My Orphan Mate

LYRA

"I didn't kill innocent Wolves," Alexander's voice echoed.

At first I thought I had heard him wrong, so when I stuck my head out of the closet and glanced at him, I was surprised to find him leaning against the wall.

"I don't think I heard you correct," I told him, and pointed to my ear.

My mate took a seat on the bed and patted the space next to him for me. He was already ready and dressed, but my hair was still damp.

"Come here," he urged. "You will want to sit down for this."

My eyes narrowed but I dropped the blow dryer in my hands and followed his order.

Once I took a seat by his side, Alexander heaved a loud sigh. His eyes raked over me briefly before he smiled at me softly.

"You are beautiful, Lyra," he murmured, his ocean blue eyes hypnotising me. "You are all mine and I am lucky to call you mine."

His words sent a strange feeling down my spine, it was a nice feeling. I wasn't sure how to describe it, but there was also sadness in his voice, which confused me.

"But?" I asked, arching a brow.

"There is no but. We do need to talk, though."

"You sound like you are going to break up with me," I told him, lightly, grinning playfully.

Meanwhile, on the inside I felt my stomach tie in to a knot. What if that was what he was doing? Now that we had mated, maybe he didn't want me anymore.

Alexander chuckled lightly. "I chased after you to another territory, a break up should not be of concern."

Rolling my eyes, I placed my hand over his on his lap. "Then whatever it is, let's talk about it."

"What Gabriel brainwashed you with," Alexander started saying, his voice stern. "I am not sure what exactly he said, but I did not kill innocent Wolves."

My brows furrowed as I took in how vulnerable he appeared in that moment. If I had known Alexander at first glance like I knew him now, I wouldn't have spoken those words to him.

"I know," I assured him, squeezing at his hand.

"You know?"

I nodded. "I do. I mean, I think that you are more than capable of killing, and you probably have within reason, but I know now that you wouldn't have killed anyone innocent."

He arched a brow. "You were so mad at me because of that. What has changed your mind?"

"You have my friends captured," I told him. "At first, I thought they would die before I could even see them, but you've let them live even when I know they belong to the enemy pack."

My mate sighed loudly by my side. "I did not always hate that pack, you know."

At his words, I remained silent. He took that as opportunity to continue.

"Believe it or not, but Gabriel and I were good friends at one point," he continued, and chuckled humourlessly.

I was surprised to hear about his relationship with Gabriel but only squeezed his hand to let him know that I was listening.

"I became Alpha before him, my father passed away and I took the title early on," he explained. "By the time Gabriel became Alpha, I was quite experienced and gave him pointers. But the minute he claimed the title, everything changed."

"What do you mean?"

"He attacked my pack two days after taking the title. Did he tell you this?"

I shook my head in shock. Two days? It had taken Gabriel two days as a leader to cause chaos?

"Of course, he would not tell you this." My mate chuckled again, but there was no humour behind it.

"Gabriel wanted to grow his pack," Alexander told me, glancing down at me. "He attacked my pack because he wanted me to give him some of my members."

My brows knitted together at his words. The Alpha that I had grown up to know was nothing like the man that Alexander was telling me about.

"Why would he do that to you?" I asked, shocked and frankly, disgusted.

"He called me a traitor for abandoning him when he needed my help. But to attack my pack and hurt my people? That was unforgivable."

My hand pressed on his tighter. It pained me to hear his side to the story. It had been easy to believe Gabriel because I had known him. Alexander had been unfamiliar to me until I had came to his territory. To think Gabriel brainwashed us, that infuriated me.

"We watched Wolves going missing," I told Alexander, not understanding. "What happened to the innocent Wolves from my pack?"

"Gabriel was using his own people to fight for him. They trespassed and got killed," he told me. "It is in our nature to kill Wolves that are a threat."

"Gabriel had them killed and he used you to cover up for it," I concluded aloud, hardly believing the truth.

Alexander wrapped an arm around me. "I am sorry for telling you like this. I wanted to tell you before but you left."

Nodding, I sighed loudly. "I don't know what to say."

"I am going to find him and kill him," he snarled.

Turning my torso toward him, I cupped his face in my hand. "It must have been so hard for you."

Alexander turned his face in to my palm and kissed the inside of my hand.

"Everything is better now with you here," he admitted, his eyes on me. "I needed you to know the truth behind this."

"I am sorry for accusing you," I apologised, feeling embarrassed for the way I had acted upon meeting him.

"You did not know," he reminded me. "I was surprised when you accused me at first, until I placed the pieces together."

I sighed softly, and wrapped my arms around his neck. His words when he had told me 'you don't know what I have dealt with' rang in my ears and I felt sadness consume me.

"Thank you for telling me, and for never giving up on me," I murmured in to his chest.

Alexander wrapped his arms around me and rubbed at my back.

"If he attacks my pack again, I will have to kill him," he told me, softly but it sounded more like a warning.

I closed my eyes tightly but didn't respond and only nodded. Although, I couldn't understand their feud completely, I trusted my mate to do what was right for him and for our pack.

We remained in each other's arms for a while, before we exited the bedroom.

My thoughts were going wild as Alexander's words replayed in my head. There were so many questions that I wanted to ask, but after seeing my mate's distressed face, I had decided to drop it.

Instead, I was curious if Jaxon knew anything about this. I made a mental note to ask him later as my mate guided us down the stairs.