Chapter 76

Words : 1380 Updated : May 20th, 2025

Sadie. "Even if we were to try and find this woman, I'm not sure where we would even start," Martin says, voicing exactly what I was thinking. This woman, whoever she is, went to great lengths to hide her identity. She didn't want to be found. She didn't want to be known. And with the kind of power Calvin said she possessed, it would be easy for her to hide herself. "But we have to try, right? There is a reason she wanted to destroy Sadie and Alec's bond before it even started. We need to know what that reason is," Micah pipes in, his finger tapping his chin thoughtfully. "Which again brings us back to what I asked: Where does Lola fit into all this?" I question again, refusing to let the matter drop. There is just something that wasn't adding up—something that we were all missing. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but it was there. Once again, Alec tenses at the mention of Lola's name. "Don't bring Lola into this," Alec hisses through gritted teeth. His jaw is locked, and his hands are fisted on his desk. It's like he is trying to stop himself from reacting. For some reason, I wanted to push him. To push his buttons when it came to Lola—the woman he fell in love with, the woman he destroyed everything for. "And why is that, Alec?" I mock, my eyes staring directly into his. "Given everything that happened, she is a person of interest." His eyes flash, and I can't help but wonder. Could he still be in love with her? And if he is, why is he putting on airs about being my mate? But then again, he does need to save his pathetic pack. This is the one thing his dear first mate can't do for him. I don't think I'll ever stop thinking of Lola as his first mate. With the way they were back then, it was obvious to see that he loved her—that he had a soft spot for her. The moment Lola came into his life, Alec stopped his whorish ways. He became almost domesticated. Lola had him wrapped around her little finger. I've never seen Alec so pouty in a woman's hands before. "She is not," his reply pulls me back to the present. "She is," I snap back. Was his love for her stopping him from seeing that Lola might just be involved in this? "I doubt she is," his words were firm, as if he actually believed what he was saying. I was starting to get pissed—not because he might still love her, but because he's defending her while all the evidence points to the fact that she might be guilty. "Sadie is right, Alec," Micah, always the voice of reason, cuts in. I throw my hands up, grateful someone was on my side. "Thank you!" "You never really liked Lola, Micah," Alec glares at him, but it doesn't shake Micah. "Yes," he begins. "But think about it. The prophecy said that someone would want to destroy your bond. What if this veiled woman isn't the only player in this game? We all know that once you marked Lola, your bond with Sadie would have been completely destroyed. Neither of you would have sensed each other as mates even when Sadie got her wolf." Micah had the attention of everyone as we all keenly listened to him. "There are two ways to look at this. Either Lola was in on this and knew the whole time what was going on, or she was clueless and someone used her. Either way, the true goal was to destroy your bond with Sadie. It could be that the veiled woman was working alone and there were two different players who wanted the same thing, or it could be that they were working together and that Calvin drugging you two was plan B—a way to ensure that you two didn't get together. What better way to do that than to make you two hate each other?" It's crazy and a little scary knowing that someone played you in this way. That someone was mechanizing things behind your back to ensure an aspect of your life failed. "But that would mean they know Alec and Sadie. They know them so well that they counted on them hating each other, both feeling betrayed by the other. You can't know someone's reaction to a certain situation unless you really know them," another elder chimes in, his words rocking the boat even more. "Fuck!" Alec curses, and I mumble the same under my breath. He's right. Whoever this person is must know us—or at least studied us for a very long time—to know how we tick. They probably knew that Alec is unforgiving and never thinks things through. They counted on him not digging further into the drugging incident. On the other hand, they knew I'm a forgiving person, but when pushed too hard and too far, I snap. My breath catches as I'm struck by the enormity of the situation. "They knew us well, and we played right into their plans." "And they would have succeeded had we not found out that Lola was an imposter," Micah says after a few minutes of silence. It all makes sense, but there are still loopholes. Some things weren't adding up. If they had managed to implant Lola as his mate, why not let it play out? Like Micah said, had Alec marked her, then he would have destroyed our bond for good. Wasn't that their goal—to destroy our bond? Then why not let things play out instead of going through the whole drugging us bit? Unless that wasn't their entire goal. Unless whoever sent Lola and whoever drugged us had different goals in mind. The more I thought about it, the more confused I got. There was something that we were missing. Shaking my head to try and clear the migraine I could feel coming, I pushed those thoughts back. I'd think about them when I didn't feel like my head was about to crack open. I took a seat and turned to the elders. I seriously needed a nap. "There is one thing that has been bothering me, though," I began. "My powers. I know there are blessed ones, but usually, these people have a long history of their families being blessed by the goddess. My parents were Omegas, and I don't remember them telling me anything about our lineage ever being blessed." My mother was attacked by rogue vampires when I was about twelve. It had been a blow to both my parents. They weren't the kind of warm parents every child wishes for, but they were my parents, and they provided. That was enough for me. My dad had been devastated. Inconsolable. He withered away, refusing to eat, talk, or go on runs. He simply laid on their bed every day and cried for his mate. He had given up on life when his mate died. Seven months after my mother died, I found him dead in the same bed, holding a picture of her. There was also a note addressed to me. He told me that it was finally time—that he was going to be with his mate. He said he couldn't live on Earth without her, so he was going to a place he knew they could be together. At first, I thought he'd committed suicide. A postmortem assured me that he didn't. His mind, body, and spirit had given up on living, so he faded away, just like that. The pack had a program for orphans. I joined it and was taken care of until I completed school. Someone cleared their throat. I looked up to find the elders staring at each other uncomfortably. "What is it?" I narrowed my eyes, feeling like they knew something but weren't sure how to tell me. Martin stepped up. "Billy and Christine weren't your parents. You were adopted, Sadie."

Chapter 76

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