The Alpha's Regret: Losing His True Mate novel · Chapter 22 of 24
Chapter 22: What the Ring Is For
Muriel was sitting on the Ironwood porch with a wooden box across her knees when I came out.
Bess had already brought her coffee.
She had also brought a plate of eggs, which Muriel had not touched, and Bess stood over it with her arms folded until Muriel picked up a fork.
"Sit," Muriel said to me.
I sat on the step below her.
The morning smelled of wet grass.
Darek came out behind me, barefoot, in yesterday's jeans, and leaned against the post.
Muriel looked at him and then at the buttons on my blouse, which were wrong by one.
"Well," she said.
"Don't," I said.
"I haven't said a word."
She set the box on the boards between us and opened the lid.
The Brandis ring lay on the white satin, small and bright.
"I came to tell you what it is now," she said.
"It's the same."
"It isn't." She tipped it into her palm. "The ring only stays for the Alpha's fated mate. You've refused the bond. As of last night there's no bond for it to sit on."
I held very still.
"Try it," she said.
"I don't want to."
"Faye."
She held it out.
I took it and slid it on the third finger of my left hand.
It went on easily.
It stayed.
It did not glow, and it did not burn, and it did not pull at me.
It was only a ring, with a diamond that caught the light.
"It will sit on anyone's hand now," Muriel said quietly. "Any woman. It's finished choosing."
"So it's worth nothing."
"It's worth what you say it is."
I looked at it for a while.
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