Bastien
“What are you saying?” I demand. “Who is Selene?” The name seems to be ringing a bell in the very back of my mind, but I have no idea why. Of course, if what Arabella is saying is true, I would expect her name to be familiar. It simply isn’t possible. My father can’t be dead.
“Selene is your wife.” Arabella sighs.
“No.” Shaking my head, I raise my palms to her in denial. “You’re lying. I don’t have a wife, and if I did, it would be you.” I’ve always planned on marrying Arabella, ever since that horrible day FLynn died to protect me. It seemed like the least I could do in order to ensure she was always taken care of.
“Bastien, you broke our engagement when you met Selene.” Arabella’s voice is firm and steady, overflowing with patience. “She’s… well she’s a con artist, some might even call her a witch. She convinced you she was a helpless victim of a wolf called Garrick, she convinced you that you two were mates and manipulated your sympathy in order to make you do her bidding. You killed Garrick for her, and then somehow she made Gabriel order you two to be wed. I don’t know how she did it, but the Alpha commanded the union. So you obeyed.”
“How is that possible?” I insist, none of this makes any sense.
“As I said, she convinced you that she was your mate.” Arabella exhales deeply, settling on the edge of my bed with a forlorn smile, “I didn’t stand a chance. You two wed, and I left the pack for a while. I traveled, saw the world, started looking for my own mate… it wasn’t until I learned you’d finally seen through her act and were planning a rejection that I went back to Elysium.”
“A rejection?” I parrot, feeling as if I’m a bumbling idiot, repeating her every word. “But you just said we were still married.”
A tragic expression crosses the blonde’s features, and her big brown doe-eyes overflow.
“The day of your rejection, she paid an assassin to break into Gabriel’s office and kill him. In the chaos that followed, all talk of a rejection ceased.”
“Why would she do such a thing?” I inquire, still not believing my ears.
“Because she wanted to control the pack, and if she lost you, that would never happen.”
She explains, “I also think… though this is just a guess, that Gabriel was starting to become wise to her deception… she wanted to shut him up.”
“My father is really dead?” I gulp.
“I’m so sorry.” Arabella rushes forward and wraps her arms around me, pulling me close.
“I never imagined… the doctor warned me you might have some memory problems, but I never imagined it would be this bad.”
“What about my mother?” I question.
“She lives.” Arabella promises, “It was touch and go for a while there, but she found her strength in time.”
“Not just anyone could kill my father.” I argue, still looking for any flaw in her tale.
“No simple assassin would be strong enough.”
“That’s the worst part.” Arabella nods, “She didn’t do it alone. Somehow she met your cousin Frederic. My guess is that he was her lover all along, and she married you to get an inside track on the pack so that he could take over one day.
First Gabriel fell… and she’s made it clear in recent months that you’re her next target. I expect that her plan is to kill you and act as the grieving widow, and then Frederic will return to take your place. The pack loves Selene, so if she accepts him, they will too.”
My mind reels as it struggles to sort through the details of this horror story.
“Frederic killed Gabriel, then you and Selene stayed together while you mourned, and in the meantime she did everything she could to get rid of me. She pushed me down a flight of stairs, she burned down the family cabin with me inside, colluded with corrupt members of the elder council, and when nothing else worked, she faked her death and pinned it on me.”
Axel is caught in between howls of pain and growls of fury, but now he falls silent, trying and failing to understand. “How would faking her death help her stay in power?”
“Because it gave her time to conceive a child with Frederic, and form the next part of their plan. After a couple of years she led you back to her, using your relief at finding her alive to persuade you not to ask too many questions about her pup’s paternity. She told you a story about how I tried to kill her, saying that I committed all the crimes she actually committed against me to make you exile me from the pack.”
Leading me to the bed and sitting beside me on its edge, Arabella continues, “I know it sounds crazy. But it’s the truth. I came here, and after a while you must have figured out that she was working against you all along, because you followed me to Tartarus.” A haunted look comes over her, making my heart ache. “And the moment you did she sent more assassins to kill you, only she underestimated you.
You found me, and she failed… only your memory was harmed in the attack – apparently.”
“If what you’re saying is true -”
“Are you saying you don’t believe me?” Arabella sniffles, her tears starting anew.
“Of course not, darling.” I assure her, “I just can’t… I can’t wrap my mind around this Arabella. Everything you’re saying, I don’t remember any of it. It’s not that I don’t believe you, it’s simply that I’m overwhelmed, I don’t know how to process any of this. Yesterday my family was whole and healthy, now you’re telling me it’s broken and I’m married to a monster.”
“I know it’s hard.” Arabella nods, “But I can prove what I’m saying is true.” Striding to the table by the door, Arabella extracts a newspaper from a thick stack, before returning with it in her palm. She places a copy of the Elysium Chronicle in front of me. “This is from two days ago. You’ve been out for some time.”
My eyes fly across the page, the lump in my chest growing larger and larger the more I read. The article, which identifies me as Alpha and Selene Durand as my mate, summarily tears my reputation to shreds.
“This is what she does.” Arabella confides. “She pulls the strings of every person and institution she can to achieve her aims. If you ask me she probably set the fire herself.”
Blood rushes in my ears. “I have to go back. I have to fix this – I can’t allow a person like this to run rampant in my city.”
“No!” Arabella exclaims, clearly consumed by panic. “Bastien no. If you go back, she and Frederic will murder you before you can set foot across the border.”
“I will not cower and hide thousands of miles away.” I inform her coldly. “I will not allow lies and injustice to rule my pack.”
“I’m not suggesting you do.” Arabella assures me. “I’m simply asking that you think things out. Stay here until you’re fully recovered. Regain your strength and return when the time is right. Do not rush in blindly like some epic hero.
Heroes die, Bastien. You have to live, if not for yourself than for the Novas.”
“You’re asking me to stand by and do nothing while a witch tears my home and my reputation apart.” I summarize. “How amenable do you think Elysium will be to my rule after she has free reign for another few weeks, or months.”
Brandishing the newspaper, I claim, “These kinds of rumors never go away Arabella, I might be able to convince most people, but now that this is out there, I will always have people questioning my morals and motives. I cannot let this stand uncontested.”
“You have to.”
Arabella argues. “You have to let this lie go, so that you can regain control when the time is right. You’ve always said that ruling requires sacrifice.” She reminds me, “This is just one more.”
“I can’t.”
Surging to my feet, I begin to pace. “I cannot just stand by and do nothing!”
“You won’t be doing nothing.”
Arabella rises and rushes forward, taking my hands in hers, “You’ll be preparing. You’ll be planning. You’ll be doing everything in your power to ensure that when you finally do go home, it will be for good. You will get rid of that parasite, you will deal with Frederic, and you will give the Nova pack the leader they deserve.”
I see the logic of her words, but nothing can change the feeling of dread in my heart.
“It doesn’t feel right.”
“Sacrifices never feel right.” Arabella murmurs, “sometimes doubt is the guidance you need to find the right path.”
Her words ring true, and I start at my old friend with love and regret. “I’m so sorry for what you’ve been through.”I profess. “I promise, I will make this up to you.”
