Page 104 of Unforgivable

We go past the barn, into the woods. Now I'm fucking nervous as hell. Anticipation is building. My big brother knows something.

"What the fuck is going on? Did you figure out who the dead-wolf-walking is?" I ask Rhet.

Rhet turns and looks at me seriously. "Lyri had a problem with Cloe for years. She was always competing with the future alpha female. So then she fucks Daan, Cloe's mate. He fucks her, too. He fucked our female when she wasn't in Heat. Ted told us that Lyri always wanted to wait for her mate. What if she did?"

I let the implications roll around in my head. I'm not as sharp as Rhet, not as astute at putting together a puzzle. I'm a medic, yes, but that's always been straight forward. The body I understand, it's the heart and mind that baffles me.

I blow out a breath. "What does this mean? Is it even possible?" My gut churns sickeningly.

"Is there any better explanation?" Rhet asks. "I've been- it's fucking insane, but how can it not be Daan? This is Lyri, our Lyri. She would never do that, otherwise. She's no rankwhore, Thjis."

He clasps me on the shoulder, and I finally exhale. "I have to go," I say abruptly. "I'll run... and... I'll see you later."

I strip on automatic, my motions unhurried, uncomplicated. Sometimes, I give off the appearance of being a big, dumb, lout, but I'm not stupid. I'm a slow thinker. Stubborn, my mama always says. Ezra... he has the opposite problem. Like a damn grasshopper, his mind can't stay still long enough to puzzle through our female's secrets.

So, is Rhet right? I know my brother will want to talk to me when I get back, so I better think hard while I run.

My paws pound the earth. I just keep to the well-worn trails through Genom, not interested in veering off course or chasing any of the scents my nose picks up.

I shift back and bury my hands in the dirt under me. My mind plods along, picking up the pieces and sifting through them carefully.

Daan is an alphason.

Packs trust their alphasons, their alphas. It's in our blood to believe them and follow their lead. Rhet and I... we aren't born of this pack. We aren't as loyal to Jax and his family. It's why we've kept out here on the ranch.

Daan hasn't Marked Cloe.

When has an Alphason or Alpha failed to Mark and fully Claim their mate after being with them for years? How is it even possible to resist Claiming your female when you're fucking her regularly? How did no one notice that bullshit before? I wrack my brain for anything, any memory of a wolf mentioning the lack of a Mark, but I come up empty. Trust in the alphason blinded the pack to that odd truth.

Daan hasn't gotten a pup from Cloe.

Does Jax know the truth? He must not, I decide. Non-true-mated pairs have a meager chance of having healthy pups together when one of their mates is still alive. It spells disaster when an alphason loses his mate because then the chances of any female birthing the next generation of alphas is nearly nil.

Why? How? Lyri wasn't just rejected... she almost died. I sift more dirt through my fingers, absently. Is that what Daan intended? Was Lyri's Shaming meant to kill her?

Does he know she's still alive? Does he know she was Shamed?

I frown. It's hard to believe. Hard to understand how any wolf could resist the pull towards a female like Lyri. Alpha-blood wolves are even more possessive of their mates than usual.

Maybe that's the problem. He's in love with Cloe... and his wolf sees Lyri as his, too. Why not have both females? Is it a matter of greed? Did I hit the fucking nail on the head when I asked Lyri not to use jealousy as a weapon againstus?

I stand and spit into the dirt, watching my saliva turn it a darker brown. Lyri didn't have any males before us. She did nothing to make him jealous. She was a pure female, a good mate to a ripe piece of shit.

No, Daan has no fucking clue what happened to her. And... he has no idea that she's warming three males up at night, now.

I feel a grin stretch over my face. He has no idea what she tastes like. A greedy bastard like that can't eat out his female properly.

He can't fucking have Lyri now, mother-fucker. She's ours.

I shift back to paws to head back home. My wolf lumbers on, bored with my thoughts, and set on his course. The female is his. He'll share with his brothers and no one else. He is entirely, 100% loyal to his Luna.

His Luna. I sit back on my haunches and stare blankly at the trees. My heart feels like it's being crushed. The fucking irony is unbelievable.

My mate, my goddess-given mate, rejected me for not being good enough for her. She was nothing but a good time for her highly-ranked lover, but she saw herself as more. More than what she was ever meant to be.

Lyri is a true Luna. She is so out of my league that I shouldn't even be allowed to breathe the same air, but here she is.

And I'm not letting her go.

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