Denzel’s POV
“He almost beat me that night just for telling him,” Jalisa said, her voice hollow. “He told me he had plans for me and they didn’t include my mate. He demanded to know who it was. I was terrified to say his name, so I told him I would reject my mate and marry you instead.”
I felt nothing. No pity. No compassion. Whatever sympathy she expected from me, she would never receive it.
“We tried to fight the bond,” she continued. “But we couldn’t. Three months after our wedding, Tyrell tried to end his life because of the pain. I felt it too every second of it. I was empty. Miserable. We wanted to run away together, but we knew you and my father would hunt us down. So we stayed. We endured. We found a way to survive it.”
I laughed short, bitter, void of humor.
“Then why try to
