Chapter 6
Weeping on his knees, my mate knocks his head into the metal table causing it to shake with the force of his impact. If he were not an Alpha, he’d have a bruise from the force of his emotion as he pours his heart out to my cold, stiff, corpse.
“I should have been there,” he gasps for air between sobs. “Damn it, Val. I thought you were just trying to get my attention. I thought you were jealous. No,” he shakes his head. “I was hoping you were jealous. I wanted you to want me, to fight for me.”
He wanted me to want him? “I never stopped wanting you, you fool!” I shout even though he cannot hear me.
“Phoebe never meant anything to me. She was just there and available,” his tears are genuine as he expresses his regret, his words a rapid stream of sorrow and missed chances for redemption. “She was just convenient and willing, we were both so
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busy and..damn it Val! Why didn’t you run? Why didn’t you come begging for help?”
Max is a mess. His hair is disheveled and
his face a ruin of red eyes and tear streaked skin. Kneeling in borrowed clothing, he looks nothing like the Alpha of one of the biggest packs in the west. He has more in common with a beggar than with Maxwell Prince, Alpha of the Golden Eclipse Pack.
“You were always so much stronger than me,” he continues, telling me about how perfect I was, the best Luna any pack could have. But the more I served the pack, the less time I had for him and the less time we
had for one another.
“I had planned to show you off last night, you know that?” His barking laugh is harsh and full of anguish. “You and me, just like before. I even bought you a nice dress for the occasion. I was always so proud of you, Valerie. Did you know that?”
No. I didn’t. I thought he didn’t love me
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anymore.
Wiping his eyes he goes over the details of the night he had planned. Champagne and chocolates. A bath followed by a massage. I’d then be dressed and made up by the best stylists and together we would have gone into the ball shining splendidly.
“I was going to propose to you again tonight, to mark our anniversary. I thought planning a renewal ceremony would help bring us together…but then you said no.”
Reeling, I think back to right before the attack, before I left for the night, all the way back to the last time Max and I spoke. He had wanted to see me privately in his
office before dinner. He said he had a
“surprise,” waiting for me.
I was angry. I knew he had been with Phoebe the night before and I was still seething. I had felt the pain of it when I had been away at the Luna conference. And now that I was home, ready to take care of the pack, he wanted to pretend like
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anymore.
Wiping his eyes he goes over the details of the night he had planned. Champagne and chocolates. A bath followed by a massage. I’d then be dressed and made up by the best stylists and together we would have gone into the ball shining splendidly.
“I was going to propose to you again tonight, to mark our anniversary. I thought planning a renewal ceremony would help bring us together…but then you said no.”
Reeling, I think back to right before the attack, before I left for the night, all the
way
back to the last time Max and I spoke. He had wanted to see me privately in his office before dinner. He said he had a
“surprise,” waiting for me.
I was angry. I knew he had been with Phoebe the night before and I was still seething. I had felt the pain of it when I had been away at the Luna conference. And now that I was home, ready to take care of the pack, he wanted to pretend like
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he hadn’t been screwing her behind my
back?
I couldn’t pretend to be happy, so I told him I had to go out to patrol. Anything to get away from him. It hurt too much to be into the same room knowing he’d toss me aside so easily.
“It’s my turn tonight,” I used as an excuse. “I’m sorry, I don’t have time. I need to go discuss formations with Dex and…”
“So you‘ re choosing Dex over me?” he had questioned, his eyes which had been so bright clouding over in disappointment.
“Go then. I’ll find someone else.
Not an hour later I could feel the pain of his betrayal on my lips.
I turn away from his misery. It sounds false to my ears as I think of what he did the night that I died. A few tears now does not make up for years of neglect and betrayal.
A delicate ping, followed by another, draws.
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my attention as a small, white pearl rolls and pauses beneath my feet.
Turning, I see him placing what remains of my pearl necklace on my chest reverently.
“I had wanted to make you jealous,” his voice is rough, like sandpaper on dry wood as he rasps. “I was angry, I wanted you to hurt, but I didn’t want you to die.”
“Please, Valerie, forgive me.”
I step closer.
His head snaps around and our gazes lock.
He can see me.
“Valerie.”
