The Alpha's Unwanted Bride

Chapter 620: BIG MOUTH!

The throne room emptied slowly, voices drifting out like ghosts, whispers still trembling with the weight of Xaden’s judgement.

But Fiona barely heard any of it. Her heart was beating too loudly, too painfully. Everything inside her felt raw, from the horror of Anna’s crimes to the dizzying relief of seeing her and Uther dragged away.

It was over.

Anna was gone.

Truly gone.

Yet the moment her eyes found Erik standing near the far pillar, staring at her like she was the last thing anchoring him...she felt it, the sharp twist of dread in Fiona’s chest.

No.

No, this wasn’t over.

Not for her.

Erik moved first.

He pushed off the pillar and started toward her slowly, each step heavy, deliberate, almost fearful.

Fiona looked away quickly, pretending to adjust Nanny Nia’s shawl even though the old woman was already steady on her feet.

”Thank you, dear,” Nanny Nia murmured. ”I think my work here is done.”

And then Nanny Nia seemed to be looking in a different direction.

Fiona closed her eyes knowing what was coming.

”Well. I have to leave for other matters. You deserve privacy.” Nanny Nia said with a wink knowingly.

Before Fiona could say a word, she patted her hand before quietly excusing herself.

Leaving Fiona alone.

And Erik standing a few meters away, breathing unevenly.

”Fi...” Erik said softly.

The sound of his voice nearly shattered her. It held relief, hope, longing, and something else she couldn’t bear to name.

She stiffened. ”Hello.”

He walked closer as he nodded. ”How are you?”

”Fine.” She replied as she itched the side of her arms.

He came and stood beside her as they both looked at Xaden.

Xaden was seated on his throne, his mind far away.

Fiona wondered how he felt.

His entire family gone.

Disgraced his family name and now he was alone.

She wanted to walk up to him and hug him.

Hold him and tell him that it was okay.

He had turned down Anna and called her-Fiona- his family.

She wasn’t blood, but she was now his family.

His only sister.

And it was so cruel that he had been forced to make those decisions.

Forced to sentence his sister to death.

”Don’t.” Erik said softly.

She rose a brow.

”Let him heal his wounds on his own first.” Erik advised. ”No one can ever fathom what he is facing. But he needs to nurse his own wounds. Then, you can comfort him. But for now ?”

Erik turned to look at Xaden who was still seated at his throne, staring into nothingness before saying. ”You should let him be.”

Fiona silently agreed.

She very quietly left the throne room, and didn’t need to hear his footsteps to know Erik was following her.

She could feel him.

Whenever he was around her body lost control of itself.

The hair on her back stood and she would feel herself drowning.

It amazed her that despite not being her mate, she was so terribly affected by him.

She wondered if this was how he and Anna had felt for each other and it made her further angry.

Even though Anna was now dead.

”Fiona please wait-

He caught her arm behind.

She jerked her arm and twirled to face him.

She was breathing so heavily she thought her face would explode.

She was now staring at his handsome face, streaks of blonde hair loose from its hold.

He paused but didn’t stop coming closer. ”We need to talk.”

”There’s nothing to talk about.” She replied quickly.

”There is.” His voice cracked, the control slipping. ”Anna is gone. Everything she did, everything she forced between us, it doesn’t have to hold us hostage anymore.”

Fiona felt her throat close.

She lifted her chin, icy. ”Is that what you think this was? Hostage?”

Erik flinched. Actually flinched.

His shoulders fell as he stood in front of her, looking ruined.

Truly ruined. She had never seen Erik this undone, not even during the investigation, not even after she had severed their relationship.

She found herself beginning to feel guilty but she swallowed her emotions.

”Fiona...” He reached for her hand.

She stepped back again.

And his face broke.

”You’re pulling away.” His voice was barely a whisper. ”Why?”

She laughed bitterly. ”Erik, do you really need me to tell you? After everything we’ve been through? After everything you let happen?”

”I didn’t let—”

”You did.” Her voice cracked, despite trying to keep it steady. ”You let Anna publicly claim you as her mate. You let her cling to you, walk beside you, speak for you. You didn’t correct her. You didn’t deny her. You didn’t even try to reassure me while I stood there looking like a fool.”

