my brother and I’m allowed to worry about him.”

Everything happened so fast that no one saw Aidan get up and pin Shelly to the wall by her neck. His fangs were bared as his eyes turned from green to black.

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