Twice Tempted: Between Two Alphas (Mia and Cameron)

Chapter 90

Chapter Ninety

ASHLEY

I’m not sure how I came to be where I am.

In the literal sense, I’m on a plane.

I’m sitting next to my new husband, whom up until recently was the same Alpha I’d devoted myself to

killing.

Fate has a terrible sense of humor.

A series of decisions—most of them bad–put us on this collision course. When I look back at the years

of my life, the joys and blessings I took for granted as a child and teen, the family that was my

foundation for everything…I still cannot believe how horribly wrong it could have gone.

My mother–mothers–are dead.

One by her own hand. The other by mine.

I traded my lineage, a gift I neither accepted nor understood, in my blind quest for vengeance.

I hurt and used a good man. Alienated my sister.

Lied, stole and cheated, all in my quest for war.

But my biggest crime… what I’ve done to my daughter.

I hold back a sob.

Eric glances at me from across the plane. He’s…attuned to me. We may not have marked each other

with our true forms or traded blood as is done in the old tradition–because they’ve stripped me of my

wolf–but we are joined, all the same.

I wish more than anything this wasn’t the case.

And the loss of my wolf… having Isis ripped from my body, feeling her soul splinter from mine… the

agony was unspeakable.

And I know quite a bit about pain.

The physical kind that detaches your mind from your body, and the emotional pain–the torturous loops

of memories and horrors that sink their claws into your soul and don’t let go.

Eric’s dark eyes are cold. He has no sympathy for me or my plight. Yet HE is the one who set the

match to the fire that razed my whole life.

“We’ll land soon,” he tells me.

He rakes a hand through his thick dark hair and I hate that I notice the flex of his bicep and the way the

dark strands fall back into place.

He’s tense, dreading the return to his pack because no doubt my presence is going to cause an uproar.

“The deed is done,” I say quietly. “We can call this a mating in name only. There is no need for us to …

burden each other.”

He scoffs but doesn’t look at me. His gaze remains focused on the window. He looks longingly at the

landscape as the plane descends.

Is he thinking of my sister? Missing her?

He’s made no secret of wanting her over me.

My sister who lived such a charmed life. Beloved by not one Alpha but two. Whilst I was set up to fail.

Misled by my own mother.

Abandoned. Broken. Betrayed.

If my mom indeed could See anything, then why didn’t she see far enough to spare me the horrors of

this war? Instead her cryptic message left us vulnerable.

I was vulnerable.

And when Eric’s men came… there was no grand wedding.

But those monsters sure had their way with the bride.

I shudder.

Bile rises in my throat.

You’re alive. You survived.

If I let myself dwell on those horrors…

Breathe. Just breathe.

Eric’s watching me carefully now. His brows draw together and his full mouth turns down.

“Let me go, Eric.”

His eyes flinch when I say his name. Does he think I’ll call him Alpha? Husband? He is none of those

things to me. Not really.

“Where is your brother?” he asks.

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” I taunt him.

He growls angrily.

If I had my wolf, no doubt he’d use his Alpha power to bend me to his will, to force me to give up the

only family I have left.

Fuck this man.

I’ll never betray my brother. Philipe was the one–the only one–who dragged me back from the brink. He

gave me purpose when I just wanted to die.

“I’ll not tolerate any more attacks, Ashley.” Then, more quietly, “And surely you realize that an attack on

your mate would in turn harm you.”

I swallow hard.

It’s true.

But that is a sacrifice I am willing to make.

It was a conscious choice I made all those years ago when Philipe killed those men. I glance at my

wrists. They shackled me in silver so I couldn’t shift.

So I couldn’t fight back. I was helpless then. Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

My wolf is gone–and I’m helpless now.

I glance away.

“This is a stalemate, Ash. We need to find a way forward.”

I turn back to him. My mom–the one who raised me–she used to call me Ash.

The thought brings tears to my eyes.

Before I can say anything else, his phone rings.

When he answers, I hear Cam’s voice. “Eric, it’s me. Are you with Ashley? We may have found a way

to save Merilee...”