241 Their Reasons
Not for the letters.
The kind that sinks its claws into your chest and squeezes until you can’t tell if you want to scream, vomit, or laugh.
Our distant cousin.
“I forced you to mark her.”
The air thickened between us.
And before I knew it, the tears came.
And yet… even as the weight of the truth settled on my shoulders like a boulder, the love didn’t go away.
The girl we had loved–obsessed over, fought for, hurt, and broken–was our blood.
Just how I needed it to be.
After everything… after the bond we thought we had? After the way we loved her?
Something shifted.
He sighed.
I buried my face in my hands. “Why… why didn’t you tell us? Why keep this a secret?”
I tried to stop them. God, I tried.
He looked at each of us, his eyes dark. “Your mate. Your blood. The same girl we fought so hard to push away from you three.”
“Just so you’d forget her,” Mother added softly. “We didn’t know the letters would be spelled. We only wanted her to leave you. We never wanted her dead.”
I let out a bitter laugh and shook my head, pain swelling in my chest like a storm.
I wanted to scream.
Father exhaled slowly. “Because it wasn’t my place. Parker told me Olivia’s story in confidence. But when I discovered the truth… when I realized she was part of our
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bloodline, I knew things had to end between you.”
We would have held on.
It was Olivia.
Our eyes locked.
Mother nodded faintly. “You were getting closer to Anita. We thought… maybe you’d finally forget Olivia.”
It was confusing.
Louis broke the silence, his voice hoarse. “Who are her real parents?”
“And when that happened,” Father went on, “we knew we couldn’t stop it anymore. But
we also couldn’t let the truth come out.”
I didn’t know about my brothers. Maybe they felt the same. Maybe not. But one thing echoed painfully in my chest–Father was right.
Father continued before I could speak. “Then the Moon Goddess… decided to bind you to her. All three of you.”
Neither tried to defend their actions.
My breath caught.
“You will never be forgiven for this,” I whispered.
“I had no choice,” he said, voice sharp with guilt. “An Alpha must never reject his mate -it would have raised alarms. Questions. And if the truth of her parentage came out, there would be consequences for everyone. For you. For the pack. For her. So I forced the bond to complete. Quietly.”
He paused. His voice broke slightly. “So I did what I had to do.”
I stayed silent, staring at her. Her gaze drifted over me slowly… and then she noticed it.
Softly.
“You knew she was related to us,” I said hoarsely, “and you still made us mark her?”
I just stood there. Frozen.
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Louis turned around so fast his boots scraped the marble, his fists clenched, so tightly his knuckles looked like bone. “No… no, this can’t be right.”
And then… without thinking–without planning–we kissed.
She stepped closer, gently, like she was approaching something fragile. “Lennox… are you okay?”
This pull… this ache… this invisible string that tied me to her. Even knowing the truth, I still wanted her.
Father looked at me, pain flashing in his eyes. “Maybe. But I wasn’t willing to take that risk. So yes, we forged the letters. We gave them to the guards to pass on. I acted as if I believed Parker had stolen from the pack, though I didn’t. But I needed Olivia to be cast down. I needed her to become someone you wouldn’t look at again.” 2
That’s how far gone we were.
We would have loved her anyway.
“She’s family, Lennox!” Father snapped suddenly, the calm in his voice breaking for the first time. “You were falling for her. All of you were. It wasn’t right.”
And I didn’t stop it. 14
“The plan was working,” he said, as if trying to convince himself more than us. “You hated her. She had no place in your hearts anymore. She was an omega, disgraced, avoided by everyone. And you… you were slowly moving on.”
Even if he had told us the truth back then… we wouldn’t have let her go.
Lennox’s POV
Not from her.
“I’m fine,” I muttered, turning my face away. “Just needed space.”
“We would have had the right to know!” I roared.
In front of Rebecca. A woman I barely met twenty–four hours ago.
I shook my head in disbelief. Father’s eyes shimmered–not with tears, but shame. “I was pained… Goodness, I was. I knew what I was asking you to do. Marking her meant sealing the bond forever. But if you didn’t… if you refused… the council would ask
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questions. The Moon Priestesses would get involved. Bloodline investigations would follow.”
