Braiden “I’m sorry.” The door to the interrogation chamber has barely creaked open when those words are tumbling out of Selene's mouth. “For what?” Her face changes to surprise, and then she schools her features. She thinks my mother has spilled. But lucky for her, she won’t tell me anything, and as a royal and my mother, my command will not work on her. “For what happened earlier with your mother.” She lies straight to my face. Even her scent is untainted. That’s how good she is at it. She learned from the best, so can I really be surprised? My mother has been lying to me for so long now that I feel angry at myself for only realizing this today. The benefit of the doubt has not worked in my favor. But how was I to know my mother was conspiring against me? She is the person that birthed me, after all. I expected her to be on my side, but her words from earlier allude to the fact that she isn’t. The only side she is on is her own. I wonder how far she has dragged Selene into this with her. It looked like her remorse was about something else. Perhaps worried my mother had disclosed her in volvement and implicated her in whatever con voluted scheme she had going on. “You’re lying.” Worry flashes across her face before she flicks her hair over her shoulder and shakes her head slowly. “I wouldn’t lie to you, Braiden. You are my fiancé. I love you.” The love part was the only truth in that sentence, and even that seemed washed with self-serving adoration. If I wasn’t the King, I doubt it would be that strong or even exist at all. “You love what I can give you. What standing next to me means. You don’t really and truly love me.” Selene looks at the table, perhaps some guilt forcing her gaze from mine. “I know you were in volved with The Underground.” Her eyes flick up to meet mine as I circle the table, the stench of fear now engulfing me. It had been a bluff, one that appeared to be correct. “What are you going to do to me?” Her voice cracks, and she tries to grab my hand, but I st ep out of her way, circling her before coming to stand in front of her again. “What do you think I should do with a traitor like you? What you have done is unforgivable.” My voice is icier than a fucking glacier, and anger burns through my veins. “Your mother made me do it. She said I would no longer have a place in the pack if I didn't, that once Ava was your Queen, I would be thrown out.” Her voice is quivering, and fresh tears brim in her eyes. “I want to hear it from you, Selene. I want you to tell me everything. Your only solace is that I am not commanding you to do it. It will be painful for you. It is painful to all rogues.” With a snap of my fingers, I break the bond with Selene, severing her ties to the pack. She falls from her chair, the pain of exile hitting her harder than childbirth, or so I’ve heard. I think of Ava and Nick, banished at a young age, and the torture they must have felt. But that feeling fades as I focus on the pitiful woman curled up on the floor. Even my mother took the link severing with more pride than this woman.
To think that I even considered making her my Queen. I feel sick to my stomach and more than a little sorry for my reaction to Ava’s response earlier. Selene's mask had fallen, and her true self was disgusting. So much so that bile rises in my throat. “My mother's threat realized,” I say, swallowing harshly and circling her again as I wait for her to catch her breath. “I won’t ask nicely a second time, Selene.” She shudders and then looks at me before clawing her way up and back onto the chair. She cradles her chest, the pain there still fresh, as can be seen from the contorted look on her face. “It started after you attended the gala at The Madison Hotel.” I remember that evening, the event's highlight being my first kiss with Ava. That was also where the incident with Sir Ravensborough took place. “When you came back, The Butcher himself reached out to your mother. I’m not sure who she was usually dealing with for the abductions, but this was the first time I knew of since my in volvement that he had contacted her himself.” “The abductions?” The absolute rage sizzling in my veins has me seeing red, and Selene draws back in her chair as my eyes turn black. “Your mother was supplying The Underground with wolves for their experiments.” Selene's voice breaks as she struggles to get this information past her trembling lips. “Why would she do this?” Why would my mother do this to her own people? And how had I been so blind to this before? Guilt permeates my being as I think of all the wolves who have suffered at her hands and indirectly because I was too blind to see it. Fuck. And my mate. “The Butcher wanted Ava?” I growl, Selene’s whole body now physically trembling. “Yes, but when your mother said it would be difficult as she was always around you, they came to a compromise.” “To poison her.” I finish, and her feelings confirm this—along with another truth. “You did that.” She starts sobbing uncontrollably, her hands meeting in the middle as she begs. “I’m sorry, Braiden. I love you so much and couldn’t bear seeing you and her together. I did it because I love you.” “It’s ‘King’ to you,” I grit out, my wolf pushing forward, wanting to rip her head from her body. But we couldn’t. Not yet. I needed to know everything. “Continue.” I use the royal command on her, wanting her to feel the pain my Ava did. My mate. She howls out, and after a few minutes of catching her breath, she finally speaks. “When your mother heard you were going to the abandoned compound in Blakely, The Underground saw an opportunity to take Ava. The plan was put into place. I swear, I wasn’t in volved in it,” she pleads, falling to her knees as if that would strengthen her case. “But you knew about it. Did you know she was alive?” Her wide eyes tell me the truth. She has known all along. “And that she was pregnant?” More confirmation as tears stream down her face. “You saw how losing my mate cut me up, nearly destroyed me, and you did what? You took advantage of me while I was in that state? Used my pain? You fucking disgust me.”
