Betrayed from Birth - Alpha's Unvalued Daughter

The Truth Comes Out

Chapter 9

Alpha Sullivan’s POV

“s**t! How could this have gone so f*****g wrong?” I yelled out as I shove all the paperwork off my desk in my fury. I stood in silence and watched as the pages all fluttered around, down to the floor. I really wish I hadn’t done that now. I am not wanting to have to straighten that paperwork back up. But I am pissed, and I need to take my anger out on something, or someone. I looked at Cassandra, and I could tell by the tears in her eyes that she was waiting on me to start screaming at her. After all, it is all her fault that this even happened.

“Graham, calm down. It is not all my fault, remember? You were the one who approached me, not vice versa” my mate tells me, and that does not calm me down at all.

“How could I have possibly known, Cassandra? I mean seriously, I am not a mind reader. I don’t have visions, because if I did have them, we would not be together” I told her, and she gasped at the hateful comment. I acknowledge that it was a cold thing to say, but what else could I say? It was the truth, like it or not. She ended up being much more trouble than she was worth. I mean don’t get me wrong, she is really hot and still has a great body to this day. If I am being honest, Cassandra has always been one of the most beautiful she-wolves that I have ever seen in my life. That is the main reason that I chose her to be my mate. But I have to say, our being together was a mistake. A rather big mistake, and the Goddess has surely punished us for it, for over the last 18 years. If I had it to do all over again, knowing what I know now. I would not make the same choice again.

“Graham, you asshole. Why do you lay this at my feet every single time? We made the decision together, you approached me, not the other way around” Cassandra said, and I watched her as she keeps motioning between us. Yes, I am just as culpable as she is in this, but I already know that the penalty and punishment that is coming, won’t be evenly distributed between us. I know that when the hammer finally does drop, the full weight of it will probably fall on me, and it wasn’t totally my fault. I did not have the full story or information that I needed to make a wise decision. I will remind him of that when he does come to us to hash this out. I will make sure that my chosen mate is right there with me, as she knew the whole story, and never once thought to tell me anything before she took me up on my offer.

FLASHBACK

I am at the Werewolf Fall Ball for the 6th time in a row, and frankly, at 22, I am getting sick of coming to them. I have been trying to politely excuse myself from all the unmated she-wolves who wanted to touch me to see if there were sparks between us, in hopes that I am their mate. I cannot keep the disgust off my face. I already know how these women are not mated, they are either sluts, or just plain unattractive. I already know that after this drink, I am getting the hell out of here, and I am never returning. There is no point in it. These women are the bottom of the barrel, and I would have more luck visiting allied packs and seeing if I cannot find a mate there. None of the women that I have seen tonight are acceptable to me at all.

I put my drink down on the bar and turned to head out to my car when I saw a beauty sitting all alone at a table. She looked upset, and I couldn’t get over to her fast enough. I picked up her hand and gently kissed the inside of her wrist, and although I knew we were not true mates, I was good with us being chosen mates. I would not mind waking up next to this stunner for the rest of my life.

“My name is Graham Sullivan, Alpha of the Silver Blade pack, why are you all alone over her in the corner? You look like you are upset, why are you crying? Did someone do something to you? I will take it upon myself to defend you and your honor if you need help” I told her and she gave me a smile, but it didn’t quite go to her eyes.

“I don’t want to accept my true mate. I just met him tonight, but he isn’t what I wanted. I don’t want to be tied down in a broke pack. I want to be able to go on trips and be able to fully enjoy my life. Not have to work hard until I fall out and die from it” she told me, and my smile grew bigger. I glanced down at her neck and saw that she wasn’t marked yet. I can kill two birds with one stone for this beauty and be totally glad to be able to do it. I didn’t care who her mate was, she was mine now.

“Well then, I have good news for you beautiful. I happen to be looking for my mate. If you are OK with being my chosen mate, I will mark you right now. He has not marked you yet, correct?” I asked her, and she shook her head no.

“I have money, and I would love for you to be my mate. Just tell me if you are accepting to becoming chosen mates, and being faithful to me. We will need to act as if we were true mates, and I will take you from here. You can have whatever you want in life. Cars, jewels, designer clothes, whatever your heart desires, I will fulfill all of your needs. All you have to do is say yes to me, and I will mark you, and then you can mark me back. We will be together until death takes us” I told her with my patented smile, which has worked every time I have used it.

