The Alpha's Exchanged Mate
The Alpha’s Exchanged Mate – Chapter 70

Edwina’s POV…

As soon as I stood up, I could feel Alex’s hands on my wrist. I glanced at him, and it was one of those moments when you don’t communicate with your mouth or your lips, but your mind, body, heart, and soul does all the communication.

I could see him asking me.

“Are you sure about this?” When he held my wrist, I could feel our soul connect to the inner part of our being. I wasn’t sure about this but hearing my sister speak for the first time, I saw her for who she truly was. She is a fighter just like me, who had learned to hide in the shell of self-denial and perfectionism.

She had been abused by her own father, my father. The man I assumed to be biased toward me and had loved her more. But that wasn’t love, and if it was so, I am glad he didn’t get to show me that kind of love.

My mind went back to some awkward moments I had witnessed growing up and had thought it was an exceptional love and bond that existed between them, but it was not so. It wasn’t a forbidden act on display before us, but no one saw it.

I wondered if sometimes Sonia being hostile toward me was an attempt to protect me or a cry for help. Then I remember when we fought a long time ago.

“You don’t know what it’s like to be me. You have always been the perfect daughter,” I had told her.

“Perfect,” she scoffed at the word and laughed hysterically.

“I bet you if you trade lives with me and my so-called perfect life, you won’t have so much pleasure in it,” she had told me, and I had not gotten to understand what she had meant by that. I thought she was just playing and acting modestly. But she wasn’t, she meant it, but I never saw it.

I gently walked down the steps at the altar of the throne where I sat. My hands were now free from the grip Alex had on me as I had assured him this was what I wanted to do. My veil was still covering my face as I saw Sonia’s face. She was still perplexed, still trying to replace out what she could make out of all these. And then I walked to the stand that was meant for the witness, all eyes were still on me, and mostly Sonia’s eyes were on me. I wondered if her heart had already told her that I was the one behind the veil. I saw Caleb glaring at me as they all watched what my next move would be. If I am, to be honest, I also anticipate my next move because I wasn’t sure what it would be, would I go back to my seat and act like it was some sort of prank or bad joke from my path, or would I go through with it and face all the repercussions that come afterward. But then that was something I wasn’t sure I was willing to bare, I also thought about Sonia and how she would feel at the moment, she was already in pain, and she might not be able to bear this extra shock.

My mind flashed back to the conversation I had earlier with Caleb. That was before I talked with Becca and also Alex. I was worried that Alex had been avoiding the trial, and I had gone to his office to look for him, but I didn’t see him.

It was frustrating because I felt like he was purposely hiding from me. And I didn’t want him to do that. Why can’t we have talks like other normal couples who get to disagree and settle things amicably? But in the face of any inconvenience when it comes to Alex and me, either of us disappears or runs away to hide, and when we are done hiding, we get to have s*x and act like it never happened.

So I also went to look for him in Caleb’s office, which I had thought would be the second best bonding spot, but unfortunately for me, he wasn’t there.

Caleb was inside, sitting before his computer and typing fast. It looked like he had been sitting on that desk for hours and had not taken any rest whatsoever.

And I sat down opposite him before he noticed I had even entered the office.

“Luna Edwina, ” he said when he finally noticed my presence and was a little bit shocked to see me sitting before him.

“You startled me there a bit. How may I be of service to you?” He asked, and I smiled. I wasn’t sure if I should just go directly to the point and ask him where Alex was, or I should just go ahead and beat around the bush a little before I finally got home with my question. I went for the former.

“I am looking for Alex. Have you seen him ?” I asked calmly, trying not to sound worried. I wasn’t just a little bit anxious about all that was going on In my sister’s trial and Alex avoiding me. So he glared at me for a little while before answering. I wasn’t sure if he was trying to read my countenance to know the kind of answer In which he would give to me.

“I think he went out horse riding early this morning,”

I wanted to say okay, and then I realized he was messing with me because I was aware that Alex can’t ride a horse. After all, he could barely walk.

And I burst into laughter, we both shared in the laughter heartily, and I could feel half of the tension I was feeling from all the events happening in sequence washed down the drain.

“I am not sure where he is, but I know he will be back soon,” he finally said when we were both out of the heavy laughter state.

“Okay, ” I breathed out, “thank you so much,” I said.

“What is wrong?” He asked, and I could see that he sincerely cared to know, and he wasn’t asking only because he was obliged to ask.

“Did you two have another problem?” He asked further when I was quiet for a while.

“I am not sure if we did or not, but lately, he had been avoiding me because I proposed a trial for Sonia, and today is that trial, and he doesn’t want to discuss it with me because I am perfectly aware that the outcome of the meeting lies in ninety percent in his hand, even with the elders, he controls their decision.” I paused when I noticed I was blurting out too much at once and wasn’t precisely processing all the information I was giving out before all these.

“I think you are focusing on the wrong thing,” he said gently to me. I cast my hands around the office, hoping to replace the next topic changer because I knew he was about to change the table and focus it on me. I wasn’t sure I wanted to be on the hot seat at this moment. I wanted to just have to explain to anyone how I feel about all these.

“She listed you as a witness,” he finally stated. And I glared at him.

“Yes, that was after she asked me, and I told her I couldn’t do it,” I replied to him.

“Hmm,” he breathed out, “she didn’t remove it. She said she was sure that you would show up for her,”

And that word or bunch of sentences alone broke me, the remaining piece of me that was left string that didn’t want to break, finally let loose, and I could help but wonder why I could be so fragile.

I teared up and began to cry, and quickly almost instantly, Caleb got up and headed to where I sat and put his hands on my back.

“All these must be hard for you, from the cheating to a failed marriage, to remarrying, to Ben’s escape, now the possibility of your sister’s freedom almost resting in your hands,” he handed me a handkerchief. I took it willingly from his hands and sobbed into it for a little while before handing it over back to him. “It must be a lot for you,”

It was truly a lot for me, and sometimes I tried to hide under the disguise of being a nice person to shield the actual pain I was feeling.

“I think you need to decide what you want to do when it comes to your sister and stick to it so that you don’t get to go and act out another script that is based on emotions,” he said to me.

I felt really ashamed that I got to break down before him, but I felt like he was someone I could talk to.

“I am not sure what I want to do, but I am not sure I would take the stance. There is so much battle I can fight in a day,”

“Then no matter what you do, don’t take that stance,”

And now here I was before Caleb, I just took an oath of truth.

“For transparency reasons, we require you to open your veil,” and I knew that was the moment of reckoning and truth. I am sure Sonia had her speculation already, and her face showed perplexion, but as soon as I lifted the veil above my head, I saw her world breaking through her eyes as realization hit her.

Her sister, Edwina, is Luna.