The Silent Alpha

***Zanet** 

I stop the projection, looking up at Toran in confusion.

Uncle Cyrus and Bre were mates...

How could Bre be Toran’s mate? "Your uncle and I grew up on stories of the Fated gold and silver wolf pair that were thought to create the most powerful wolf hybrids in all the land, the Ivory twins.I did not even think he believed in them, but I guess I was wrong to assume that,"

Toran chuckles dryly.

"We had known Princess Breanna, a gold wolf, our whole lives and being a silver wolf himself, Cyrus saw an opportunity he could not pass up.Though he did not know who Bre's true mate would be, before our 18th birthday, Cyrus sought the help of some Spirit witches to not only shield Breanna from her true mate, but also forge a false mate bond with her.This meant that when Bre and I turned 18, neither one of us could feel the bond...but she could feel it with him.I, however, had been betrothed to Bre for years and we were both committed to taking over the Kingdom together, even if we found our true mates.It was what we were taught to accept.Cyrus had hoped Bre would fall for him and leave me altogether, but his fake bond with her was not as strong as he had hoped.He could never convince her to leave me, because mate bond or not, she was falling in love with me...and I with her.wane because he could not mark her and it was not long before Breanna realized something was wrong with their bond."

Toran pauses for a moment to gather his thoughts, the memory of her fate still a fresh wound in his head.

"My wife was a smart woman," Toran says proudly, his eyes flickering with melancholy.

"And when the sparks began to fade between her and Cyrus, she realized her bond with him was nothing more than an illusion.On the day she no longer felt the sparks of their bond, she confronted him, demanding an explanation for what he had done.It was then that I experienced the true power of the mate bond for the first and only time.My heart felt like it was about to burst and I had a terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach.My wolf was practically inconsolable so I ran home to check on her and found her..."

He does not finish his sentence, his eyes fixating on a small spot on the table.

"I watched my mate die in my arms...and I never got to enjoy being hers," Toran whispers.

"Your uncle robbed me of my one and only soulmate...so I killed him and thus began my war."

"You see, Cyrus outsmarted us all," Toran adds quietly, leaning forward in his seat.

"He turned the truth against me and King Arthur believed every word.Bre and I were married several years, never once feeling the bond, and so, when I told King Arthur years, Bre had confided in her father that she felt the bond with Cyrus and several of Bre’s closest companions confessed that she had, in a moment of weakness, given herself to him.My heart became ice the moment I realized the world had turned against me and I waged war to seek my revenge.King Arthur chose to support Scarlett Haven and Ravenstone left the Kingdom."

A single tear rolls down his cheek but he quickly wipes it away, straightening his tie and clearing his throat.I try to make sense of everything he just explained, but there are still so many questions left unanswered, so many things I still do not understand, too much to just forgive.

"You have questions," Toran chuckles softly.

"Ask away."

Words spill out of my mouth before I have time to process them and I do not even care about my stutter anymore.

Something flickers in Toran’s eyes as I speak but I cannot decipher what he thinks of me.

"Y-you said y-you knew A-agnes....Th-that y-you sent her to m-me," I stutter, also signing the words so Agnes can follow along.

"That is not a question."

do you know her?"

read minds and yet you have never thought to search her memories for that answer?" Toran asks, tilting his head

curious about Agnes's past but she never answered any of my questions when I asked and I

revealing to

a former pack member

I knew her husband well.He was a good

glancing at the

father committed the most horrific war crime to punish me," he adds, a

center in my pack...We lost 26 pups, among them, Agnes’ only son." I stare at the man in front of me,

of the revelation Toran has given me

son?" I ask, hoping with every fiber in my body that Toran is lying, that my father is not truly the monster Toran makes him

she signs the word yes, tearsday without wanting to tear him to pieces

me in the eye and love me like her own son after what my

your husband?" I ask

action," she replies, pressing her lips together to hold back her

killed in battle shortly after they lost their son," Toran

up in

and

survived

was to get inside and I would repay

as my mother for the past 20 years was

didn’t give her much of

angry, so full of hatred that I did not care what I did so long as I made your father pay.I gave

mind is in turmoil trying to make sense of everything Toran just revealed to me and I find myself unable to

always been looking for a way to complete her twisted mission? her, hurt that perhaps everything we ever shared, all the laughs, the memories, and the love, was

signs, tears rolling down her

"Because it’s all lies!"

to kill me," I

"Is that a lie?"

she shakes her

mind to go through with it," she

boy locked away in a room.A boy who needed love and I had so much love in my heart left to give and no one to

my baby and that will never

to

to blame for what I asked her

"V-victim?" I snap angrily.

m-my fa-father," I growl, unwilling to shed any more

like him!" Toran says nothing in his defense, allowing my anger to