After My Alpha Drugged Me for Ten Years novel · Chapter 7 of 24

Chapter 7: Ward and Mate

By the time Ramsay reached the gate, half of Cedar Fork was standing behind me.

They had come out of the clinic, the kitchen and the yard, thirty or forty of them, and none of them said a word.

Rowan stood on my left and Trudy on my right.

Ruby had moved to Ramsay's side with her basket and her wet eyes, and she took his arm.

"Larkin," Ramsay said. "I'm here under the Alliance's own writ."

He held up the folded paper, and I saw the Chair's seal on it.

"This wolf is my ward and my bonded mate, and she is unwell. Her mind has been unsound since her grandmother died. She is not fit to make a plea for sanctuary or any other decision, and under the Accord she's to be returned to her guardian for treatment."

"Treatment," Trudy said.

"Tea," I said.

Everyone looked at me.

I walked forward, past Rowan, until I stood in the open gate with my bare feet on the gravel.

It was strange to be looked at by that many people and have nobody tell me to stand up.

"He's lying," I said. "I'm going to tell you what he did, and then you can decide who's unsound."

My voice shook, and I let it.

"For ten years he kept me in a cabin on my grandmother's land. Every morning his people fed me wolfsbane in tea and made me sign that I took it willingly."

Behind me somebody drew a sharp breath.

"I wore silver on my wrists until the skin wouldn't close. I couldn't shift. I couldn't leave. This week he came to take my land, and I burned the logs, because they were his proof I'd said yes."

I turned and looked at Ramsay.

"You looked frightened," I said. "I've been thinking about that. Why would a man be afraid of paper if he had nothing to hide?"

Ramsay's face did not change.

"Ruby," he said gently.

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