CHAPTER 7

My virginity was gone; I lost it to Brandon. He had defiled me. I felt shattered and broken. I stayed up in my room for days, refusing to come out. I always envisioned sleeping and giving myself to my wolf mate. I pictured him to be as tall and handsome as Derrick was.

I was devastated. Things didn't turn out the way I planned; my eyes were swollen. I swore I was going to kill Brandon; he finally got what he had always wanted. My blood boiled as I pictured Brandon on me; the bastard probably had fun.

Father became worried on the fourth day; he had not set his eyes on me for a while. He sent for me, but I refused to leave the confines of my room; I decided I would rather be alone.

The sky was cloudy and glum, and the castle halls were quiet. My eyes were swollen from crying; I couldn't remember whatever transpired that night. I even hated myself more because I enjoyed it. But I despised the person involved. I stood up from my bed and finally left my room. My servants were relieved when they saw me outside for the first time in four days; I had shut everyone out. They had run to inform my father.

I walked to the dinner; I had not had anything to eat in a while, and I was hungry. Ava joined me.

"Looking good, sis; you're finally out." "Nobody noticed you were gone; that's how insignificant you are." "And no one ever notices you're around, Ava!"

"You filthy bitch!" She shrieked.

"I came to have dinner, Ava; don't make me lose my appetite."

"You're never going to find a mate, Gwen." "At least I didn't kill mine." I reminded her.

"Shushh." She said this in panic and dismissed the servants in the room.

"I didn't kill Cosmas." She whispered.

I knew it was a lie; Ava was Cosmas mate; he had marked her when she was seventeen. He became disabled later on, and Ava was ashamed of him; she couldn't spend the rest of her life with him because of his disability. One day, he went out with Ava and never came back. She told everyone he had drowned.

But I knew Ava more than anyone else; she killed him.

"You can't lie to me, Ava."

"What if I did?" "What if I killed him?" "Can't I get rid of stuff I no longer need?" Ava retorted back, much to my surprise. The first time I heard about Cosmas disappearance, it took me a while to accept that Ava was a murderer. I could remember that night; there were claw marks on her dress, and her hands were covered with blood. I watched in shock from her partly open room door. She dusted herself up with a lot of "black dust." Black dust had the power to conceal even the strongest scent.

Ava was never going to have another mate; her mate was dead.

Ava looked at me sternly. I knew her secret.

"This isn't over." She warned me and left.

I was sick of Ava.

After dinner, I went to the courtyard to meet my father.

He was pruning the wolfsbane leaves in the garden.

Wolfsbanes were very harmful to our kind, but dad grew them so he could be immune to them. Wolfsbane had no power over his father.

He stroked the leaves gently, like they were his children.

"Hiding solves nothing." He said to me: I could already tell he could sense my presence. "You can't run forever."

"I don't know what's been bothering you, but you've got to face your problems eventually."

"I'm glad you finally decided to leave your room." He handed the tools back to the servant.

      I was silent. He was right; I couldn't fix it, but I could move on.