Chapter 55 Believe Me
Enzo's hand remained steady on Grace's arm as he faced the council of elders, his expression set with determination despite the obvious pain he was in.
"There's more you need to understand," Enzo said, his voice carrying through the room with authority that seemed at odds with his weakened state. "Grace isn't just an innocent bystander. She's not just someone who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time."
The silver-haired woman leaned forward slightly, her cold blue eyes narrowing. "Then what is she, if not a conspirator? What possible reason could you have for defending her so vehemently?"
Enzo's jaw tightened. Grace could feel the tension radiating from him, she could sense that whatever he was about to say was significant in ways she didn't yet understand.
"She's my mate," Enzo said, the words dropping into the room like stones into still water.
Silence.
Complete and absolute silence as every elder in the room went still, their expressions frozen in various stages of shock and disbelief.
Grace's mind went blank. Her mouth opened but no sound came out. She stood there staring at Enzo's profile, trying to process what he'd just said.
‘Mate?’
The word echoed through Grace's head, bringing with it a flood of confused memories. Maddox had mentioned mates once. He had said that mates were destined for each other, that they were chosen by fate or magic or something beyond human understanding.
That they were supposed to be together forever.
But Maddox had implied that Grace was his mate. He’d said things suggested he believed they were meant to be together and had marked her body with his scent and his touch in ways that had felt significant beyond the physical.
If Maddox was her mate, how could Enzo also be her mate?
Grace's confusion must have shown clearly on her face because several of the elders were now looking between her and Enzo with expressions that had shifted from shock to deep skepticism.
“You don’t know what you’re saying, boy.”
Grace turned to the man who spoke, he was the one who had brought her in here. He was older than Enzo but shared similar features. Strong jaw, dark hair with threads of grey at the temples, the same sharp dark eyes that could shift to wolf in an instant.
“Uncle. I speak the truth.”
‘Uncle? That means, this man is Zion's father. ‘
The man tilted his head to the side, studying Enzo with an expression that suggested he wasn't buying this claim for a second.
"You claim this little girl is your mate?" A bearded elder said, his tone heavy with doubt. "A girl with no pack, no known lineage, who associates with our enemies? You expect us to believe that?"
"I don't care what you believe," Enzo said, his voice hardening. "I know what I felt the moment she turned eighteen. I know what the bond told me. Grace is my mate, and that means she's under my protection. Under pack protection."
The silver-haired woman's lips pressed into that thin line that Grace was beginning to recognize as her default expression of disapproval. "This is a serious claim, Lorenzo. Announcing someone as your mate is not something to be done lightly. Especially not a girl of unknown origins with questionable connections."
"I'm not doing it lightly," Enzo said. "I'm stating a fact."
But Grace could barely hear the argument happening around her, her mind was stuck on the impossibility of what Enzo had just claimed.
She couldn't be his mate. Not if she was Maddox's. That didn't make sense, it didn't fit with anything she understood about how this world worked.
Unless one of them was lying. Or mistaken. Or Grace had completely misunderstood what Maddox had meant when he'd said those things to her.
Her confusion must have been written clearly across her face because the scar-faced elder was now gesturing toward her. "Look at the girl's expression. She has no idea what you're talking about. If she were truly your mate, wouldn't she feel it too? Wouldn't she know?"
Enzo's hand tightened slightly on Grace's arm. "She's new to all of this. She doesn't understand what she's feeling or what it means."
"Or perhaps," Zion's father spoke again, his voice deep and carrying undeniable authority, "you're simply infatuated with a pretty face and using the mate claim as an excuse to protect her from consequences she deserves."
Several other elders nodded, their expressions suggesting they found this explanation far more believable.
"Enzo has always been impulsive," another elder added. "Always acting on emotion rather than logic. This wouldn't be the first time he's made a rash decision."
"I respect you as our future Alpha," one of the elders began, and despite calling Enzo nephew, there was nothing warm in his tone. "But you're also a troublemaker. You always have been. You push boundaries, test limits, make decisions that cause problems for the rest of us to clean up."
Enzo's jaw clenched so tight Grace could hear his teeth grinding. "My personal history has nothing to do with this."
"Doesn't it?" The silver-haired woman leaned forward. "You have a pattern of behavior, Lorenzo. A pattern of acting without thinking, of letting your emotions override your judgment. Why should we believe this is any different?"
"Because it's the truth," Enzo said, but Grace could hear the frustration creeping into his voice, she could hear him losing ground in this argument.