Claimed Twice

Chapter thirteen

Beatrice

Beatrice arrived at my apartment the next evening, looking older than I remembered, tired in a way that had nothing to do with the airplane flight.

"Nora," she said, standing in my doorway, twisting her hands together. "I know you probably hate me."

"I don't hate you," I said, even though for a long time, I had come close. "I just needed space."

She nodded, like she understood, and stepped inside when I moved aside to let her in. Marcus, my bodyguard, stood watch outside the door, and Beatrice glanced back at him nervously.

"Is that normal now?" she asked. "Bodyguards?"

"Long story," I said. "Sit down. Tell me about the journal."

Beatrice pulled a worn leather book out of her bag, its pages soft and curled from age. "I found this in Mom's old things after she passed. I never opened it, not for years. I couldn't. But last month, I finally did."

She opened it to a page marked with a faded ribbon and slid it across the table to me.

The handwriting was shaky but familiar, close to my own.

If my daughters ever bond with a wolf, they must know the truth. Our line does not weaken when we mate with wolves. Our line strengthens theirs. But the bond only completes fully if both sides accept it freely, without force, without fear. A rejection breaks something in us that a normal human heart does not have. It does not just hurt. It slowly kills.

My hands started shaking as I read it again.

"Mom knew," I whispered. "She knew this could happen to me, and she never told me."

"She was scared," Beatrice said softly. "She said our grandmother went through something similar. A rejected bond. She barely survived it. I think Mom hoped we would never need to know."

I closed the journal slowly, my mind spinning. Alpha Alexander 's father had not just lied about my family being weak. He had lied knowing exactly what a rejection would do to me. He had known it could kill me, and he had let his son say those words anyway.

"Beatrice," I said, my voice shaking, "I need you to tell this to Alpha Alexander . All of it. Tonight."

She looked surprised. "You're still talking to him? After everything?"

"It's complicated," I said. "But yes. And this changes everything."

My phone buzzed on the table between us. I almost did not want to look, my whole body tensing before I even saw the screen.

It was not Alpha Alexander . It was the unknown number again.

I see you have a visitor. Careful who you trust, Nora. Not everyone flying into town has good intentions.

I looked up at Beatrice, my heart pounding, a horrible thought crawling into my mind that I did not want to have.

How did they know she was here?