CHAPTER 50

Mark watched his sister trembling before the Alpha. For a moment, he saw a little glimpse of the happy little girl he had grown up with. The girl was beautiful, innocent, smart, curious to know the world and hungry for knowledge. Then, the hunger had turned to one for attention and power.
He didn't know when it had happened and he blamed himself. He had believed he had been there for her always but the truth stared him in the face as the power hungry young woman before him gathered her courage and ruined a perfect thing.
"Your mate is an imposter. She's been lying to you. Shana is a Cri...," her words ended on a gasp as Asher's throttling hold on her neck crushed the air in her windpipes.
"You will not say her name with your filthy mouth or insult her. My mate is above you. She's a woman you should aspire to be but you'll never be," Asher said in a strangled whisper as he watched Adele's eyes roll back in her head. Her hand made feeble attempts to dislodge his hand but her strength was no match for his.
Mark watched helplessly as his friend's eyes changed color to his wolf's. At that point, the man before him was a killer before anything else and the rage rolling off him was enough to smother him if he moved anywhere close to him. But watching his sister fighting to take air into her lungs, gasping and coughing, was a sight he could not watch.
"My Alpha please. Let her go," he said in a voice he did not recognize as his own. The emotions were threatening to choke him.
Asher released her when Mark's voice intruded. He had let go and his wolf had taken over. He stared down at his hand and then at Adele, bent over in Mark's arms and gasping convulsively.
"She deserved it. She slighted our authority several times and she was forgiven. But no one gets away with slandering our mate," his wolf raged, still itching to get it's paws into Adele.
"I do not want to see you within miles of my mate. I do not want to see you within miles of my office or dare to stand before me ever again. I do not want to ever hear you say her name. Those are your Alpha's orders. If you disobey any of these rules, you shall be duly punished," Asher declared and turned his back to the siblings, effectively dismissing them.
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"What is wrong with you Del? I can barely recognize you anymore," Mark shouted and slammed his hand hard on the steering wheel.
He had decided to drive her home as soon as they left Asher's office before he changed his mind and came after her again. Plus, she was in no state to drive as she cried, the tears falling down her beautiful face copiously.
"Don't you dare shout at me!," she screamed back through her tears. "I don't deserve all these. I only loved him enough to think he deserved to know the truth about his mate. Tell me,what's wrong about me loving him?"
"Because he doesn't love you and the sooner you get that into your thick head, the better for everyone. He's mated Del and he's perfectly happy," Mark said in a much calmer voice, shaking his head in wonder even as he made the last statement. "He's so happy like I've never seen before and he deserves it," he added.
"He thinks he's happy but I'm sure he's not. I can see it in his eyes," she insisted adamantly.
"I didn't want to make this about me but I think you should know your behaviour has been making things awkward between Asher and I since you both had to path ways because of your vain lifestyle. Then you've been hitting on him nonstop since he became Alpha. We used to be so close but thanks to you, he barely sees me as a friend anymore. When are you going to grow up and stop being selfish Del?," he said raising his voice again.
"Are you even listening to me? This isn't about your friendship that went down the drain. It's about me. I love him and he can only be happy with me. That Crier is doing something to him. She's casting a spell and giving him the illusion of happiness."
"What are you talking about?," he said turning to look in her direction momentarily. "She's not a Crier."
"Yes, she is. Why are you the only two blind to the truth? That was what I was trying to tell him. She's only here because he's just a job to her. His late stepfather sent her here," she argued, then added when she saw a little bit of doubt enter his eyes. "She knows everything about him and she's here to do what his mother did to the late Alpha. Tell me, how's that going to make him happy?"
Mark parked beside the road. Then he started laughing at his sister's desperation. Now, she was coming up with damning tales about Shana. He could just imagine what Asher would do if he got wind of any of it.
"You need to believe me," Adele said in a rush.
"I can't believe you Del, because you sound so desperate. What has come over you? I can't even believe you are acting out this way, like an errant child," he said with all the calm he was not feeling.
"I'm not desperate and I'm not a child. I know what I heard and saw."
"What did you see?"
"I saw her talking to Rose and I overheard everything they said. I didn't plan on eavesdropping but it just happened," she added quickly when she saw the censor in his eyes.
"I still don't believe you. Rose would never be a party to anything that would hurt Asher," he said in spite of the doubt taking root in his mind. Adele might sound desperate but her eyes were not lying but he could be seeing what she wanted him to.
"Don't you get it? Maybe the woman doesn't love him like she has led everyone to believe and who could blame her? He's not her biological grandson anyway and his mother ruin the only child she was blessed with," she argued in a rush. "I wouldn't be surprised if she has more plans I don't even know about."
Mark was at a lose for words. He could see the logic in all she was saying. If it was all true, then Asher was not safe from his mate. Neither was he safe from his own grandmother.
He could not begin to imagine what a betrayal that great would do to Asher. He loved both women with his life. It was evident to anybody who cared to look. If he found out that the two people he loved most in the world didn't feel the same about him, it would break him.
"You can't ever tell him. I need to find a way to sort it out," he said to his sister.
"Why does everyone keep saying I shouldn't tell him?"
"Who else told you not to tell him? Who else did you tell about all these already?," he asked gripping her arm.
"I only told Dad and he aid we could tell him when the time was right," she said snatching her arm out of his tight hold.
"When did he say is the right time?," Mark asked with a lift of his brow.
"He didn't say."
"Did he say anything else?"
Adele grew quiet. That was the answer to his question. "What did he say?"
She shook her head and turned her face away from his. He gripped her and shook her hard. "Tell me."
"I don't know, OK? He doesn't tell me much. All I know is that he's been going on about me being a Luna but not to Asher but he doesn't understand it's Asher for me or no one else. And I know he was meeting up with someone but I don't know who," she finished in a high pitched voice. "Just let go of my arm."
"Sorry," he muttered.
Mark's mind was trying to take all he was hearing in. He was failing both as a brother and a Beta. He had been too busy playing the role of a rich,normal human male with a high-end job. He realized he had failed to pay attention to what really mattered around him.
"Can we go now?," Adele asked petulantly.
"Not just yet. I need you to do me a favour, more than a favour actually."
"Why do you think I'll do you any favour? You've been mean to me and you don't take my side anymore."
"I'm always on your side Del. Trust me," he said holding her hand. "I just think you need to make better choices."
She shook her head. "I've made my choice and it's Asher. I either have him or no one else will."
"You are obsessed. Do you know what happens to rogue wolves?," he asked quietly.
"I'm not going rogue."
"The fact that you deny it is enough evidence. Asher doesn't want you."
"He does but he doesn't know it yet."
Mark sighed in defeat. "I think he's in danger."
"I know that already. That imposter wants him dead."
"No. I'm not talking about his mate or grandmother. I'm talking about our father."
"No, that can't be."
"I need you to trust me on this and that's where I need your help."