Page 162 of Chased By My Grumpy Alpha
The words knock the wind out of me. My own family. My own flesh and blood.
“Your mother gave him a perfect opportunity,” Gareth continues, his voice growing venomous. “Fell in love with that Eclipse Born rogue, got herself pregnant, and then came crawling back to daddy when she realized what kind of danger she was in. Your grandfather saw his chance: protect the Eclipse Born bastard and cash in later on.”
I feel sick as the pieces fall into place.
“But the old man didn’t trust anyone with his secret. Not even me.” Gareth’s eyes gleam with malice. “I had to figure it out myself. And when I did...Well, I realized I could get my own revenge on your slut of a mother.”
“You’re lying.”
“Am I?” Gareth’s smile is vicious. “I gave her a choice, little wolf. I could either kill her and end her misery quickly, or she could become my whore, warm my bed whenever I demanded it, and maybe I’d let both of you live a little longer.”
Fragments of memory slam into me like shards of glass. My mother’s face, pale and drawn. The way she would flinch whenever Gareth entered a room. How she would pull me close and whisper that we had to be very, very quiet when he was around.
Rage burns through my soul, but there’s nothing I can do.
“She chose to live,” Gareth continues, savoring the moment. “For you. She endured everything I did to her because she thought she was protecting her beloved, Eclipse Born daughter.”
“Stop,” I whisper, but the memories keep coming. My mother’s bruises that she tried to hide. The nights she would cry so quietly, she thought I couldn’t hear.
“Your grandfather was clever, though,” Gareth says, his voice turning bitter. “He had a witch conceal your wolf completely. Otherwise, I would have sold you to the Council years ago. The suppression meant I had to keep you hidden, keep you safe until you were...ripe for harvesting.”
I shudder as he leans closer, his nose inches from mine now.
“But down the line, when your mother was pregnant with my child, I gave her another choice. She could either abandon you, kill you, and become my proper mate, and I would give her a good life. Her and our child. Or she could give up our child and keep protecting you.” His smile is poison. “She made the wrong choice. She chose you.”
My world tilts sideways as the full implication sinks in. “You had a child with her?” I can barely form the words, horror clawing at my throat. “I have a—I have a sibling?”
Gareth’s laugh is cruel and satisfied. He gestures toward Harper. “Say hello to your half-sister, Astra.”
The words don’t make sense. Can’t make sense. Harper—beautiful, cruel Harper who tried to kill me, who has been tormenting me for almost as long as I can remember—is my sister?
“No.” I shake my head so hard, my vision blurs. “No, that’s not possible.”
“Oh, it’s very possible,” Harper purrs, moving closer. “Our mother chose you over me. Chose a bastard half-breed over her own legitimate daughter.”
“She protected both of us—”
“She abandoned me!” Harper’s composure cracks, revealing the raw fury beneath. “She died protecting you instead of living and raising me! She gave up everything—my father, our pack, her future—all for her little Eclipse Born freak!”
“You are the reason she died,” Gareth snarls, his face still inches from mine. “If she had handed you over like she was supposed to, she’d still be alive. Harper would have had her mother. But no—she had to play the martyr for her half-breed bastard.”
The truth crashes down on me like a tidal wave. My mother didn’t die protecting me from some faceless enemy. She died choosing me over Harper. Over the life she could have had. Over the daughter she abandoned.
“She chose wrong,” Harper whispers, tears streaming down her face. “And now, you’re going to pay for it.”
Before I can respond, before I can even process what she’s saying, I see Lord Aldric nodding to and addressing someone behind me.
“Begin the ritual,” he commands. “We need to break the magical restraints first. Weaken the bindings on her wolf.”
Hands grab my head from behind, fingers pressing against my temples. I try to jerk away, but the ropes keep me locked in place.
“What are you doing?” I struggle against the grip. “What are you—”
Pain explodes through my skull. Not an external, surface pain, but something deeper. Something that tears at the very fabric of who I am.
I scream.
The magic that has been suppressing my wolf for twenty-four years doesn’t break gently. It shatters like glass, each fragment tearing through my body as it falls away.
