Page 100 of Her Second-Hand Mate

“I tried as hard as I could to break free from the restraints, and when I finally managed to do so, I ran upstairs, where I found both Miss Taylor and the Luna bleeding out on the floor. I picked up the Luna and carried her to the car and then drove her to the hospital.”

“Was there anything suspicious about Miss Taylor’s demeanor while you were driving to the Alpha’s house?”

“That’s the thing,” Hank blew out a breath and ran his hand through his hair. “She was perfectly calm and normal. I’ve gone over it in my mind a million times, and I still can’t remember anything suspicious. I’m sorry, Luna,” he apologized to me for the umpteenth time since we’d both been discharged from the hospital.

I gave him a bright smile and a nod to ease his worry.

“Very well, thank you Mr. Miller.”

As Hank got up and left, David continued, “The Crown now calls Alpha Dominic Hedge to the stand.”

Dominic reluctantly let go of my hand and walked to the witness stand.

“Alpha Phillips, Alpha Scott, will you please join me?” David asked and I held my breath.

Commanding an Alpha was almost unheard of and happened only in the rarest of occasions. At least three other Alphas were needed for the command to stick.

“On three?” the King looked at the two males and they both nodded.

“One, two, three,” and then they all said “Tell the truth,” in unison.

Dominic gnashed his teeth as his body briefly fought the command.

“We should check whether the command took,” David said with a mischievous glint in his eye as Dominic growled at him. “I should ask you something really embarrassing.”

“Just get on with it.”

“Alpha Hedge, please tell us of the first time you met Miss Taylor.”

“I met my first mate during a diplomatic visit to the Yosemite pack in June of 2016. I was introduced to her cousin, Heather Taylor, during that same visit. Then she moved to my pack with Cassandra, as per their custom.”

“Did anything about her stand out?”

“Not really. She seemed withdrawn and reserved, which I understood and respected.”

“Did you ever get the feeling that Miss Taylor wanted something more from you?”

Dominic ran his hand over his face in frustration, “Maybe I’m an idiot, but it never even crossed my mind.”

I could almosthearall the Lunas in the courtroom roll their eyes. As morbid as the reason for the hearing was, I had to fight a snicker.

Dominic continued, oblivious, “Maybe it’s because of how much respect I have for the mate bond or how little I even notice females who aren’t my mate, but I truly viewed every interactionI had with her as an interaction between an Alpha and his pack member.”

“What happened on January 7?”

“After Miss Taylor had repeatedly refused to get counseling to deal with the trauma from her car accident and had continued to approach me in order to discuss my deceased first mate, I made the decision to transfer her back to her pack of origin in California. I thought that maybe having family around would help her heal better than she had in Greylock. On January 7 she was scheduled to travel back to Yosemite, and she’d asked me to drive her to the train station before I went to my office on campus.”

“Did Miss Taylor know your schedule for the day?”

“She probably did, since she did a lot of the admin work for my office.”

“Where did you pick her up?”

“In front of her apartment building. I loaded her suitcases in the car while she got us coffee from the café across the street. She also got a tea for Penelope and asked me to stop at the house because she wanted to say goodbye to her Luna.”

“Did you think anything of it?”

“Not really. Heather was always bringing by treats and food she’d made, even when Cassie was still alive.”

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