Page 183 of His Fated Luna

"I was just trying to or-organize some of these papers." My voice wavered slightly, giving too much away to Alistair.

"I see I've underestimated you." His lip curled into a sneer. "I always knew you were a perceptive little bitch. Think you're so clever, don't you?"

He lifted his hand, pulled back, and swiftly brought it back down, effectively slapping me. My head snapped to the side. My vision blanked and there was a terrible ringing in my ears. I'd never been hit so hard in my entire life.

“Pity I didn't see it sooner. You're good at hiding things, you little slut. But not that good!"

I wiped the blood from my lip, shaking my head to try to clear it. In an attempt to throw him off my trail before he killed me, I tried to speak.

“I-I don’t know—”

His eyes promised a painful retribution as he cut off my pathetic attempt.

"You’ve manipulated the books! I know you have! You've been going through them all week! You think I’m stupid to not realize that there is no way your pack could be in the red?!”

I didn't know whether to be relieved he didn't know about my knowledge regarding Evercore or to be terrified because he knew what I'd done to the finances.

"The accountant's responsible—”

“You were counting on hiding the funds so I couldn’t use them!" Alistair yelled malignantly. "I don’t know whether to fuck you or kill you…maybe I'll do both!”

He said it with such an ill-concealed leer that I felt like I was going to puke.

And before I could blink, his canines erupted, and hands closed around my throat. My anguished cry reverberated across the room when he bit over Aiden’s mark, mangling the side of my neck with vicious brutality.

It was like a piece of my soul being ripped out as my mate's scent that had still lingered on my skin seemed to disintegrate. The physical pain I could take but the mental pain of his loss was unbearable.

Aiden.

My mind called out to him as the last vestiges of his mark completely disappeared from my soul and body to be replaced by Alistair’s. I felt like I was dying on the inside. Like my soul was shriveling up and being left to rot in this shell of a body. I was nothing without Aiden.

And then, teeth still wet with my blood, the monster pulled back cackling over his success.

“You wanted to hide things from me...let’s see what else you’re hiding my little wolf.”Alister sneered into my brain. .

His words chilled my brain before he began an altogether new assault; one on my mind. Aiden’s mind sweep had been nothing, nothing at all, compared to the way Alistair pushed inside, tearing through my memories haphazardly. It was like going through a catalogue in a library for him, pulling out books that had even the remotest information regarding the workings of the pack and how to access pack funds. When he was done, he simply threw the volumes onto the floor, spines falling apart with Alistair stomping over them viciously to get to new information. It was too much, too fast. My head was beginning to hurt as my memories and timelines jumbled together in his bid to glean as much information as possible.

Aiden’s perusal had been slow, gentle, albeit anxious. Alistair’s was downright vindictive. Undoubtedly, Aiden had picked along gently at my brain, retreating when I had pushed back on specific memories. Alistair hammered his way through, bull dozing other memories to get to the ones that concerned him. Where Aiden had been an interloper, Alistair was a guerrilla partaking in warfare inside my mind, burning through as much information as possible to find...something specific.

I tried to push him away, but he simply sliced through my resistance as easily as swiping through a stick of butter, butchering my mind in the process. The very plates of my skull ached and trembled in protest. I formed a wall, strong as steel and mortar with a durable foundation. But he shattered it like a flimsy pane of glass. That’s when I realized how foolish I’d been. My pathetic wall had never been able to keep Aiden out. Aiden had been keeping himself out, out of deference for theboundaries I wanted to maintain. Despite aching to tear down those boundaries, he’d respected my wishes. Wishes Alistair was gutting as he tore through my mind, tormenting me in the process.

And then he got to the memory of me and Aiden with the account book open in his study.

Aiden smirked, his hands cupping my breasts talking about how excited he was for her next heat...

My hands unconsciously splaying a hand over my stomach...

NO NO NO he couldn’t find out!

I pushed back with all my might.

I began to feel nauseated; a cold sweat broke out as I tried to fight him. My stomach protested, heaving up the bread I'd managed to scarf down earlier. I fell to the floor on all fours.

Alistair stilled his assault, moving back with an exclamation. Probably didn’t want me getting vomit all over him.

I was sweating, I was dizzy, and my body twitched jerkily as it slammed against the carpet. My mouth began to froth. Alistair was swearing, cursing, and screaming angrily. I faintly realized I was having a seizure.

In the back recesses of my mind, I could have sworn I heard Aiden screaming my name right before I blacked out.