Chapter 77

My heart hammered in my chest. Dead? I should be dead? They hated me that much that they wanted me dead? I mean, I guess much was obvious but still... Did they know this when they did bound me?

Rhys squeezed my hand and gave me a worried look.

“Binding someone is considered the harshest form of punishment there is for a wolf.” Arlo continued. “It is not something that should ever be done lightly, but this text does talk about the several times that it was done. I should have realized that it wasn’t just legend when I was bound myself, but I didn’t think anything of it.”

I felt dizzy. There was so much information coming at me so fast these days, I felt so overwhelmed. My mother really was so afraid of me that she had me bound several times? She had really risked the life of her child like that? And how old was the person who had died? If it was the harshest punishment, then they must have been old enough to have done something really bad... And I had been just a child... A baby the first two times... Did my mother know the risks? Or had she been so panicked that her child could shift at birth that she did the only thing she thought would protect me?

“But Grace is alive and overall healthy. In fact, this is the healthiest I think she’s ever been, and she’s been bound at least 3 times.” Sawyer argued, his lips tight with disagreement.

“And I literally watched her heal last night when she cut herself.” Rhys added. “There must be more to it. She doesn’t seem like she’s dying.”

Arlo raised his hands in defense. “I am just telling you what I remember reading, it’s been a long time, but I still remember that part of the book pretty vividly because I found it fascinating, but I didn’t read the whole section.”

“I don’t find the death of my mate fascinating.” Rhys responded coldly.

“I didn’t mean it like that,” Arlo said looking flustered. “I just meant-”

“We know you didn’t,” Sawyer intervened shooting a glare at his brother, and I was glad he was protecting Arlo, but I also hated how they were talking about me like I wasn’t even here. “It just this doesn’t make any sense. Maybe her bindings weren’t complete?”

“Or maybe when I marked her it counteracted something?” Rhys suggested hopefully.

“Should I be worried about dying?” I asked, feeling the panic inside me rising.

“I’m not sure,” Arlo stated, uncertainly. “I’ll have to do more research, when I read this before. I was researching something completely different.”

“Why didn’t you tell us you had information on Lycans before?” Rhys snapped in frustration, grabbing the book. “We’ve been blind this whole time.”

“I didn’t know you were needing Lycan information until you revealed at the meeting today that Grace was one.” Arlo defended. “If I had known I would have started to research it earlier. I always assumed that these stories were folklore legends. I didn’t know there was any truth to any of them.”

“Seriously,” I could barely contain my anxiety anymore. My heart felt like it was going to beat out of my chest. “Should I be worried that I am going to die?”

“Grace...” Rhys reached for me, but I pulled away.

“Somebody tell me I’m not going to die.” I panicked.

“I’m afraid no one knows,” Arlo said sadly, but he looked unsure of his answer.

“Grace, we’ll figure it out...” Rhys got out of his chair and moved toward me.

But I didn’t want him to touch me. I had come so close to death so many time. I had been tortured and beaten to within an inch of my life on more than one occasion. I had been starved and had no one to care for me. I couldn’t believe I was going to die from something that had happened to me as a baby!

“I need some air!” I exclaimed, dodging Rhys and heading straight out the door, hoping the chill of the evening would be enough to settle my brain.

“You!”

I had been so lost in my thoughts, that I hadn’t noticed Allison at the end of Arlo’s driveway till she yelled. Great. The last thing I needed was for her to make a scene. The last several days have been enough. I didn’t need this too.

“What?” I snapped at her.

“You bitch! How could Rhys choose you?! You are nothing! You aren’t pretty. You don’t talk much. Nobody knows who you are! Your last pack treated you like dirt, I don’t know understand how you are his mate! I have done everything for him!”

“You are asking the wrong person,” I tried to brush it off, but her words felt like she was taking a knife to my chest and digging out my heart. “I don’t know why he chose me, but it doesn’t matter anyway.” I told her as my mind returned to my potential dying.

“You are not worthy of the Alpha King!” Allison stated as she got closer, so she was practically in my face. “You are nothing. You are less than nothing. And I suggest you leave him if you know what’s fucking good for you.” She sneered.

I didn’t know what to say. Everything she said made sense. Rhys kept trying to tell me that I was powerful. That I was something more than I was allowing myself to be. But maybe that wasn’t true. Maybe those things were only what he wanted me to be, and I would never be able to be that for him.

Tears flooded my eyes. Allison was perfect. She was gorgeous. She was strong. She was powerful. She had no fear, and I was trying not to let her see that I was terrified of her. I knew she was trying to be intimidating, and that was her who gimmick. But just because I knew it, didn’t change how it made me feel, especially when she was right. I was nothing. I was nothing.