Chapter 136-2
Claim
“You don’t know that. You don’t know what will happen when I get comfortable with it. What I’ll do with it. Fears aren’t born of nothing, Troy.”
“No, the fears were born of unsubstantiated myth and the fear of what they can’t understand. I
know you, love. Believe me when I tell you that you are still you.” Gently cradling my head, he pulled
me close for a kiss.
I wasn’t convinced, but I did let him distract me until my body relaxed against him. Breaking the
kiss, I buried my face in his chest and listened to the sound of his heartbeat.
Tomorrow was another leg of a journey that I could not have seen coming, but Troy was here, and
maybe that would be enough.
Sleep claimed me.
The next morning, we went to the dining hall. As much as I wanted to pile eggs, pancakes, and sausage on my plate, I stuck with a bowl of oatmeal. It wasn’t the first time I ate in the dining hall. Troy had forced me to eat here before, when we were trying to make everyone believe we were a happily mated couple. The pack either ignored me or shot me dirty looks when they thought Troy wasn’t looking. A few had even been bold enough to spit in my direction when he left the table.
Today, it was completely different. Troy had already told me things were different. Starting from when I’d risked my life to save Irene’s. Suddenly, I wasn’t a serial killer’s daughter. I was the alpha’s
mate. I’d earned the title.
And when I’d borrowed pack magic to save Troy, Saul, and Finn, I’d flooded the bonds with love. The shifters actually bowed their heads when I walked by.
It didn’t exactly fill me with relief.
“Breathe,” Troy said lowly in my ear when he retrieved my oatmeal and put it on my tray. “No one is going to hurt you here.”
“I’d almost prefer if they did. This is weird,” I muttered. He put a reassuring hand on my back and
led me to the table.
“Weirder than us admitted that we’re meant to be together? Times change, Kiana. This is a good
change.”
Sure. Troy could say that. He’d been beloved his whole life. I’d been hated my whole life. Sometimes when I looked at Troy, I wondered if this was all some kind of cruel joke. Like, he might
wait until I was at my happiest moment and then sever the pack and mating bond and leave me
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Chapter 136-2
stranded in the cold.
Except that he wouldn’t do that. I knew in my bones that he wouldn’t. That fear was just me,
always waiting for the next bad thing to happen. And that was exactly what I was feeling now.
“I guess there’s no need to ask if they know what I am. They would have felt it,” I muttered as I
glanced around at everyone who was smiling at me.
“You’re powerful. They like that,” Troy said softly.
Claim
An older woman slowly approached us with a woman my age at her side. Both looked incredibly
nervous. They glanced at Troy, who nodded, and then walked over to our table. “Alpha. Alpha mate. We do not mean to interrupt, but my daughter and I have something we’d like to say.”
Dread filled me, and the younger woman bowed her head. “I don’t even know if you remember me,
but I used to work for Razor’s Edge when Danny was the manager. We…I wasn’t very nice to you,
and I knew what Danny was going to do and didn’t try to stop it. I’m so sorry.”
“It wasn’t all her doing,” the Mother rushed on say. “We encouraged her to be cruel to you. I will never forgive myself, but I want you to know that we will do nothing but support you from here on
out. We pledge ourselves to you.”
Hell, I didn’t even recognize my old co-worker, if you could even call her that, who looked like she
could burst into tears any minute.
The table next to us stood so fast that their chairs fell over. “We also were horrible to you. We
helped defile Razor’s Edge when you were gone. We beg forgiveness and pledge ourselves to you.”
Suddenly, the whole damn dining room was full of people confessing their sins and asking for forgiveness and kneeling before me. I turned to Troy, hoping he would make it stop, but he just
looked at me.
He knew this would happen. He’d said the same thing, but I hadn’t believed it would happen on this
grand of a scale.
Clearing my throat, I slowly stood. “All right. I’m only going to say this once, so spread the word because I don’t want to see anyone else doing this. My father wronged your pack, and with him, I did things that I was not proud of. I hated myself just as much as you hated me. Some of the things that you’ve done to me or wanted to do to me are not forgivable, but neither were the things that my father did to this community. I am not here to punish anyone. That’s not my role. I’m here to try and protect this community alongside your alpha. From here on out, we are all a unit. Our pasts are behind us, and we plan for the future. The threats that face us are hoping that we’ll tear each other apart, but we’re not going to do that. You pledge yourself to me as you did Troy, and I pledge myself to this pack as he did. No more begging for forgiveness. No more confessing. No
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Chapter 136-2
more stressing about what happened. And please stop kneeling. I’m not a queen.”
Clam
“Your alpha mate has spoken,” Troy roared, and the werewolves howled with him. I almost winced at the noise that echoed off the walls. Instead, I slowly returned to my seat and looked at my oatmeal.
“Think I can have eggs now?” I asked hopefully.
Troy grinned. “Sorry. We all answer to our healer. Eat your oatmeal and prep for today. Your wolf is welcome here. Now it’s time to welcome your magic.”
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