Her smile was brilliant, and I knew I had her before she said, “Yes, please mark me. I will be your chosen, and I will make sure that you are happy for the rest of your life.” She tilted her head over and I sank my teeth into her marking spot, and she groaned before it turned into a small moan. I could hear a howl of pain coming from outside, and I knew we had to move fast because her true mate could mark her over mine and it would take away my mark from her neck. Time was of the essence here, so I tore open the top of my button-down tuxedo shirt to expose my marking spot to her, and she immediately sank her teeth into me, marking me as hers.

I was blissfully happy about this turn of events. I have a gorgeous mate, and my only thoughts now were to get her the hell out of here, so we could complete this fully and mate her. This will complete our acceptance of each other, and we would be completely bound together from now on. Oh yeah, and she was going to have to find her loser mate and tell him that he was rejected. I was almost laughing about it because I was the strongest Alpha here tonight. There were only three other Alphas here tonight, and I have sparred with them all. I am sure that she had gotten a Beta or a Gamma, there were plenty of them in this place. That also explained why he was broke. With as beautiful as she is with her long blonde hair and her big blue eyes, she truly looked like a living doll. I am quite sure he will be furious at losing her, but he should have marked her when he found her and had the chance. That is on him for being an i***t. He should have valued his mate, but now he lost her. I am sure if he is able to get blessed with a second chance mate, then he will seal the deal quickly and not give them time to find another mate.

We are heading for the door of the venue when I see an Alpha from a neighboring pack hit the door frame and have to grab it for support. I recognized him from a distance, and I now have a really bad feeling about this. Cole Walker is not weak, and I cannot beat him. I am the i***t. Why didn’t I ask her who her mate was? Hell, I didn’t even ask her for her name. I was so excited about getting her to agree with me and trying to get her to accept me quickly, I skipped getting any background. I do not want to go to war with him over this. s**t, why didn’t I ask her WHO her mate was? We might be able to escape here with our lives only because he is severely weakened from his mate being marked by another, while they are still bound. We need to get the hell out of here, right now.

I mindlinked my Beta and told him to bring the SUV around. I also told him to have the two warriors that we brought with us to be ready for anything. My Beta, Randolph Evans, was immediately on alert, and as we passed Cole at the door. He tried to reach out for her, and I jerked her away from him. I pushed her towards the exit doors and then kicked him after he fell to the ground. He was already off balance from reaching out for her, trying to stop her from leaving. I wasn’t thinking about anything else but getting us out of there before Cole recovered. I wasn’t able to beat him in a fair fight, and I was worried about him killing us both, and wanted to leave, and quickly. It was a done deal. I had marked her, and she had marked me. Nothing but death would be separating us.

He showed up at the gates to Silver Blade the next day, demanding that she come out and accept his rejection. I thought about turning him down, but the fewer people who knew about what happened last night were for the best. I knew that I was going to introduce her to my pack as my true mate, as they valued true mates for their Alpha. Everyone knew that having them makes you stronger for it. We become better versions of ourselves. We get smarter, markedly stronger, and able to effectively take better care of our pack. Each pack wanted its Alpha to find its true mate. It just made sense and would be a comfort to the pack. So, I didn’t mind lying to them about it.

I sent the gate guards away as I wanted to do this with as little company as we could get. I could always Alpha command them, but it would just be better for the whole pack to just believe that we were true mates. Cole was furious, and after the rejection was done, he looked at me and said, “If she is pregnant with my child. I WILL want my child. I refuse to let you two raise them. The Goddess will not be able to help you if you keep them from me.” He then turned and left us, and I couldn't help but look at Cassandra who looked guilty, and then shrugged like she forgot to pick up bread at the store. This was not some small, oops, this was absolutely serious.

I was stunned, Cassandra never mentioned the first thing about having slept with him last night. I AM an i***t. That would have been another good question to ask. Like “Hey I remember you said you met your mate tonight, did he happen to trip, and his d**k fly up in you?” is now at the top of the list of questions to ask, if only I could get a redo on that fateful day.

I had slept with her as soon as we got home. I was happy with my choice, and we fit together nicely. I had been thrilled about finding her, even with the shadow of Cole looming over my head. After I just found out that she had had s*x with him last night after finding him, I was furious with her. She never mentioned that either. I didn’t speak to her for a month, right up until I found out that she was pregnant. I was so proud that my mate was about to bear the heir to the pack. I could not be happier. The following month we found out that we were having twins. I got even happier, I really was happy that I managed to give her twins right off the bat. They do not run in my family, so I really felt virile for having given my mate twins. I felt like the Goddess was blessing our union. They were both girls, but I felt sure that the next pregnancy would indeed result in a boy. That way if the girls left the pack to become Luna’s, or Beta females, my son could take over the pack. We were very happy throughout the pregnancy.

