Alpha Nocturne’s Contracted Mate by A E Randell
Chapter 46 They f0rced My Change!
forward to sit at her side, the two of them staring out furiously of Ann’s eyes.
“No. Ann… wait… we can’t just go rushing headlong in there…”
“Why? Why can’t we? What if my father is in danger?” Ann protested loudly, pushing Adam away and grabbing her coat.
“Ann, be rational about this for a second. If they wanted your father dead, they could have done so a long time ago. I think he’s safe, for now.”
Ann snarled furiously.
“For now? Then I should stand by idly and do nothing while they carry on as normal and work towards whatever nefarious goal they have?!” She snapped. “What if you try to talk to your father?” Adam tried to reason with her. “Surely your father will listen…”
Ann scoffed loudly.
“Oh sure, because that went so well every other time I’ve tried. He didn’t even give a sh*t when my mother was fading away before his eyes and he…”
Ann suddenly froze as she gripped Adam for support. She swore loudly and her legs seemed to sag from beneath her.
“Adam… they k*il*led my mother… they had to have done it! Oh… I’m so stupid! I should have stopped them! I should have…” Ann trailed off into breathless sobs as Adam held her tightly against his chest.
In all honesty, he was more than a little perplexed by the whole situation. Seeing her so distraught and grief- stricken almost tore his heart in two and his wolf bayed for the blood of the people that had done this to her.
He tried his best to soothe the beast within whilst he supported her to sit and cradled her, muttering soothing words and rubbing her back.
“I’m so stupid…” she whispered over and over.
“Ann, that’s not true. I promise you. There’s no way that you could have known.”
“But it all makes sense now! My mother confined herself to one wing of the palace. It was ours, just me and her. My father had visited every now and then but then suddenly it stopped… and Narcissa began poking around with Ada. After that, she seemed to lose all hope. The fight left her entirely and she just… gave up, becoming weaker and weaker by the day.”
Ann paused, staring blankly ahead as she relived that time of her life.
“If I had been smarter I would have seen it. At first, her wolf refused to be beaten and then… it went quiet… we lost our mother and our father the day that those bloods*ckers moved in.” Ann hissed.
It wasn’t often that Adam was lost for words, but he was angry… angrier than he had ever been before.
If the wolf was cut off from its human counterpart, it slowly went insane and if the human was lost inside the wolf… they became feral.
The thought that Ann bore witness to this as a child and somehow held herself responsible for his mother’s descent infuriated him beyond all reason.
The fact that these two women had walked into the life of the Alpha King and not a single person challenged him made him question the way the noble court was run. It was not a dictatorship. The monarchy existed as a representation of the strongest of the races.
How can an Alpha King govern effectively and oversee pack relations if he can’t even keep his home affairs in order??
Regardless of whether or not he l*sted after this woman, he was mated and marked, a leader of his people, and he should have been stronger. He was morally weak and that was not acceptable.
“Your father must take his share of the blame too Ann. The responsibility does not lie with you alone.” Adam growled as she lifted her tear-streaked face to stare up at him. <1
“And if he too, is cursed? Bewitched and vulnerable? You said it yourself, we wolves are not familiar with the ways of witches anymore… not since the Daemon wars, so there is no one for us to turn to for help. How would he have known?” Ann said softly.
Adam knew she was right. After all, it was the same reason that he could not find the origins of this curse. No one knew where to start looking anymore because the witches had secluded themselves away after hundreds of years of persecution.
Then it hit him.
“What about Lexi?” Adam asked flatly.
“What about her?” Ann asked her face a mask of confusion.
“She has both witch and daemon heritage doesn’t she? Perhaps she will be able to answer the questions that we have.”