His jaw tightened. He swallowed hard. ”Fiona, I didn’t have a choice. It was politics. She was Xaden sister. The Alpha’s sister. My best friend’s sister and —”

”And I was what?” Fiona snapped. ”A secret? A convenience? Something to hide so you wouldn’t upset the princess of the pack?”

Erik closed his eyes as if the words physically hurt him. ”I only ever loved you. You know that.”

”Do I?” she whispered.

He opened his eyes again, blue and desperate, raw.

”I thought once she was exposed... once she was gone...” His breath hitched. ”We could go back to us.”

Fiona shook her head slowly, painfully. ”There is no ’back’ to go to.”

Silence settled between them. A heavy, suffocating silence that tasted like heartbreak.

”You deserve better than what I gave you,” she whispered. ”Better than being attached to someone who let another woman parade around as his Luna.”

”I didn’t let her!”

”You didn’t stop her either!” Fiona snapped in burning rage.

The echo of her voice rang against the stone walls.

The servants who were passing froze.

But Fiona didn’t care.

She was breathing so hard she thought she would die at the spot.

Erik has a sharp glare and growl.

In a matter of seconds they were rushing off.

He took in a deep breath

Erik pressed a hand to his neck. ”Fiona, please... sweetheart, don’t do this.”

”I have to,” she said. ”Because if I stay, I will always wonder when the next time will be. The next lie. The next political stunt. The next woman you have to pretend with.”

”She is gone.” Erik pointed out. ”She is dead. She was my mate but you need to understand that she is dead. Dead with the evil she has ever committed. I never loved her.”

Fiona remembered how jealous she was of their connection and she bitterly said.

”But yet you were connected to her in more ways than I ever would to you wasn’t she?”

Erik blinked.

His silence gave her the answers she already and it further burned her.

She was angry with herself.

Angry that she was jealous over a woman who despite being pronounced dead, still held so much power in their lives.

It was proof that she was forever going to hinder their relationship and that was something she couldn’t lose herself to .

No matter how much she loved him.

Erik stepped forward quickly and caught her arm, not forcefully, but desperately, like a drowning man clinging to driftwood.

”I will fight for you,” he whispered fiercely. ”I swear it. I will prove myself. I’ll fix everything. Just don’t walk away from me now.”

She looked at his hand on her arm... then at the man she loved standing in front of her with tears in his eyes.

And she gently removed his fingers from her skin.

”I’m not walking away,” she said. ”I’m stepping back. For myself.”

Erik’s breath left him. Completely.

His knees nearly buckled.

”Fiona...”

”Please,” she whispered. ”Don’t say anything else. Not tonight. Not again.”

And she turned away from him.

She didn’t look back.

But she heard it.

The sound of something slamming, the wall, his fist, maybe both.

A raw, animal sound leaving his throat.

Erik was breaking.

And Fiona walked away with her heart splitting in two.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

As Fiona walked down the hallways struggling to hold back her tears, she made a bend and came crashing right into none other than Lisa herself.

She became grim instantly.

Lisa attempted to walk past but Fiona grabbed her arm and pulled her back, forcing her to look at her.

”Let go.” Lisa hissed. ”I’m the pack’s star witness and I’m sure Alpha Xaden wouldn’t take too well if anything happened to me.”

”I know what you did.” Fiona said. ”I know you had hand in everything the exact same way they all did. You think I can forget the night you beat Jasmine up.”

Lisa smiled wickedly. ”Oh yes that. When you used to be our roommate. Except we didn’t know you were only pretending. I bet you didn’t know that I was Aurora’s right hand man. You see everyone has been caught, but me?”

Lisa laughed.

”I am the real architect. Everything that happened. I knew before beyond who Jasmine truly was. I set her up. I planned Rudy’s death. You name it. It was all me. And there is nothing you can ever do about it.” Lisa said.

Fiona took in a deep breath. ”I can’t. But he can.”

”Huh?” Lisa mumbled.

She turned around and saw Xaden standing right behind her.