Forged in the Flames by Karima Sa'ad Usman

“Alpha, are you alright?” I heard Qusack’s voice, which snapped me out of my deep thoughts. I was staring at the Photo of Aliana’s mother, who was currently in Snow as Fredrick’s slave.

“Do you know this woman?” I asked, handing Qusack the Photo? He looked at it and shook his head.

I wanted to know if I was the only one she served. It seemed I was the only one.

Seeing Aliana’s father’s condition, I did not want to raise any alarms. I might not get anything from him if I told him what I saw. He might end up in the clinic.

I figured Fredrick must have forcefully claimed her, and that was the severance Gabriel felt that made him believe she was dead. Only a Lycan of his breed could achieve stealing a mate of a lesser breed.

It was easier for Gabriel to believe his mate was dead than to think she had been claimed forcefully by an Alpha Lycan. It wouldn’t have crossed his mind since Lycans believed

Werewolves were beneath them, but Gwendolyn was a beauty like her daughter.

It should have crossed his mind.

I couldn’t control myself when I set eyes on Aliana, and it had nothing to do with our bond.

She might not look like her mother, but she was in a league of her own and did not have to make any effort to look the part.

I tried to compose myself while connecting the dots in my head.

If I was the only one she served, Fredrick wanted me to know he had Aliana’s mother.

Unfortunately, I did not know her, and he figured it out when he came to see me in the room.

All the talk was just to know how much I knew.

Apparently, I was clueless, hence his satisfaction.

The woman had referred to me as royalty and told me she was from Forest, but how could I connect the dots?

Gwendolyn was also the only person that knew of my legitimacy.

I began to suspect that Fredrick had grabbed the woman and kept her alive on purpose.

He grabbed her around the time of my conquest.

He must have known I planned to take Forest and did not want me to get my crown. How else can I prove my legitimacy when everyone in Forest, when I was conceived, had died in battle? My mother’s midwife was the witness and the only person that could vouch for me under compulsion. He knew what he was doing.

I am about to discover now, which means

linked me, and I adjusted myself. There was no point raising the

Photo was back in its spot, and

not need to

Qusack if he knew her. Clearly, he shouldn’t, but I had asked him

over settlements in

do with her death. I was just wondering because her face looks familiar. Also, Aliana looks nothing like her,” I said

never killed women and children in my

added so he would know it wasn’t my

couldn’t help

me how you confirmed Gwendolyn’s death? I want to know if it was when they attacked them or later?”

see if we would see them, but time had passed, and they had taken her. I knew Gwendolyn would be killed because she would rather die than be a slave, so when the severance came a day after they took her, I knew the bastards that took her had finally ended her

a wonderful woman. She helped your mother with your conception. You know. She monitored her heart and told her

nice to werewolves. She would instead Gwen stays and have a life than follow her to be a slave in Snow,” He said

Getting her from Snow would take a lot of work, and we did not have the might to do it. I hoped my mother would tell me the truth

because I knew Gabriel was no fool. He would know that I was hiding something.

tease her about it. Aliana wished she looked like her mother badly since most girls looked like that around here; she felt she would have been

it served her well,” Qusack added to

It was as if he was trying to figure me out. I knew it won’t be long before he would realise Aliana and I were fated. Still, I intend to be silent about it for as long

my thought about Gwendolyn

I have come here, and I am sure Beta Qusack has already informed

account of what happened in the past leading to my father’s death. I want to know how you killed him and all that happened after,” I

swear to tell you the truth as I have experienced your, Highness,” he said respectfully. I knew it wasn’t a formality for him; he genuinely respected me

pretty intense things that seemed to add up. By the time he gave accounts of my father’s death, I saw a man that

deceived, but what I did not understand was why my father would be extreme to the point of defunding the werewolf military and sending

working against him and reducing his military force by systematically killing off

Fredrick or Aleksander be behind his demise because only a King could invade another King’s kingdom? Or could it be an average dreamer

uncle, I know it is possible that Leon planned to kill the King, and it is possible that Giles had to sacrifice so my father could live. Fredrick did not trust Leon

suspected on my father’s cabinet that could have intercepted the letters, drafted the letters, and made decisions on his behalf that could have caused the ill-treatment of the werewolves that led to their massacre, forcing you all to revolt? I mean, someone with the authority to reply, send letters on his behalf,

father was grieved stricken because of Leon’s death, he must have delegated the work to someone else,” I said, and Gabriel shrugged. “I thought as much, but I am not in the position to point fingers as I wasn’t in your father’s government at that time. He had new officers whom I did not know. Maybe your mother can shed light

liar, so I cannot believe anything she says. You left out the part where she made passes at you,”

keep her dignity, something her brother was incapable of doing. The man was indeed modest. “I do not want to embarrass Queen Isabelle. She wasn’t in a good place then. King Mathias

that she pleaded with me to let her be my mistress since I had taken over Forest. She wanted to do it for your sake. She was pregnant with you then,

could not betray my friend even in