Rejected by My Mate, Claimed by the Alpha King novel · Chapter 17 of 24

Chapter 17: My Mother

At noon, the whole pack was back in the square.

Agnes had stitched Alaric's shoulder in her clinic with neat small stitches, and said nothing at all while she did it.

He stood now at the very edge of the crowd with his arm in a sling, not looking at me.

I stood in front of the pack house steps in his coat and a pair of Agnes's trousers.

The three elders sat on a bench facing the crowd. The eldest was ninety and had taught my father to shift.

My father stood on the steps above me. Delphine stood a step lower, with her hands clasped.

"My daughter attacked four of my wolves," Edmund said. "She's unstable. She's been poisoned against this family by a man who lied to the Moon Court, and I am doing what any father would."

"You locked her in a cellar," the Beta's second said.

"I kept her safe."

"You kept her where nobody could see her."

A murmur went through the pack. It was different from the murmur two weeks ago.

I waited until it quieted.

"I'm not asking for anything," I said. "I'm here to ask one question."

"Who in this pack saw my sister pregnant?"

Nobody answered.

"Who saw her sick in the morning? Who saw her refuse wine? Who saw her at the clinic?"

Nobody.

Delphine's smile did not move.

"She's private," she said. "She's modest. She had every right."

"Then who is the one person in this house who would have noticed?" I asked, and I turned and looked at the crowd of women near the back.

My mother stood among them in her green cardigan.

Every head turned.

She had gone grey in the face.

"Mom," I said. "You were in the house every day."

Delphine took half a step toward her. "Mother, you don't have to."

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