Chapter 53: I once had a dream.
Ava's POV
I couldn't understand the games the goddess was playing with me. Why was I so tense at the thought of having Raphael as my mate? Perhaps it was because I had once had a mate, a mate who stood with the very ones who destroyed me and even applauded their cruelty. One who took pleasure in seeing me broken beyond anything else.
Not only was that mate a nephew of Raphael’s, but he was also his uncle, his only sister’s son. The tangled web of relationships felt suffocating. Would Raphael take my side if he knew the truth? Would he feel the same anger I did towards Moonstone, or would blood loyalty sway him? Would he end moonstone pack like I wanted to? Would he decide to save his sister's son rather than me?
Could I even trust this new mate of mine? I liked Raphael, more than I wanted to admit. He made me feel seen, cherished even, but the hatred I harbored towards his nephew was a fire that refused to be extinguished, and somehow, it was a boundary I used in drawing the line between us, so I didn't cross it. I didn’t just want revenge. I wanted their lives, all of them. I had no intention of letting any of them walk free. I wanted them to rot away in ashes.
“I once had a terrible dream when I was at Moonstone Pack, at the age of twenty-one,” I said, deciding to share my story. Perhaps not directly, but enough for him to understand.
“What happened in the dream?” Raphael asked, his attention as unwavering as ever.
“I was killed by those I loved,” I began, my voice trembling. “My mate rejected me to marry my sister, but he refused to sever the mate bond. He loved control, loved seeing me suffer. Delighted in my suffering, I never could understand why.”
I turned to look at him, the memory forcing tears to well in my eyes, but I held them back. I had promised myself never to shed tears on those people ever again until the day I brought Karma to them.
“Did you kill them?” he asked, his fists clenching at his sides.
“No, I couldn’t. I was weak and powerless, helpless even. Everyone walked over me. The pack hated me, spreading horrid lies about me. My sisters despised me, my mother loathed me, and my father saw me as a disgrace. In the dream, I discovered that my mother had colluded with a witch to strip me of my wolf. She was the reason they mocked me, called me wolf-less and worthless. She knew all along, and she let it happen because I reminded her of something she lost, she had once told me, when I asked her.”
I took a deep breath, trying to steady my pounding heart. The helplessness, the hatred, the anguish, it all came flooding back, dragging me into the darkness of my past life, almost drowning me with it.
“Did they at least die in your dream?” Raphael asked, his voice low and dangerous. His whole body radiated a tension that mirrored my own. He looked ready to take on anyone.
How I had longed for someone to fight for me then. I had been so alone. Dying should have been my choice, but instead, I survived only to be killed by my own sisters for a man who didn’t give a damn about me.
“No, they didn’t die,” I said, the bitterness and regret thick in my voice. “I was the one who died. My sisters, Annabelle and Helena, beat me until my bones shattered. It happened under the full moon, a nightmare I could never wake from. They broke every bone in my body, tearing my hands apart. Helena delivered the final blow when she ripped my heart from my chest. Then she squashed my heart before life was snuffed out of me.”
I paused, my voice breaking. “No one came to my rescue. I lay there in a pool of my own blood. Even my mate... he even raped me that night before I had been killed."
Raphael’s face twisted in anguish as I looked at him. The pain etched into his features was like a balm to my wounded heart, a heart that had been shattered too many times to count. A heart that had needed someone to see her.
He shifted closer and took my hands in his, his touch gentle despite the storm raging within him. A warm drop landed on my skin, followed by another and another. He was crying. The great Lycan King was crying for me.
“I will never let anything so horrible happen to you again,” he said, his voice shaking. “Not even if it is in a dream.”
Ah, this man. How could I ever hate someone like him?
“I’m not done,” I said, my voice quieter now. “That night, I thought it was finally over for me. I thought I would finally die. You know, through all of my suffering at Moonstone, it never occurred to me to take my own life. I fought so hard to survive, only for it to be stolen by my sisters...for a man.”
I looked down at our joined hands, the weight of my memories crushing me. “As I lay dying in that dream, I promised myself I would never forgive them. But then I woke up. I was back in my room, as if nothing had happened. But I knew something had. It was more than a dream, it was my reality.”
Raphael’s grip on my hands tightened, his anger palpable. “Would you ever forgive them?” he asked softly.
“No,” I said firmly. “I don’t think I can. Killing them might not even give me the justice I need.”
“What do you want from me?” he asked, his voice steady but filled with a quiet rage. “If you want me to burn Moonstone Pack to the ground, I will. Just say the word.”
The raw fury in his eyes mirrored my own.
“Would you really annihilate them if I asked you to?” I asked, searching his face for doubt, hoping he would say no. I needed a reason to keep my distance, to resist falling deeper into him.
"Yes," he said without hesitation. " If that's what you want, I would do it."
Log in with Google Account
Chapters
Favorite
Settings