Everything was absolutely perfect until she gave birth. I remember seeing that dark head of hair and my stomach sank. I knew before she even opened her eyes what had happened. Sure enough, those piercing green eyes stared up at me, and I was furious. Furious at Cole, furious at Cassandra, and furious at this new bane of my existence. I never once thought of giving her to him. Since I had to suffer from just seeing her every day, she would be suffering too. I even named her Raven, for her black hair. I was going to give myself reminders of why I hated her, each and every day.

Our second child was definitely mine, and I could scent that, even before I saw her sparkling blue eyes that matched mine. I was very happy with her. It was love at first sight. I gave her anything, and everything that she ever wanted, and was glad to dote on her. We tried and tried for another child. Cassandra was never able to get pregnant again. I tried with other women too, just trying to get a son, but I could not get anyone pregnant. I felt the Goddess was cursing us, for Cassandra rejecting her true mate, for me stealing someone else’s mate, and probably for allowing Raven to be mistreated in my pack.

I knew this was the case because Cassandra and I have gone to different doctors several times. There was nothing wrong with either of us. Everything was normal after we had been thoroughly tested. But still, I could not get her, or anyone else, pregnant. Cole on the other hand found his second chance mate two months later at a Winter Ball held up in another region. His mate’s name was Olivia, and she gave him two strong male pups. This fact only made me madder. I had toyed with the idea of giving Raven back to him on her 1st birthday, but just knowing that he had been blessed with two male pups during their first year together, angered me. He already had two sons, he didn’t need this daughter. Why should he get to be blissfully happy when I couldn’t? I didn’t think that it was fair, so I kept his child here. Making her pay the price for him sleeping with my chosen mate, made me less angry about the whole thing. I couldn’t take it out on Cole and Cassandra, so I found a way to make it work out for me.

It comforted me to know that I had his child here and that he had no idea that she even existed. Then I could take my anger over the whole situation out on her. I realized that it was not actually Raven’s fault. Cassandra and Cole were true mates, and it is natural to want your mate. The passion and desire are there, and we as wolves have a natural animal instinct. We enjoy s*x a lot and cannot resist the call of our true mates. The bottom line was that I should have asked Cassandra something, anything. At the very least her name, who her mate was. Most importantly I needed to ask if she had already mated with her true mate after she found him. Cassandra should have told me, but she honestly didn’t think that the first time she had s*x would result in her getting pregnant. A lot of mistakes were made in one night to get us where we are now. But the blame truly lay with Cassandra and me. But how could I punish myself or her over it? I didn’t care enough to ask, as long as I got the prize that I wanted. Once a year had passed without us giving Raven up, it was best for us if Cole never found out about Raven. So we were trapped, we decided then and there that she could never be seen outside of the pack.

Cole would not take it well, and I think that he always suspected that one of the twins might have been his. For the whole 18 years, only one of them has ever been seen, and we have only claimed Reagan as ours. But he didn’t know for sure, as Raven was never allowed to leave the pack. I didn’t need a local seeing her and letting Cole find out that I had a child that happened to look just like him here at Silver Blade. There would be too much to have to explain, so I kept her hidden away all these years here at Silver Blade. When Reagan tried to kill her, I did have to have a talk with her. I warned her that she could never do it again. Raven helped by making very sure to never be alone with her twin ever again either. But since no one important had even seen her, and the pack couldn’t stand her, I let the werewolf council know that one of my twins died from an accident that day, before Raven even left the hospital. Her accidentally falling off the bridge to her death, was what the council was told. That way only Reagan was recognized as the true heir to my pack. I was never going to let Cole’s daughter be allowed to take my pack over. She was not my daughter, and I was not going to just hand my pack over to her like that. My pack was always going to go to Reagan, no matter what I have told Silver Blade throughout the years.

FLASHBACK ENDS

“Graham, we are in this together honey. We can explain it if it gets found out. They have no way of knowing who she is. We never told. Just calm down, we will wait and see what happens. I don't think that there is a reason to panic just yet. We will get our stories straight on it, remember my father had black hair. We can say that we thought she got her hair from him. It isn’t over, just calm down” Cassandra put her arms around me and gave me a hug. I take a deep breath and hugged her back. I do love her, and she loves me. What started out as just being a good deal between us, became a lot more in our almost 19 years together. I will stay calm and see how this plays out. I will not let our reputations be tarnished over this. I will not let Raven finally leaving the pack become a bad thing. I have been waiting for years to get rid of her, and I am actually glad that I won’t have to see her face again. I chose wrong all those years ago. I would have had a much happier life if I had just done what Cole said and just given him his child.