The Accused Mate

"That's enough, Amari!" a voice barked, grabbing her attention, making her hesitate before landing a fatal wound to her sparring partner. She looked towards the wall-to-ceiling glass her father stood behind with a disapproving face. Amari gave him a bow and awaited her next orders."That's enough for the day. Get cleaned up and meet me in my office in an hour. We have much to discuss," he demanded in a chilling tone.Amari waited until her father disappeared to let out a breath of relief. She peered down at her bloodied and groaning sparring partner and was itching to help him up, but according to her father, showing mercy to an opponent was a sign of weakness."Are you okay, Beta Marco?" she whispered to her beloved trainer of thirteen years."I'll live," he groaned, picking himself off the padded floor. Amari winced at the sight of Marco's dangling left arm."Don't worry. It looks worse than it feels," he expressed, reassuring her. In reality, he was thankful Alpha Winters stepped i

Alexander snarled viciously at Amari as she pleaded her case. He was two seconds away from snapping her neck to cease the lies flowing from her lips. But a quick death would be too sweet for her. She deserved to feel the pain his mate felt before she was cruelly ripped from him. Their life together was tragically over before it even began. Since those few hours of being with Camilla, Alexander knew she was the reason why the stars hung in the sky, and the moon controlled the ebb and flow of the tides. Tears pricked behind his eyes as he recalled the last moments he spent with Camilla. They had secluded themselves in the library of the packhouse while Alexander attempted to calm himself down. Nothing seemed to help bring him off of the ledge. Titus wanted to break out and hunt Amari down and rip her to shreds for disrespecting his mate and mocking their bond. Camilla gently motioned for Alexander to lay his head in her lap. He reluctantly agreed, and he would never regret it. He closed

**Present**“You just don’t know when to stop, do you?” Sam growled, painfully grabbing Amari’s jaw. “He’s right,” I whispered.“Who?” Sam asked curiously.“The guy earlier, when he said you would make an awful Alpha. You will live the rest of your life submitting your neck to someone, and that someone will be me.”“Is that so?” he grinned evilly.“I didn’t stutter,” Amari sassed back. She doubled over once Sam landed a punch to her gut. She barely recovered when he grabbed a fistful of her curls and snatched her head up. “Listen to me, bitch. You are a nobody. The world doesn’t even know you exist. Your disappearance will not be noticed. I am excited to spend my evening causing you as much pain and misery as possible. This is a much better way to spend the night than attending a party. Thank you for that, Amari,” he said with a wink.“Anytime,” she chuckled, earning another punch. She winced when she felt Sam’s fingers tighten in her curls. He yanked her head back and fo

“Alpha Steele, Alpha Winters is on the line,” Zane’s beta announced, entering his posh office. “I am unavailable to take his call,” Zane replied gruffly.“I think you’re going to want to take this call,” Beta Paul urged.“Why would I make time for our enemy? Unless he’s officially waging war, then I don’t want anything to do with him.”“He says he has a peace offering.”“Which is?”“His daughter.”“Is this some sort of a joke?” Zane growled, throwing his pen on the desk. “Camilla Winters is dead.”“Camilla Winters is confirmed deceased, but Alpha Winters is claiming to have another daughter that he wishes to bargain.”“Give me the phone,” Zane eagerly replied, snatching the phone out of Paul’s grasp. Zane motioned for Paul to leave with his hand. “This is Alpha Steele. I heard you might have something for me?”“As you may have heard, my daughter, Camilla Winters, was brutally murdered, and my daughter, Amari Winters, is suspected of hiring an assassin to get rid of her.”“When d

“So, are you going to tell me how this happened, or should I guess?” Dr. Patrick asked. Amari refused to answer and continued to blankly stare at the wall as she replayed her last 24 hours in her mind. “Okay…let’s see…slammed in a door?”She shook her head.“Not a door. Okay…ran over by an 18-wheeler?”She shook her head again and bit her bottom lip to keep from smiling.“No 18-wheeler. I know what happened.”She curiously tilted her head to the side and patiently waited for Dr. Patrick’s more than likely wrong guess. “You dropped your ring down the garbage disposal, reached in, and the rest was history.”That made Amari laugh despite being in so much pain. She hoped no one had suffered such misery, but had a feeling this had happened to someone before. “No,” she finally spoke. “I was tortured for a crime I didn’t commit.”“I’m sorry to hear that, Amari. I know what they say about assuming, but your wounds appear to be fresh. Were you injected with silver?”“Y-yes.”“That’s