Not for forcing us to destroy her with our own hands.
Like the world paused for a heartbeat just to watch us break every rule.
It was wrong.
No one ever came here anymore. It was always quiet… cold… still.
I thought back to Great–grandmother Hailee’s words. “Something is coming… something that will break you. But don’t be afraid–it was meant to be.”
Neither of them spoke.
But the moment she said it, something snapped inside me.
But I didn’t.
The kind of silence that swallows you whole.
She said them years ago, when I broke my arm in training and refused to show pain. She was massaging the bruise and whispered those same words to me… “You’re still human, Lennox. You’re allowed to hurt.”
I pushed the doors open and stepped inside, letting the rich scent of old books and polished wood wash over me. I walked slowly through the aisles, trying to breathe, trying to think, but nothing made sense anymore.
This was what she meant.
That memory hit me hard.
I looked up at him sharply. “So you forged letters and destroyed her life instead?”
“And what would you have done?” Father shot back. “Would you have believed me? Or would you have loved her anyway? And besides, I knew none of you would have left
her.”
But from Olivia.
Forget her?
I looked at my parents–and for the first time in my life, I felt nothing but disgust.
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“You took everything from her. You made her feel unloved, unwanted… you turned her into a ghost in her own home. And now you want to act noble? Now you want to protect her?”
I turned, and saw Rebecca at the door.
Levi clenched his fists, his jaw ticking.
Father stood firm. “I promised Parker I’d protect that part of her story. I won’t break that promise.”
My throat closed.
I turned and walked out of the throne room, not looking back. I didn’t want to hear another word. Not from them. Not from anyone.
7
She gasped softly and reached forward, pulling me into her arms.
Her words hit me like a punch to the chest.
She rubbed my back slowly, whispering, “It’s okay. Let it out.”
“Wait,” she said softly. “Sometimes… it’s okay to not be okay.”
I paused, swallowing hard.
I clung to her, my forehead buried in her shoulder, and let the sobs come.
I couldn’t breathe.
It was everything I wasn’t supposed to’want.
The redness in my eyes.
“You could’ve told us the truth!” Levi shouted.
Neither of them answered.
Because I’d heard them before.
My stomach churned.
“So you turned her into an omega,” I muttered bitterly. “Just so we’d reject her.”
My legs carried me blindly through the hallways, my heart aching. I didn’t know where
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I was going–1 just needed to be alone. Somewhere no one would think to find me. Somewhere silent.
The way my fists were trembling.
I should have pulled away.
“Not your place?” Levi snarled, stepping forward like he’d break Father’s neck with his bare hands. “You made us hate her. And now you’re suddenly silent?”
She looked just as I had last seen her–still dressed in that flowing white gown, her long dark hair tumbling over her shoulders. But her eyes widened in surprise the moment she saw me.
My lips trembled.
I froze.
Father’s expression tensed immediately. “That’s not my place to say.”
They wanted us to erase Olivia like she was nothing. Like she hadn’t been our whole damn world at one point.
She looked at me, her voice even softer now. “I know you’re an Alpha. You’ve been trained your whole life to be strong, to hold everything in. But… you’re still human.”
I don’t know how long we stayed like that, but when I finally pulled back, I met her
eyes.
But in that moment… it happened.
I hated it. I hated myself for it. But it was still there.
Silence.
A suffocating silence fell again.
But I broke.
“Oh,” she whispered. “I didn’t know anyone would come here today.”
Father ran a hand through his hair, looking more exhausted than I’d ever seen him. His voice lowered.
Louis cursed under his breath and turned away, shaking.
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I made a move to leave–quick, sharp steps–but she moved faster, blocking my path gently with her hand on my arm.
The library.
“Lennox?”
But instead, I slumped into the farthest corner near the windows. I thought I was
alone… until I heard a voice.
Cousins.
It made me want to vomit.
Not for making us hate her.
But it made sense. It made horrible, painful sense.
Slowly.
Mother stepped forward, her voice barely above a whisper. “He’s right. It’s not our story to tell.” O
Right there.
“Even now?” I growled. “After all this?”
Because in that moment, I felt safe. Warm. Like for once, someone saw through all the rage and pain and armor… and just held me.
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