Sixty seven

VALENTINE

I sucked in my breath watching the crowd cheer. Some of the Monarch members, predominantly the werewolves who had found their mate were present. I could see Abigail smiling ear to ear as she held the hands of her mate. You could tell she was anticipating for the ritual to begin so badly. I wished I could say the same. In my case, I felt nothing but repulse for the man. I wanted to hate him. The goddess knew I did but he was the solar opposite of what I wanted him to be. Perhaps it was the mate bond. I hoped it was the mate bond because, after this night, I could go back to hating him. I stole a look in his direction. He looked...happy and strange enough, I did not hate that his happiness made me smirk. There was a tinge of regret after but that was it. My train of thoughts got scrambled as soon as Jason stepped onto the platform in front of us.

"Mother who lights the new night. Bringer of sleep and Harbinger of love," He said. " I call on you to grace us your descendant with your light. Make us one with our fated."

"Flaws and sins." Devin and I muttered in unison as we unfolded our robes and let the night sky plunder us with light. A howl erupted from the crowd below and from the corner of my eyes, I watched as mates began to give in to the heat. An overwhelming need for my mate's touch began to slowly creep up to me. In seconds, Devin had draped his muscly arms over me as if to trap me and I had accepted them. I followed the trail of his delicious scent. The same sweet-smelling odor that had engulfed my senses as an impressionistic teenager. The same scent I had followed to the living room where I had found my father's corpse and watched my mother take her life while the Crow brothers watched. I had ignored my wolf's need for so long that despite those awful memories coming to mind, I still felt incredibly turned on at the thought of having my virginity taken by the same man who ruined my life. His lips pressed into mine softly. The kiss was hungry but Devin somehow managed to control himself. Our tongues met gently for a few seconds before Devin ended it and ran soft peaks around the nape of my neck. I knew what he intended to and while it scared me, I did not resist. My wolf wanted this. I tilted my throat to the side to give him better access and an indebted growl erupted from the pits of Devin's throat as he sucked on my neck. I trembled as I relished the feel of his tongue on my skin.

"Mark me," I whispered.

Devin obliged. His teeth dug into my skin until a sharp pain engulfed me. I shivered, my body committing the ultimate betrayal as heat poured down between my legs with the silver in his voice. I hated it and I loved it. I hated him yet I wanted him.

He tore his mouth away from my throat and plundered my mouth again. His mouth tasted like copper. The touch of his tongue made me melt and feel like he was pouring l heat inside my veins. He had utter confidence and control as his tongue explored the inside of my mouth.

He pressed me towards the floor and I followed, one hand guided my body towards the floor while the other sought out my body and its treacherous secrets, and I adored every twinkling of it. He flick his tongue over my nipple, relishing its erection, and then as he softly sucked on it, I shut my eyes and let out a muffled moan. I could feel his cock. The erect member pressed tautly against my abdomen. As his tongue worship traveled all the way to my nether regions, I heard a voice.

"Cessair, how could you betray Lucius?" The said voice cracked as she demanded an answer. My eyes flicked open to a familiar setting. I was standing at the dinner table where my father sat as another woman questioned him.

"Lucius," I muttered to myself. The late Alpha of the Crow pack? How did my father betray him?

"Spare me the disgust, Pearl, the Silverlaws would have come for your brother anyway. If I did not lend them a hand, someone else would have."

"Who?" Pearl demanded. "My brother trusted you. He saw you as a brother but you only see him as a means. You sold him out for money. One of the things the convergence was going to fix anyway."

"The convergence was never going to happen. It was not the way the moon goddess programmed us to be. Your brother's ambitions were what killed him. Do you know how horrible it had to be for the Silverlaws to want Lucius dead? They saw into the future. Lucius was building another Babel tower. They knew what would happen if it became a success. Werewolves could skyrocket to the top of the food chain and eventually, the balance will tilt and it will definitely not be in their favor."

"No!" I yelled in their direction but they could not hear a thing I said. It was almost like I forgot that this was nothing but a mere memory. "Stop this!" I screamed. "My father would never do this. He was a good man."

"Wow," Pearl scoffed. Her voice was heavy and I could tell she struggled not to tear my father apart in that singular moment. "So you didn't want that? To be at the top of the food chain. To not have to fear those monster hunters anymore. I call bullshit Cessair. You did this out of jealousy."

"And what would I have been jealous of?" Cessair demanded, banging the table so hard that it made Pearl wince but the woman refused to back down. She had something to say and she was not leaving until she has uttered them.

"That you weren't the one," Pearl said. "If the convergence had been successful and all packs in Wentworth swore allegiance to my late brother. He would be the only Alpha. The supreme Theta. A literal god. The thought of losing the fickle title you hold repulsed you, didn't it?"

"Watch your tongue." I heard my father say. The tone he used was cold and heartless. Nothing I remembered him being like. I watched in horror as my father remained seated. He was calm and collected. It was as if he knew in his heart of hearts that he had done the proper thing. There was no empathy in sight.

Needless to say, Pearl did not watch her tongue. "So you betrayed him for all that money. Do you even know what that cost us... What that cost me? My brother and his wife are dead because of you. My nephews are orphans because of your selfish ambitions and I hate you for that Cessair Monarch." The intensity in the woman's eyes burned and she eased to her feet and strode towards the door with red puffy eyes. The guards at the exit opened the door as she inches closer but at the last second, the woman turned back to face my father. "I hope you get what you deserve Cessair."

The door banged shut and I was left alone with my father in the room. As the scene slowly faded out of existence, I repeated the words, "This is a lie" to myself like a mantra but the more I said it, the more it seemed to lose its potency. Like a mocking voice at the back of my mind, I heard Devin's voice whisper to me.

"Without the lie you tell yourself, you will be nothing but a shell."