The Messenger( Iva) novel Chapter 320

And then she began to tell her story.

“When I was just a pup,” she said, her voice distant, lost in memory, “my father brought home three male pups. He had raised them alongside me. There was a reason for it, you see. My mother was a chosen mate-not fated. And because of that, she could only bear one pup.

Me.”

She paused, her eyes distant.

“My father needed an heir. A strong one. But he couldn’t have another child of his own blood, and I was a girl. So he brought home three pups from different packs, practically adopted

them.

He raised them as his own, with the purpose of them growing up beside me, bonding with me. Growing loyal. The idea was that I would eventually choose one of them to be my mate. That person would become the Alpha.”

Lori’s eyes widened.

“That’s-that’s unusual.”

Meriem nodded.

“It was calculated. My father was a strategist. He wanted the strongest possible Alpha to lead the pack after him. And he believed that by raising the pups alongside me, he could ensure that the one I chose would be loyal. Would be worthy.”

She paused, her voice dropping.

“I was raised in harmony with all three of them. We were like brothers and sister initially- close, trusting, happy. And as I grew older, I developed feelings for one of them. Calin.”

Her voice cracked slightly at the name.

“Calin was everything I thought I wanted. Handsome. Strong. Charismatic. He made me feel special, like I was the only person in the world. When the time came for me to choose, I chose him without hesitation.”

Attia’s expression was unreadable.

“Everyone knew he would be the one selected,” Meriem continued. “He was the strongest, the

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Hioodfang’s Heirs 1

Clam

most ambitious, the most charismatic. The pack loved him. My father trusted him. And I-‘ She swallowed hard. “I loved him.”

“But after the Alpha ceremony,” she said, her voice dropping to barely a whisper, “my doom began.”

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