Fated to the Alpha Who Killed Me (by Sherry) novel Chapter 127

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“Worse.” Victoria’s tears fell freely. “We threatened to blacklist Aurora’s father as a rogue, to force her entire

family out of the Pack if Daemon didn’t complete the ceremony with you. He agreed to protect her family.”

The room spun. All those years I’d thought Daemon’s coldness was just personality. I’d never imagined there

was someone he’d actually loved.

“When did she die?” I asked.

Victoria’s face crumpled. “The day of your mate bond ceremony. Aurora jumped into Silver River and

drowned herself. They found her body three days later.”

The nausea hit like a physical blow. The day I’d stood in that ceremony space feeling like the luckiest

woman alive, Aurora had walked into a river because she couldn’t bear to live in a world where Daemon

belonged to someone else.

“I need to leave,” I said, my voice sounding distant and hollow even to my own ears as I pushed back from

the table with trembling hands.

“Violet, please,” Victoria reached for me, her fingers grasping at my sleeve. “Don’t blame Daemon too

harshly for these years. The mistakes, the cruelty of it all, that was on us, on me and Dominic and that

stubborn old Alpha. Daemon was as much a victim as anyone.” Her voice broke. “Please, just think about it.

Think about what he’s been carrying all this time.”

“Stop,” I cut her off, my voice sharper than I’d intended as I pulled away from her touch. “Just stop talking. I

can’t, I need to think, I need to-”

But I couldn’t finish the sentence because my throat had closed up entirely and my vision was blurring with tears I’d been fighting to hold back since the moment I’d seen that first photograph of Aurora’s laughing

face.

I ran out the door, the cold air hitting my face like a slap as I stumbled down the front steps of the estate.

Ember emerged in a painful rush, and my howl echoed through the darkness, grief and rage that had been building for five years. I ran through the snow, my vision blurred with tears. All I could think about was Aurora’s face, how I’d been the reason she’d given up hope.

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Chapter 127

I ran until my muscles screamed and my lungs burned, until I finally collapsed near the Goldcrest border,

shaking with exhaustion.

Eventually I shifted back and made it home on sheer willpower, my clothes torn and body shivering. I

climbed to my childhood bedroom and collapsed.

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I lay in the darkness, finally processing what Victoria had told me. Aurora had loved Daemon enough to die.

And Celeste looked so much like her that seeing her must have felt like a second chance.

No wonder he’d been so drawn to Celeste. She wasn’t just infatuation, she was his ghost made flesh, his

second chance.

And I was nothing but the living reminder of what he’d lost, the mate bond that had killed the woman he

actually loved. I’d never been his mate. I’d been his prison.

The next morning, I woke with swollen eyes after a restless night of fragmented dreams filled with blonde

hair and river water.

When I emerged from my room, both my parents were in the kitchen having breakfast. They took one look

at my face and the concern was immediate.

“Violet, what happened?” My mother stood up, her coffee forgotten. “Your eyes are so red. Did something

happen at the Blackwoods‘?”

“It’s nothing serious,” I said, managing to keep my voice steady as I poured myself water. “Victoria and

Dominic just spent the evening trying to convince me not to go through with the rejection. I got a bit

emotional about it, shed a few tears. That’s all.”

My father’s expression darkened immediately. “They have some nerve. Why didn’t they teach that bastard

some decency years ago?”

“Exactly,” my mother agreed, her own anger rising in defense of me. “Now they want to play the reasonable

in–laws? After everything?”

I sat down at the table, suddenly exhausted despite having just woken up. “Mom, Dad, don’t worry about it

anymore. I’ve decided I’m going to Aunt Sophia’s at the end of the month. And then three months after

that, I’ll submit another forced dissolution petition.”

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My mother studied my face carefully, as if trying to read what I wasn’t saying. “You’ve really decided then?”

she asked softly.

“I’ve decided.” The words came out firmer than I felt inside, but I needed to say them, needed to commit to

this path forward. I couldn’t keep being the third wheel in my own marriage, couldn’t continue in a

relationship that had cost someone their life.

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