“Please, Brai—My King, it wasn’t like that!” She crawls on the floor towards me, tears streaming down her face and mixing with the snot from her nose. I lunge, lifting her with one hand as her hands claw at my wrist for release. There is none to give. I am squeezing her throat so hard that her face is turning purple. “My King, don’t. We might need her if we are going to catch them.” It’s Samuel, his hand on my shoulder reassuring as he tries to soothe my wolf and calm me down. “We will make her pay. We will make them both pay. But not today. Ava needs you. Your daughter, too. They are waiting for you at home.” Mention of my beautiful girls does the trick as I toss Selene against the wall, her unconscious but alive form flopping to the ground with a loud thud. “Do something with her. With both of them. And bring my father in for questioning. I need to know if he was in on this.” The thought that both my parents might be in volved breaks my heart. “I will do. My King,” Samuel says, his tone drawing my attention. “So much time has been lost with you and Ava, with you and your daughter. I know it’s hard, but try to set this aside when you see them. Make the moments that happen now memorable—in a good way.” Samuel is right. I need to shake this anger off. The last thing I want is for either of them to be scared of me, and the way I feel now, I might achieve that if they see me like this. “I’m going for a run. Send word I will be there in an hour.” Samuel nods, and I don’t bother waiting to get outside before I shift. I run. Fast and hard. Letting all the hurt and anger out as I tear through the forest. It is only when I get to the clearing I was in with Ava, where she and I had groomed each other, that I let it out. A howl. Similar to the one she released. Filled with all the emotions I cannot contain. The pack will hear it, but it cannot be helped. And they will know soon enough what has happened tonight. The betrayal we face from someone so close. From family. I sense her before I see her. My Ava entering the clearing. She has not shifted, and in her hands, she holds a pair of shorts. She looks worried, her brows knitted together as she eyes me warily. “Shift, Braiden.” Though it sounds like a demand, it isn’t. She is asking this of me. I cannot deny her, and so I walk over to her. She lifts the shorts, and after a long look, I take them with my mouth, disappearing around a tree to shift. She is waiting for me, her beautiful green eyes raking my face, undressing all my emotions. She must see it there—the hurt, the anger. I stop in front of her, a foot or two s eparating us. Her eyes search my face while I wait. Whatever this is, it must come from her. Instead of st epping away from me as she has done so many times since I have found her again, she st eps towards me, closing the distance between us. She hesitates before wrapping her arms around me, caging my arms to my side, and resting her head on my chest.
“I’m sorry.” Two words that pull at my heartstrings. Loaded with so much. I was sorry, too. For being naïve. For trusting. For the loss of so much. I clench my jaw as emotion surfaces, constricting my throat. Her hand strokes my back, and coupled with her scent and the sparks erupting everywhere, being in her small arms eases some of the constricting emotions. As seconds tick by, it even feels like I can breathe again. I lift my arms, freeing them so that I can embrace her back, the small sigh that leaves her such a beautiful sound in the silence. I nuzzle my face into her neck, needing to get closer. Needing my mate. My Ava. “Braiden,” she says my name softly. So soft that I think I must be mistaken. “Braiden,” she r epeats, still holding me tightly. “I want you to do something for me.” My girl is asking me for something. This is new. “Anything. I will do anything for you, Ava.” She pulls back, her eyes drifting across my face before landing on the spot on my neck. Tentatively, she touches it, the feel of her finger on the mark she made pulling a growl from me—a possessive one. “I want that.” I’m confused by her statement; sure she is not saying what I think she is. “You want what?” I ask, watching as green eyes slowly return to meet mine. “I want you to feel me like I am now certain I can sometimes feel you.” I blink a couple of times. Sure, this must be a mistake. But then she says it, her words confirming and granting me the one thing I have wanted since first laying my eyes on her. “I want you to mark me.”