Blurred

Chapter Three

Selene's POV

I ran.

I didn't know where I was going.

Trees blurred together. My legs throbbed with blood. My feet were numb. My heart was breaking inside my chest. I didn't care. Let the wolves eat me. Let the night take me. I had nowhere else to go.

Tears blurred my eyes. I could barely catch my breath.

I had been kicked out of my dad's house.

Kael—my lover, the man I loved more than anything in this world—had spurned me for someone else.

He stood there.

He witnessed Mira lying.

He saw me crying and still… he turned away.

He told me I could remain in the pack, but not in the house my father built.

He said I could remain to learn how his children would eventually rule my father's pack.

I stumbled again. My knee struck a rock, and I fell.

I did not get up.

I was tired.

Tired to be powerful.

Tired to be faking that I was okay.

I wound myself around the forest ground. The biting wind cut through my body like blades, butnot so badly as what resided in my heart. Nothing could.

Then darkness.

When I opened my eyes, I did not know where I was.

It was warm where I was. There was fire burning. I could smell smoke and herbs. I was lying on a pile of thick furs. A blanket had been pulled over me.

I opened my eyes gradually. I was disoriented.

Was I dreaming?

Then I heard the voice.

"Selene Adeleke. "

My proper name.

I sucked in a breath and sat bolt upright. My body creaked in pain, but my fear was the louder sound.

"Who are you?!" I screamed.

"How do you know my name?!"

The man stood on the opposite side of the room. His arms were crossed over his chest. He had broad shoulders and thick black hair that just cleared his eyes. His face was rough—like a man who had fought in many battles. But his eyes…

His eyes were soft.

Sad.

“My name is Ronan," he breathed.

My heart stopped.

Ronan.

That name.

I'd heard it before.

My dad used to mention it when I was a little girl.

He'd tell me about this man who had saved his life one time. A man he loved more than his own family.

"If anything ever happens to me," my dad had told me once,

"Find Ronan. He will take care of you”

I looked at the man standing in front of me.

Well, they are people with same name.

"Ronan…" I whispered.

"You're. you're the one my dad trusted."

He nodded again, slowly. Once.

The tears welled up again. I hadn't wanted them to, but they flowed before I could stop them.

"I have nowhere to go, " I choked out.

"They threw me out. My mate left me."

Ronan came over to me. He hasn't say anything. He just sat beside me on the ground and looked at the fire.

"I know, " he finally said after what seemed like forever.

"I saw what happened. I've been watching”

I looked at him, bewildered.

"Why didn't you do something?"

His jaw tightened.

"Because it wasn't time."

I didn't understand.

But I was too broken up to ask questions.

The night crept by.

He handed me hot tea and a fresh shirt to change into. I huddled the blanket tighter around me and stared into the flames.

My heart remained ripped out from my body.

I could still see Kael cradling Mira.

I could still hear him saying:

I will be the ruler of this pack. You will reside here and watch how my offspring claim it for themselves one day.

He had manipulated me.

He had used my love… and my father's trust.

And Mira…

She had splashed water over herself and blamed me.

She had used the victim role, and Kael had believed her.

They all believed her.

I had begged.

I had cried.

And they had turned their backs to me.

I do not know for how long I stared at the fire, but when I turned to Ronan, he was looking at me.

Not like Kael did.

There was no pity in his eyes.

Just quiet comprehension.

"You don't have to speak now," he informed me.

"You've lost everything. But you haven't lost you.”

I lowered my head.

"I don't know who I am anymore."

"You're Selene Adeleke," he told me.

"Daughter of Alpha Adeleke. The rightful heir of this pack”

I looked at him, my heart pounding.

"No one believes that anymore."

"I do, " he told me.

"And your father did."

“My dad will be so disapppointed in me, I don't know what to do" I breathed.

Ronan's face dropped.

"Kael was your mate. And your father erred by trusting his daughter's heart."

He stood up from his chair, pacing about.

“I warned him," he grumbled.

"I told him Kael was dangerous. I told him that boy would turn once power came into his possession. But your father believed in love more than politics. I know”

Kael very well, and I knew he never love you, I let your father know, but he said No"

I cough.

"Kael banished me after he became the alpha, realizing that the whole pack respected me, trusted me with good sense"

"So Kael banished you," I breathed.

Ronan hesitated. His jaw flexed.

"Yes."

"Because you were too close to my father. Because the pack respected you."

He nodded once.

"Because he did not want me to get in his way. So he sent me away”

My fists clutched the edge of the blanket. It all made sense now. How Kael had changed. How

the elders had remained quiet. How my father's name was no longer spoken among the pack.

Kael took it all.

And Mira helped him.

Ronan turned to face me once more, his voice gentle now.

"Selene, " he said.

"There is something else you must know."

I looked at him, tears still falling.

"What?"

He glared at me, and his next words hit me like a bolt of lightning.

"I'm Kael's uncle. "

My breath was held in my throat.

No.

No, it was impossible.

My chest wildly beating with my racing heart as the fire crackled on either side.

Uncle?

And why…

Why would he help me?

Why would he care?

All in me were screaming questions.

But I did not ask them.

Not yet.

Because this story…

Was only just starting.