Page 80 of Tainted Romance

“Why don’t I remember you?”

“You were young, Allie.” He shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t take it personally. What matters is what happens now, and that’s why I clicked the bracelet on you.”

“Yeah, thanks for that.” I rolled my eyes, glancing down at the thing. “You have no idea how much trouble this thing has caused. I’ve got my own security guard thanks to it.”

“Yeah. Zane Harris.” He cocked his head to the side. “Anything you want to tell me, Allie?”

Hell no. He doesn’t get that right.

“I don’t want to tell you anything.” I leaned across the table lowering my voice. “Don’t get confused, Jace. Just because I am sitting here doesn’t mean I want to get to know you. I’m here because I had questions, that’s it. Now I have the answers. I don’t think I want to know anything else.”

His hand clamped down on mine. “But you don’t know everything yet.”

“I don’t want to know.”

“You don’t want to know how your mom is lying to you! Forcing you to be the wife of the future Alpha. Everything dad stands against!”

I pointed a finger at him, feeling an uncontrollable rage consume me. “Mom might be lying to me, but she isn’t forcing me to marry anyone. What happens between Zane and me is no one else’s business.”

He shook his head, with a determining smirk on his face. “What happens between you and Zane will be determined by this. If you don’t see that, you’re as blind as our mom.”

“You should go.”

“Yeah, maybe I should.”

“And before you do, take this off.” I held my wrist out. “My mind doesn’t need to be hidden. I have nothing to hide, and maybe this whole hiding my thoughts and scent has more to do with your safety than mine.”

“Fine.” Jace unclipped the bracelet - seems he had the magic touch. “But when things turn to shit, don’t say I didn’t tell you.” He then slapped a piece of paper down in front of me. “You might want nothing to do with us, but dad wants you to have this.Bye, Allie.”

He slid out of the booth and left me sitting there. I was happy he was gone, but I was furious that he had distorted everything I believed to be true.

Pulling out my phone, I wasn’t surprised to see multiple missed calls from Zane.

I supposed I better ease his worry so he could lecture me. I didn’t know what scared me more, facing my mom about this or knowing that now Zane knows everything.

***

I had always envied the lives of fictional characters. They were always so alluring and filled with thrilling moments; unlike mine. Well, that was until now.

I sat frozen on my mom's couch. Was it stupid of me to hope that everything Jace told me was a lie?

The sad part was it wasn’t, and sadder yet was that he didn’t even scratch the surface of what was kept from me.

I hadn’t told mom what Jace had told me, and she must have thought that he had told me a lot more than he had because once she started, she just didn’t stop.

Mom left dad after she found out he was part of a movement whose sole purpose was to dissolve packs and get rid of the whole ‘Alpha’ concept.

Mom loved the safety of a pack life. It made sense because she was the daughter of an Alpha, and she had mated with a male she thought would be a powerful Alpha.

But dad had other plans.

She said it was easier to pretend he was dead than keep living knowing he was alive.

She thought I would cope better with a memory of a loving dad than a memory of a dad she ripped me from.

“Allie, you have to understand something.” She placed a hand on my knee, causing me to break from my thoughts. “You can’t tell anyone about this.”

I scoffed, “How am I to manage that? Zane is in my head most of the time, so it wouldn’t surprise me if he already knew.”

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