The Mark of Betrayal (Samara and Roman) novel Chapter 77

Roman

“Remember what I said, Alpha Waylon,” I growl, my warning very clear.

“I’m not going to say anything. I promised you I wouldn’t unless she asks. Who is the man she is calling her grandfather?” he asks, watching Sloane introduce Scarlet to Alpha William.

“Why don’t I go get Aria while the four of you talk,” my mother says, walking up. ‘Do you want me to get your father?’ she asks me in the mind link.

‘Not yet,’ I tell her.

“Slade is with Luna Jasmine, of course,” I tell her out loud. I’m still amazed that he’s attached himself to her so easily.

“Alpha Waylon, Judith, follow me,” I tell them.

I notice the two haven’t taken their eyes off Sloane. If they do anything to disrupt the peace that she’s just starting to find, I’ll tear them to shreds.

Once we’re in my office, I gesture for them to sit, pulling Samara onto the couch beside me.

“You asked who Sloane was talking to. That is Alpha William. He’s the man who adopted me when I was on the run after my family was murdered,” Samara tells them.

“Alpha William, from the southern packs?” he asks.

“That’s correct,” I say.

He looks at Samara. “You ran all the way from here to Alpha William’s pack?”

“Fear can drive you to do incredible things,” she says.

I pull Samara closer to me, kissing the side of her head. “My mate is incredible. She was about Sloane’s age when she ran.”

“You didn’t have your wolf? How did you survive?” Judith asks her.

Samara shrugs. “I got lucky.”

It still makes my stomach twist to know how close I was to losing her forever.

“I remember you searching for her. You caused quite a bit of unrest in the packs with your insistence,” Alpha Waylon says.

“I remember you being one of the ones that gave me some push back,” I say, keeping my gaze level with his.

“I did. A seventeen-year-old Alpha shows up at my borders and demands access to my entire pack, I’m going to have something to say about it. In the end, I believe we compromised.”

“We did. You walked around with me, but you let me have access to everything,” I say remembering that he didn’t have anything to hide, except apparently, his illegitimate son. “At the risk of sounding rude, what’s going on here?” I say, gesturing to the two of them.

Alpha Waylon sighs. “I’ve made many, many mistakes in my life. One of the biggest was not accepting Judith as my mate when I should have. She is not an Alpha and when I was younger, I stupidly thought that taking her as my mate would make me weak. I had already decided on an Alpha female who I was determined to take as my chosen mate. However, that didn’t stop me and my wolf from acting on the mate bond and mating with Judith. Derrick was the result of our time together. I hid Judith and Derrick away like a dirty little secret. Judith was always honest with Derrick, so he knew I was his father.”

He sighs and leans back, reaching over to take Judith’s hand. “I thought I did a good job of hiding them well, but my mate found out about them. I didn’t realize that I could still love Judith even after I’d marked another, but I did. The draw to return to her was nearly impossible to resist, and there have been many, many times over the past three decades when I did return to her bed. I’d spend time with Derrick when we were together, but those moments were fleeting. As I said, I’ve made many mistakes over the years.”

He closes his eyes and the pain that I expected to see begins to make its way onto his face.

“If I’d been a better man, I would have accepted Judith immediately. If I’d been a better man, I wouldn’t have hidden my true Alpha heir from the world. If I’d been a better man, my son would still be alive. It took losing him and nearly losing my fated mate for me to finally see what a blind, stupid man I’ve been.”

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