Untouchable by Marii Solaria

Chapter 27 – The Truth

“There are so many things that I want so badly to tell you, but I just can’t.“–Nina LaCour, Hold Still

Neron

After the fiasco at my ceremony five years ago, I’ve learned that Halima had jumped off the treacherous cliff, five stories to her death. She accepted my rejection and ended her life. The soldiers spent weeks scouring the river below our territory for her corpse, but it was never found as if she disappeared in thin air,

I was elated back then. I broke our bond, so I felt nothing. I didn’t have to worry about someone I’ve considered worthless. Sure, I was pissed at Kwame for body–slamming me, the Alpha, in my ceremony, but I felt free. Free from the burden of housing someone my father and I believed is responsible for the death of my mother and sister.

I blamed her for everything. For leading my sister out to the pond against permission, forcing my mother to look for them, and forgetting about the rogue sightings her father warned about. For not mind–linking anyone about the disaster, not holding onto my sister tight enough, and for not screaming loud enough for the help.

Oh, how quickly love could turn into bitter hate…

I blamed Halima for being ignorant and irresponsible. Everyone did. We, collectively, believed she deserved the abuse she got. It is our own twisted way of exacting justice for our fallen Luna and her daughter. She was guilty in my eyes. She was nine and knew right from wrong. And I believed her selfishness caused their deaths.

But it didn’t

The Gamma Family had been working secretly on Halima’s exoneration, working day in and day out to track the bastard responsible for killing my mother and sister. It was only three years ago when the spikes of rogue attacks first began, that was when I was smacked with the truth.

The Rogue King, he called himself, though I knew him better as Uncle Zain, was infuriated with my father for being given the Zircon Moon pack, even though Zain was the eldest son. My uncle was considered unfit to rule and the title was passed over him to my father. Enraged, my father’s elder brother set out, breaking his bond with the Zircon Moon pack and plotted revenge ever since. I suppose he finally got what he wanted after so many years of waiting.

We hunted him down like the mutt he was, not without difficulty from his hounds from hell. Upon his capture, he confessed to slaughtering my mom and sister with a smile as big as the planet itself. He laughed right in my face, at my father’s face. He sniggered at the fact that it unintentionally liberated him from all crime and was smart enough to cover his tracks.

“All I had to do was wipe the blood on that stupid child, and then I was free! I had to avert suspicion away from me, and why not make the child look responsible“? Amazing how things turned out, huh?”

that day. Even after my father snuffed his life out in revenge. It forced me to face the truth that Halima isn’t the one responsible. It was that monster who placed the

wolves did he kill? How many died because

because of him. We all maimed, tortured, and

Beta’s youngest daughter without a second thought. We all hold responsibility for how we treated an innocent

I…I’m the true criminal here. I’ve beaten her, starved her, and marked her for death. I marked my mate for death because I was blinded with anger and grief. I rejected our mate bond

her to suicide. She jumped off that cliff because

of our mate bond. May you all burn

I killed my mate. No wonder Onyx hates me. We’ve lost the one person the Moon Goddess destined us to

red letters stamped diagonally on her file.

EXONERATED

it hit her family the hardest. Raina’s wailing could be heard for miles, Ashley lost all light in her eyes, and

if they have nothing to live for, and with Halima, which

We, as a community, put that terror in her and I smiled back then,

In every nightmare, she died, and I couldn’t save her. The pack had everything

smile, her brown skin rich with life, and curls bouncy like springs. It is the only photo I had left of her. It fills

with: a mate. My other half. The yin to

forgiveness. I pray for redemption. What I’ve done is inexcusable. I deserved to be punished with the broken mate bond, never to rekindle again. I could never have my true Luna

children.

as my heart pounded madly in my chest. It hurt so bad. It hurts every time I think about Halima and her final days. But I needed to stop focusing on her, she was dead and never coming back. I hope she is happy in heaven with my

blink back my tears, shaking away those thoughts as I pick up the phone sitting at

27 –

a number. This was an enormous bruise to my ego, but my pack needed help

else. No mate or family deserves

“Alpha Anthony speaking.”