Chapter 2

“Looks like a stupid dog that still doesn’t know her place among this pack,” Fawn smirked.

Aretha paused her playing, “I don’t know what you mean. I always play on my birthday as I used to in Moon’s River for my father. This part of the packhouse is off limits. Why are you three here?”

“Interesting, I don’t recall allowing you bitch to have such hobbies.” Fawn just raised an eyebrow.

The three girls’ faces went pale as the video continued to play. One of them, Rosa, raced to get in front of the screen as it continued to play. Dante, however, had gone a sickly white. He had believed all three of them over Aretha over and over again.

“That’s not how it happened,” Rosa screeched, “It’s been taken out of context.”

“Interesting, you say so, young Rosa,” Delta Leon said clearly, “because we found this doing a random sweep of the cameras, and in a part of the packhouse that is meant to be for family only. Care to explain why you three went into the space of the packhouse that isn’t for general members?”

“That…that can’t be right Fawn said that Dante was going to reject her and take her as his mate tonight, and since she’d be the future Luna in the morning, we were allowed in there.”

“WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?” Dante roared, “I NEVER EVER SAID I WOULD REJECT HER!”

Oscar and Isaac nodded in agreement, although not happy with the contract, Dante had never said that he would officially reject Aretha.

Oscar began to laugh, “You have got to be joking, Dante has been in love with Aretha for years, although he tried to fight it. He never would have rejected her for being the daughter of an Alpha over a normal pack member? Like, he would choose someone who likes to suck up to him over someone he had feelings for?”

Fawn knew then it was time for her to leave. She dropped to the floor, holding her head with one hand and her hand around her throat as she always had when she fainted, making her parents rush to her side. “Why are you picking our daughter?” Her mother snapped. Neither of her parents had returned to their seats at the tables, yet to which the footage still played a deathly crack broke the moment as her head snapped to the video where her daughter was bullying Aretha, now with Aretha on the floor trying to pick up the broken pieces of her flute as she cried, “Why…why? Why would you break the last gift my father had ever given to me for my birthday?”

Fawn’s cold chuckle ran out, “Because now you really know where you belong bitch, on the floor.”

“Who was bullying whom?” rang out a female voice. It was Luna River-Jarvis, Aretha’s mother. Her hand was on her mate Alpha Jarvis’s arm.

Dante looked between the screen and where Fawn lay in her mother’s arms. How many times had he come in and found her like that and believed whatever he had been told on the little he could see?

He was now seeing red. Aretha rarely played, but when she did, it seemed to call to him for some reason.

“Ah, Luna, everyone knows about my daughter and her health issues. She was probably just overreacting to a headache; it’s not like she did it deliberately.”

Alpha Jarvis nodded slowly, “Just so that it isn’t taken out of context, there seems to be a lot of misunderstandings between the girls, including the one where Aretha was meant to have pushed Fawn down the stairs? Oh, after this video, she was found. We went back and checked all the footage about these bullying episodes of Aretha towards Fawn.”

Alpha Jarvis turns to his son, “Go now, go and bring her back home.”

Dante nodded; he didn’t have to be told twice. His wolf had been wanting to shift the whole time to find her and bring their mate and Luna home. He looked back down at Fawn, who was lying there, and he growled, making her flinch, “She’s not even out like she makes out that she’s meant to be what I fool I was to have believed her over what my wolf and heart were telling me.” His voice was full of disgust, not just for her but for himself.

Meanwhile, Aretha had made it to the old board stone between packs and her father’s resting place.

“Daddy, I’m here,” She sobbed. “I’m so sorry, Daddy, I couldn’t stop them…”

-Aretha, we need to go back, our mate is waiting for us.- Her wolf Holly urged, -Can’t you feel it through our bond? He’s worried about us.-

“No, he's not. Fawn has probably fainted again, and he’s freaking out about her as usual.”

Aretha lay down over her father’s grave as she sobbed, years of longing and hurt rushing out. Although she hid it well, the loss of her father so young had left scars that her stepfather had tried hard to heal. But the loss of the last piece of her father on earth was too much for her to bear.

Dante had shifted into Midnight, making it easier for him to follow the pull of their mate bond and her scent. -I told you time and time again their scents didn’t match what we were being told.- Midnight huffed.

-What do you want me to say, Midnight? I was played, yeah, I was every time, because I thought I knew Fawn better, coz I knew her from before Aretha and her mother moved into my father’s packhouse, leaving everything they knew behind. I was a child, and I thought she was just looking for attention, and I had no idea that her father and mine were friends until tonight, that our engagement was proposed by my own father, not hers. My whole life, it feels like a lie, and I don’t even know myself anymore.- Dante countered.