Chapter 52

Claire’s POV

She grabbed my hands with a sense of urgency. “You must tell me all that you know.”

“I have some questions for you first,” I replied rather stubbornly, but I had every right to be stubborn.

“Why do you work as a servant in the Castle when you obviously do not need to?”

Aunt Lora sighed. “I'm plotting my revenge.”

My brows furrowed in puzzlement and I willed her with my eyes to explain further.

“The Midnight Pack doesn't belong to Alpha Kelvin. His father, who had been your father’s best friend, killed your parents just to claim the Pack for himself. I'm certain the betrayal hurt your father more than the silver blade that was dug into his heart,” she replied.

A gasp slipped from my lips in shock. Without realizing it, I had gotten up from the bed.

“He would have killed you too if he had found you but thankfully, he didn't,” she continued. “And then I knew he was going to come after me so I couldn't keep you with me.”

Kelvin’s father killed my parents? Oh no! This couldn't be happening. There was no way I was mated to the son of my parents’ killer. The Moon Goddess must have made a mistake.

Or had I been cursed with getting mated to the wrong people?

At first, it had been Dimitri, the Alpha Prince of the Ravenwood Pack who didn't hesitate to subject me to public humiliation when he found out that I was not a virgin.

Now, it was the man whose father killed my parents.

“I know how terrible all of this sounds,” my aunty was saying, “and I should have told you sooner but I didn't think you were ready for all of this. You weren't even supposed to break the spell and shift into your Alpha wolf yet.”

My gaze snapped to hers. “What was that you just said about a spell?”

She took my hands again and I noticed that hers were trembling.

“I had to do it, Claire. It was the only way.”

“What did you do?” my voice was barely above a whisper but the rage simmering inside of me held the promise of total chaos and destruction.

“I had a witch put a spell on you to suppress your Alpha wolf. If anyone found out who you were it was going to cost you your life. In addition to that she also managed to put an Omega wolf in you. She warned me that it was going to be temporary though so I asked her to also delay the age of your first shift.”

A humourless laugh fell from my lips and my aunt's expression became one of concern.

All this while, I had thought I was weak, worthless and not good enough for anyone. I had been subjected to the worst form of cruelty and humiliation. The worst part was the feeling of hopelessness I got because I thought that there was nothing I could do to change my fate.

All of this happened because some monster had chosen to be greedy and murder my parents.

“Where is that son-of-a-bitch?” I growled.

Aunt Lora rose to her feet. “You can't go after him now. I understand just how much you want to tear him into shreds but you cannot go after him in this state. You have to get a grip on your emotions first.”

It was all too much for me to bear. I lowered myself to the ground and let out a scary growl that I didn't know I was capable of.

I was only vaguely aware of my aunt patting my back and murmuring soothing words. I could also sense her anger but she had better control of it than I did of mine.

It took about half an hour for me to pull myself together. The combination of pain and anger had made me a crying mess and Aunt Lora had also joined me in tears.

“We are going to get revenge, Claire, and then you are going to take back what’s rightfully yours,” she said, cradling my cheeks.

“There is something you need to know,” I began in a shaky voice. “The Alpha is my mate.”

Her hands slowly slipped from my cheeks as she tried to take in what I had just said. Then she began to shake her head in disbelief.

“Please tell me it's a mistake. What kind of cruel joke is the Moon Goddess trying to make here?”

I grabbed her arms and made her focus on me. “It changes nothing. I am going to get my revenge. The Alpha doesn't even want me to be his Luna anyway. So what's the point?”

“But if you kill his father, you would be hurting him,” she replied.

“It's not like he hasn't hurt me a couple of times too. I’ll remember that and try not to feel guilty when I tear his father apart from limb to limb,” I said.

She cupped my cheeks again and gave me a watery smile.

“Your parents would be so proud if they could see you now. You are very much like your mother but you have your father’s fire.”

“So, what’s the plan?” I queried.

“Well, we have to go back to the castle and come up with a very good story. The Alpha mustn't think that you are some sort of threat. At least not until his father returns to the castle for his regular annual visit,” she answered.

“Don’t you think we are going to need some more help though?” I wondered. “There are tons of soldiers responsible for guarding the royal family. We are going to need some soldiers of our own.”

My aunt smiled. “Do you think that I have been playing all these years? There are people who are still loyal to your father and instead of remaining in the Pack when he was killed, they left. It took me a while to find them but I did. They were very happy when they found out that you were still alive and they are ready to lay down their lives for you.”

Her smile became cruel. “Finally, Antonio is going to pay for his sins. I would have loved to do the honours of snuffing the life out of him but you are the right person for the job.”

“When will you take me to meet my late father’s supporters or do you think that there is no need for me to address them just yet?”

“You’ll meet them when the time is right,” she answered. “But for now, I would love to show you something.”

Aunt Lora rose from the ground and walked towards the closet.

When she appeared a few seconds later, she had a large photo album in her hands.

“Would you like us to look at them together or would you rather you did it alone?”

“It would be so much better if we looked at them together,” I replied.

She smiled and lowered herself to the ground and we began to look at the pictures together.

I was an exact replica of my mother but where her eyes were an ethereal blue colour, mine were violet just like my father’s.

Aunt Lora turned to another page and I immediately stiffened in anger.