All Chapters of The Mate Who KIlled Her Family: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

Chapter 21KADEFor four days in a row, she went to the same place.I felt it through the bond every afternoon. She would finish her training with me in the yard, barely saying a word. She would eat a little at lunch. Then she would walk out of the pack house and keep walking, far to the east, until the pull in my chest stretched thin and aching.She would stay there for hours. And when she came back, her heart was calmer. Lighter. She smelled like lavender and wood smoke.On the first day, I told myself it was good. She needed somewhere to breathe. Somewhere away from me.On the second day, I told myself the same thing.On the third day, I asked Tobias where the east path went.He scratched his head. "Nowhere, really. Just the old woods. And the omega's hut."I went very still."The omega," I said."Krystal." Tobias shrugged. "He grows his herbs out there. Keeps to himself. Nobody goes near him much."On the fourth day, I followed her.I didn't go as a wolf. I didn't sneak. I walked

Chapter 23ELENAI didn't stay away from Krystal.I just stopped letting Kade see me go.I found a new path, one that went north first, through the pine trees, then curved back around to the east. It took twice as long. My legs ached by the time I reached the clearing. But the bond only pulled at me the same as always, and Kade never came after me again.Maybe he thought I had listened.Maybe he didn't care.I told myself I didn't care either way.Krystal was surprised the first time I showed up after Kade came. He was standing in his garden with a watering can, and when he saw me come out of the trees, he nearly dropped it."You shouldn't be here," he said."You sound like him."He winced. I felt bad for saying it. I sat down on the bench by his door anyway, and after a while, he sat down beside me.We didn't talk much that day. He showed me how to tie herbs into small bundles for drying. His fingers were quick and neat. M

Chapter 25ELENA"What way?" I asked.Krystal stood up so fast his chair scraped against the stone floor. He walked to the shelves and started moving jars around. Picking them up. Putting them down. Not looking at me."Forget I said anything," he said."Krystal.""It's not a real thing. It's an old story. Something grandmothers tell to scare young wolves who pick the wrong mate.""Then tell me the story."He stopped. His hands rested on the shelf. His shoulders were stiff."Please," I said. "You're the only one who will tell me the truth about anything in this place."For a long time, he didn't move. Then he let out a slow breath, and turned around, and sat back down across from me. He folded his thin hands together in his lap. They were shaking a little."It's called a rejection," he said quietly. "A mate bond is made by the moon. So only the moon can unmake it. But not any moon. It has to be a blood moon. When the moon turns r

Chapter 27ELENAI couldn't speak.I just nodded. Once. Slowly.Krystal made a sound I had never heard a person make before. Half a sob, half a laugh. He pressed both hands over his mouth. His legs folded under him, and he sat down right there on the floor, in the middle of the broken glass and the scattered herbs."Martha," he whispered through his fingers. "Martha's girl. You're Martha's girl."I got out of my chair and knelt down in front of him. A piece of glass bit into my knee. I didn't care."You knew her," I said. "How did you know her?"He lowered his hands. His face was wet. His gray eyes were red."She saved me," he said. "Not once. Every day. For years."He told me everything.He came to the Blackthorn pack when he was eight years old. He didn't remember much from before. Only cold, and hunger, and a long road. Kade's father let him stay because the old laws said a pack could not turn away a lost pup. But that was al

Chapter 29ELENAKrystal didn't try to lie.I think that was the worst part. I was ready for him to lie. I was ready for him to shake his head and say I was confused, the same way everyone did. Instead he just sat there on the floor of his little hut with his hand still touching his torn ear, and he closed his eyes."Yes," he said quietly. "I was there."I scrambled back from him. Broken glass crunched under my palms. I didn't feel it."You were there," I said. My voice was shaking. "You were there, and you never told me. All this time. All these days I sat in your garden. You let me talk about my village, and you never said a word.""I didn't know it was your village," he said. "I swear to you, Elena. I didn't know until tonight.""You knew a human girl came from a burned village. Everyone knew that.""Everyone in the pack house," he said. "I don't live in the pack house. Nobody tells me anything. I heard the alpha brought home a human.