CHAPTER 48

Adele fought hard for self control. She wanted to scream and cry but it was daylight and people could see her. They had watched her make her way to Asher's house and she knew they watched as she left with false pride. They did not have to know how mortified she felt.
Her disgrace had been witnessed by not just Shana, but also the lowly Omega with her. She would have loved to beat the daylight out of the girl she had disappeared before she could get hold of her.
She hated feeling helpless and it was all her father's fault. She did not know why someone who claims to be on her side would want her to keep the juicy piece of information they had about Asher's mate to themselves. That decision was slowly killing her and if she was going to continue to watch the bitch being happy and keep her mouth shut at the same time, he was going to have to give her reasons.
The only one suffering here was her. Everyone else was happy and they had people they loved, especially Shana. She had been so convinced about Rose's feelings for her that she had not believe any of her lies.
Why was life so unfair to her? All she ever asked for was Asher's heart.
She stormed into her house, slamming the door on its hinges. "Dad?," she called out loudly. He should start explaining what he was really up to before she decided to spill the beans.
"In here," he called back from his study. Adele marched to him in anger then stopped short when she discovered he was not alone.
Her brother was there standing by the window.
The wind went out of her sail when she saw him. She could not talk about Shana with her brother present. He was not supposed to know anything about what she had found out.
"Hey Del," he said smiling at her.
She was wrong about one thing. She had someone that loved her. She knew Mark would bend over himself in order to please her. It had always been that way since their mother passed. At one time, it had been that way with Asher too. But she also knew the love Mark had for her was not going to stop him from doing what was right. He was going to pick his role as a Beta over being a brother when it came to it.
His love was not enough for her. She wanted more.
"What are you doing here?," she asked.
"Waiting for you."
"Is everything OK?," she asked looking from him to her father, who was silently observing both of them.
"Everything is fine. I haven't been seeing you. So I dropped in to check up on you," he said looking at her meaningfully.
"Oh," she muttered at a lose for something else to say.
Mark looked from her to his father. "Is something bothering you? You looked like you wanted to discuss something really urgent with Dad."
"Really?," she asked stupidly. "I just wanted to check if he was in," she lied smoothly.
"Why did you want to know if he was in or not? I mean, it's not something you do."
Adele knew what Mark was doing. He was trying to make her flustered and eventually reveal the truth. He already suspected something was up.
"Well, I do that now," she snapped at him and turned to give her father a meaningful look.
Mark watched his sister storm out like she stormed in. Something was definitely fishy from the way Adele had frozen when she saw him to the stony look his father had been giving her.
"What's going on with her?"
"Nothing is going on with her. She's just being a woman, that's all," his father evaded.
He never expected to hear the truth. He bade his sister goodbye after and told her to call him if she wanted to call, knowing she was not going to. But he had to try.
"What was that all about?," her father entered her room about half an hour after Mark left.
"Why do we need to look on while that imposter rules beside Asher as Luna? Why can't we tell everyone the truth?," Adele screamed at her father.
"Because the time is not right," he answered stonily.
"When is the right time? I deserve to know."
"Whenever I decide and until then, you are going to do as I say," Thomas pronounced angrily.
"I don't have to do what you say," she answered defiantly. "I'm going to go right now and tell him he's been living under the same roof with a murderer."
She never made it to the door before her father's death grip on her shoulder jerked her back and she landed hard on the floor. The impact made her teeth snap together.
Adele wanted to cry. It was the second time in a day she was finding herself defenseless on the floor. She hated her father. She never really had much liking for him but what little feeling she ever had for him evaporated there and then. He was just a controlling, manipulative prick. She hated Shana. In fact, she felt hatred for the whole world.
"If you as much as say a world to the Alpha, I'll make sure you regret the day you were born," Thomas said angrily, splotches of colour staining his cheeks.
"I already regret it," she muttered to herself.
"You won't ruin my perfect plan. You want to be Luna and you only have to wait for a little bit more. Victory is within our reach," he continued angrily.
She did not want to be just any Luna. She wanted to be Asher's Luna but her father didn't understand that. He kept on going on about being Luna to another Alpha. She could not blame him. He never knew what it meant to love another person.
She loved Asher so much, even though she was hating him and wanting him to feel pain for all he had been doing lately.
Thomas stared helplessly at his errant daughter. All he wanted to do was to protect her. She had no idea what it was going to cost her to divulge the truth. He felt the same way she felt about it, but he could do nothing.
"I'll be gone now and I expect you to start acting your age."
Adele stared defiantly at her father's departing back. He just wanted to keep the truth hidden for his own selfish reasons. He did not care about her or what she wanted.
She was done being a pushover. She would do whatever she wanted whenever she wished.
And she was convinced Asher deserved to know the truth.
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"She's been waiting for you," Rose's housekeeper said bowing to Shana when she entered the imposing living room.
Rose was waiting for her? But how? Did the woman read minds?
She had decided after Adele left to go see her and that was just about an hour ago. Shana had made up her mind. Whether Rose was responsible for telling her secret to Adele or not, it was high time the truth came out. She was tired of the guilt she felt for deceiving Asher. Maybe this was all for the better.
She followed the housekeeper to the place she had dinner with Rose and unburdened her heart weeks ago. Rose was there waiting for her.
The woman left and then, they were alone.
"How did you know I was coming?," Shana asked suspiciously.
"You don't have to worry about that. I guess you've a lot of questions for me."
"Why do you keep my secret?" She had only to see Rose's eyes to know she was not a tattletale. Her secret was safe with the woman but she was left wondering how Adele had found out about her. That was something to think about later.
"I want you to sit down. I'm going to be telling one of my stories," she said gesturing to the opposite armchair. Shana did not even realize she was still standing. She lowered herself into the chair and looked expectantly at Rose.
"When I met Asher's mother for the very first time, I was intrigued. I found out she did not have a pulse or a beating heart. She was obviously not human and neither was she a shifter. Then my son told me she was a Crier. I got confused," she said quietly then continued. "She was not the first Crier I had met. I met a couple of your kind before her and they were different. They had normal, beating hearts except for the very pale skin. But I didn't bother finding answers because Adam was hellbent on taking her as his mate and she claimed to love him. Then after Asher was born, something happened."
"What happened?" Shana felt so impatient.
"A distant cousin of hers showed up. Before that, she claimed to have no one but it was all a lie. The cousin turned out to be like the other Criers I knew before her; she had a beating heart. She was not here for long because there was no place for her here. She had just lost her husband. She was distraught and she had nowhere to go but I befriended her. That was when I solved the mystery."
"What was the answer to your mystery?," she asked. But Shana already knew.