Rejected, Abused, I Fall for the Forbidden Alpha (by Riley Scott) novel Chapter 240

Chapter 240

Marissa POV

It’s killing me to look at him like this and hear the sound of his voice. He’s sincere as he begs me, but my heart’s already been broken by him, and nothing he says is going to change that. At least, I don’t think so, but then he does something so shocking, my whole body goes still.

He kneels. He gets on his knees on the dirt and reaches for me. I’m in a state of disbelief, and I let him take hold of my hands, let him squeeze them lightly as he looks up at me with imploring eyes. An alpha, kneeling to another shifter, is unheard of. They have too much pride for that.

“I hurt you,” his voice is low, “I failed to protect my mate, and I failed to realize the diamond I had right in front of my eyes. I failed you, Marissa,” he breathed, “and you have no idea how truly sorry I am about that.I know whatever I say won’t change that but right now,” he looked down at himself, “I’m just a man humbly begging for his mate, his other half to give him another chance even when he doesn’t deserve it.”

I want to push him away. I want to yank my hands out of his and back away, but I can’t. My heart is squeezing in my chest, and my eyes are shimmering with tears. I’ve never seen Damien so broken before. I’ve never seen any man this broken before.

“You hurt me,” I whispered, my voice breaking, “I just wanted you to hear me and see me, Damien.”

“I see you,” he growled, “I hear you. You’re the other part of me, Marissa, that I didn’t even know I was missing. I almost died back there thinking I was going to lose you.”

“You kept me a secret,” I murmured, and he looked at me with nothing but regret on his face and then determination.

“I’ll announce you as soon as we’re back. I won’t fail you again, Marissa. I’ll declare you as my mate publicly.”

“What about Alice?” I couldn’t help but snipe.

“Alice is working with somebody to betray the pack. She wants you gone, Marissa, and until I know what she’s up to, I won’t let anybody take eyes off of her. She won’t get near you again,”

Working with someone? I frown at him, and then comprehension dawns. Who else could Alice be working with than my mother? It made perfect sense.

But that seemed too easy. Then again, my mother was nothing but arrogant. She had a grudge against me, and nothing was going to stop her from taking her revenge. But how did I tell Damien without him thinking I had lost the plot? Did I even want to tell him without any proof?

So I remain silent. I continue to stare down at him blankly. If I go back, he’s in danger, but if I don’t? There’s a chance he’ll get hurt anyway.

My conscience fights with me.

I slowly pull my hands away from Damien and swallow hard as he continues to look at me with remorse.

“Get up,” my voice is gravelly.

He hesitates and then awkwardly gets back on his feet, dusting off the dirt on his knees.

“Marissa,” he begins, and I hold up a hand, preventing him from speaking any further.

“Just listen,” I breathed, and he fell silent.

1/2

“You abandoned me, Damien. You punished me the moment I got back to the Shadow Park, and I accepted it because of my past actions, but you crossed the line. You were looking for a reason to hurt me, and Alice gave you that on a silver platter. You took my dignity, you took my heart, and you took my trust. I can’t just hand them back to you I can understand your reasoning.” I paused and fixed my eyes on him, “but that doesn’t make it hurt any less.”

He looked away and then looked back at me.

“What do you need from me?”

“I want you to publicly announce me as your mate,” I whispered, my hands shaking, “I want you to prove that coming back to your pack isn’t a mistake. I want you to show me that I mean something to you and that this isn’t just some desperate attempt to hurt me again. I want my past to stay in the past. I’m no saint, Damien,” I said softly, “but I’m not a monster either. I deserve a clean slate.”

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