Academy Of Mates novel Chapter 98

Chapter 98

Chapter 98

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My lips pressed thin, standing to my full height and I walked towards him, looking down at this damaged man. “It’s the truth and you know it.”

“And it will get you killed.” He says, staring into my eyes. “Don’t you see? You’re at their mercy now and you will learn very quickly that they don’t have mercy.”

“Who?” But I already knew.

He looked truly so broken. A shell of a man he used to be. The clothes hid it well but I could see through his facade, noticing the bruises that healed but were merely replaced with new ones. “You know who.”

My eyes widened in horror. “Did Odette do this to you?”

He shrugged but this only caused his body to spasm. “All of them did.”

I shook my head, unable to believe what had become of him. “So why would you take me here?”

Andrew looked up, giving me a laugh so cold it chilled my entire body. “I didn’t.”

I remember the charismatic Alpha in the School of Love, the one that stood on the platform with this well practiced smile, saying words so scripted, so fake. “He did?”

“And it wasn’t hard. You’re all still farm packs in the end. Ones. Even your precious nameless pack. They’re still a one. The money offered to your guards didn’t even put a dent in their pockets. Your guards accepted it so easily, because everyone is blind to wealth in the end.” Andrew chuckled but he didn’t look amused. He looked scared. He looked like he accepted the inevitable. “Your friend Jeff told us you were coming to the defenseless farm pack, away from the protection of the mountains. Without even asking for payment, your friend told us how to cross their lines and where loyal nameless pack members patrolled. And… our Alpha learned very quickly that you were always accompanied by either your mate or Benedict and Benedict would never accept money or any kind of bribery. But suddenly, there was a small window where you didn’t have both.”

A small window where Benedict was sent away and Sebastian’s wolf took over his body.

When I was alone for the very first time.

“What do they want from me?” I find myself asking, swallowing back the bile that rose up to my throat.

Dead, hopeless eyes looked up at me. “You’re his weakness. The first weakness he’s ever had. Do you know how long that monster has caused the city pack trouble? Do you know how long our Alpha has tried to put him down but could never come close?”

“Do you think taking me will help this pack?” My chest was contracting/painfully in panic. “Do you think that will save you

all?”

“It will certainly make him hesitate, but what do I know?” The sarcastic way he says this makes me think many have questioned his position. His worth. “I’m just a fake Beta.”

I glanced around, hugging myself. “Why am I here? In your room?”

“Because I’m trying to protect you.” Andrew stands from the bed and came up to hover over me, his minty breath fanning my face. “They wanted you tortured. They wanted you in a cell and drugged to the point of forgetting your own name.”

His close proximity made me want to take a step back, but I didn’t want him to think I was scared, so even if I wanted to put distance between us, I stood my ground. “I’m not following.”

He smiled then and it was so genuine that it made me sick. “I told them that we would mate. That you want to mate me.”

10:46 Mon, Apr 20 JM.

Chapter 98

This time, I jumped away from him. “What?!”

Andrew takes a step closer to me, eliminating the space I created. “They just want us to get married, Vareesa. To sever your ties to the monster. They won’t harm you if you follow.”

Wasn’t he just telling me that I was a weakness that they wanted to exploit?

Wasn’t he just saying that they finally had something over Sebastian?

That they wanted to use me.

I felt like I was being caved in. “Do you really believe that?”

“I have to.” And he really meant it. His eyes that were once so excited and bright were dull and without any kind of hope. “They just needed you out of their way, to distract him.”

“Then I think you’re either really pure or dumb.” As I look at this man, it was probably both. “I won’t allow myself to be used like this and your superiors know what I am to Sebastian, Andrew. And he won’t stop until he gets me back. I’ve seen what he can do. No one will survive this.”

“But that’s where this comes in.” Andrew tugs me forward. “If you bind yourself to me, willingly, the Alpha will think that you chose me.”

I scoffed, Sebastian would never. He won’t let me be taken by the city pack. “What do you get from this? Look at what they’ve done to you. Look at what your beloved pack has turned you into. You’re supposed to be safe here. This is your home. But you’re not. Why are you a part of this?”

His eyes darkened, his jaw tightened. “You make it sound like I have a choice. I never wanted to be a Beta. I was forced into it. They used it to get to Benedict and… I let them. But with this, they will finally release me from my position. That I can take you, the first person I’ve ever truly wanted, and get away from here. That I can be free.”

“It’s been really bad for you.” It wasn’t a question, but he answered anyway. “For all of you.”

“I knew what I did in the School of Love had…” He trailed off, lips quivering as if remembering everything that had happened to him in the last few days. “Consequences, but I still did it because I wanted to do something for myself, for once, and I paid the price. They have- they have done things to me that I would never wish on another person. It has been hell. I used to laugh when they did this to him.”

Something ugly stirred in my stomach. “To whom?”

“To Benedict.” Andrew confirmed guiltily. “They used to beat him bloody every day, burning him and cutting him and making him drown in his own blood. The worst part was his mother did it to him. And I watched and laughed. I always laughed at it before because I thought it was right. Karma has a way of coming back and I’m now living the hell he used to call his life.”

I ran to the trash can beside the bed, hurling the contents of my stomach out.

Benedict and… his past.

More vomit left my lips.

I had almost forgotten that Benedict was from here. That this city was where he was born. He always said that life here was difficult for him, but I couldn’t imagine Benedict looking like Andrew. Beaten. Bloody. Destroyed.

By his mother, no less.

Benedict is always so positive and charming and a ray of sunshine. It’s impossible to think of him like this. Like Andrew now.

Wasn’t this his family? His mother? His uncle?

10:46 Mon, Apr 20 M.

Chapter 98

I couldn’t believe it.

Is it true? Was this his life before Sebastian? Is this the nightmare that he once lived?

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