Mated To The Cold Hearted Alpha
Chapter 93

When daylight broke, Hycinth stirred beneath the covers. Not quite awake, she instinctually reached for my side of the bed. Finding it empty, she sat up and looked around the room. Hair disheveled, confusion colored her expression for a moment until her eyes rested on me. And then, I could see her remember that today wasn’t like our previous days.

Today, she was leaving me. Her face fell.

Without speaking, she got up and went into the bathroom.

I stared down at my hands. Dread churned an uneasy pit in my stomach.

Several minutes later, Hycinth returned, hair combed, the makeup smudges beneath her eyes removed.

Pushing myself wearily to my feet, I walked across the room to her.

Hycinth froze mid-step, one hand extended to stop me from coming any closer. “Leander, I can’t.”

“I know,” I muttered. “I just need to…tell you something.”

Hycinth’s brows furrowed, recognizing distress in my features. “What is it?” she asked softly.

My heart twisted painfully in my chest.

Damnit, Ever! Even though I didn’t want it, he’d made me hope. He’d made me think that just maybe I could change her mind with this conversation. But would she even believe me? That was the question. And even if she did, would it change anything?

I cut off my chaotic thoughts. Time to consider was gone. I just needed to tell her.

“Your parents…” I took a deep breath, “killed my mother.”

I waited tensely for her response, but when it came, it most certainly wasn’t what I expected.

Pain and sorrow flickered through her lake blue eyes. Those emotions made sense.

But noticeably absent was surprise.

Wait a minute…?

My heart skipped a beat, the truth ripping my chest wide open. I’d assumed Hycinth was unaware of the horrible things her father had done. But her reaction attested otherwise.

Oh, f**k…she knew!

Hycinth was silent.

The enormity of the truth hit me. My brain replayed all of the conversations we’d had about her parents. She’d never once asked why I did what I did. She’d been angry that I took her parents from her, but she never once confronted me about my reasoning. Even when I offered it, she didn’t want it!

My world tilted on a dime, leaving me unbalanced and faltering.

How? How could she have known what that bastard did and still hate me? Judged me so harshly as to be beyond repair as her mate?

And how could I have so misjudged her innocence? Missed such a vital detail? I never once questioned her culpability. But in retrospect, it was glaringly obvious. Who in their right mind wouldn’t confront their parent’s killer and demand to know why? The answer was simple…someone who already knew!

The words rasped brokenly from my throat, “You…knew?”

“Lucky told me,” she whispered, looking down, avoiding my eyes.

“He told you,” I repeated, dumbfounded, “He told you everything?”

“Yes,” she replied, even softer, “He explained the… violence. I’m sorry…you had to replace her like that and lost her…in that way.” She still refused to look at me.

Hands clenched into fists, I took a step forward and snarled, “And yet my action-my just retribution- is unforgivable? Do you condone their actions?”

Head snapping up, she recoiled from my anger, taking a step back to keep distance between us.

“I’m not saying that. There are always casualties on both sides of war. The conflict between our packs started long before us. The killing and subsequent retribution has occurred on both sides for many years. But if I accept your reasoning for killing my father -because he killed your mother -then, using the same logic, the outcome is not my mating you, it’s my killing you. A life for a life, right?”

I stood in astonished silence that Hycinth could even compare what her parents had done…the depth of their depravity…to any other act of war.

Hycinth inhaled a shaky breath. “My parents killed your mother so you killed them. Should I employ the same justice you did? I know it’s the wolves’ way and maybe I should…but I can’t. I just can’t kill you.”

Tears filled her eyes. She wiped them away with her fingertips. “But I also cannot accept you as my mate. Please don’t ask me to do that. I will never be able to accept you…regardless of the bond or my feelings.”

Her words tore through me, leaving a hole in my heart, a void…never to be filled again.

It truly was over.

The realization left me unable to breathe. Howling his agony in my head, my Wolf was unable to accept her answer, but even he could see there was no hope left…for either of us.

Pain like I’d never felt before, seared through my insides.

Another tear rolled down her cheek. Hycinth reached for me, her hand trembling.

Recoiling, I took a step back to avoid her touch.

She inhaled sharply and dropped her hand.

I couldn’t let her touch me. Not now. Never again.

My Wolf was dying on the inside. He was fracturing into tiny pieces. I would be lucky to survive his devastation, let alone my own.

“I’m sorry…I’m not trying to hurt you. My primal nature is attracted to you, but I…I don’t love you.” She swallowed thickly. “I’m not saying it won’t be painful for me as well, but we will both heal. And it will take you no time at all to replace someone else.”

Really??

Those were her parting words to me? I’ll replace someone else? I wanted to scream but my throat was locked tight. There was no air left my lungs.

Lost to his anguish and confusion, my Wolf stared at her forlornly through my eyes, silently begging her not to leave him. He didn’t understand why his mate didn’t want him. What had he done so wrong that she couldn’t love him? Was he that worthless…that unlovable?

She had just broken him beyond repair.

I could feel it.

How could she possibly have judged us so harshly, knowing the truth…the horrible pain and torture they’d inflicted on my mother?

“You’ve never expressed any regret over taking away the two most important people from me,” Hycinth said, her tone accusing. “I can see it in your eyes. If you had to make the same decision now, you would do it all over again, even knowing they were my parents, wouldn’t you?”

“Are you serious right now?” I snarled.

Her face fell. “I guess I know the answer.”

Fury and pain exploded together in my chest. “You’re damn straight I would make the same decision!”

How could she possibly think anything else?

“The sadist bastards deserved everything I gave them. If anything, I showed mercy and didn’t drag it out, laughing and enjoying myself as they did while spilling the b***d of an innocent,” I spat.

I couldn’t do this.

Not anymore.

Without another word, I spun around and strode out the door.

A whimper came from her lips…or maybe it was mine. I couldn’t turn around to see. I couldn’t bear to look into the face of the woman I thought she was, the illusion I’d loved and fought so hard for…and lost.