It didn't take too long for my Wolf to locate him. He was resting in the woods, overlooking a waterfall. He seemed lost deep in thoughts. The second my eyes landed on him, I charged towards him and gritted my teeth.

"Lyr, what are you doing?" he asked when he noticed me and stepped back slightly.

'I am stronger than I look, Jaxon.' I told him through the mind-link.

"Okay?" he responded, confused.

'You are going to answer me honestly, or you will be joining your family in hell.'

Jaxon raised his eyebrows in shock and remained completely still at my words.

"You aren't perhaps doubting me right now, are you?"

'You will be answering my questions not the other way around.'

Jaxon laughed humourlessly. "You can't be serious, Lyr."

'Did you know that your family lied about their title? Gabriel? Alpha? Bullshit!'

The boy who had been my best friend for years, inhaled a sharp breath.

"Will you believe me if I tell you that I had no idea?"

I snarled loudly, exposing my canines. 'You lived under the same roof. How could you not know!'

Jaxon narrowed his eyes at me. "What my family did to you is unforgivable and frankly, I am glad they are dead, but how can you even for a second doubt me?"

My Wolf wanted to kill him, but I saw the pain in my best friend's eyes. When my mother had passed away, he had remained with me every second.

'Jaxon, be honest with me. What they did to me, to my parents, you really weren't aware?'

"I can promise you, I had no idea. We have always been good friends," my best friend continued. "Maybe they kept me out of the loop because I would ruin the plan— and I would have. I wouldn't have let them do this to you if I had known. Believe me, Lyr."

The boy spoke so fast, there was so much anger in his voice.

'They killed my parents. Your father and brother tore my family apart.'

I watched as his eyes turned glossy, his expression turned to one that I had never seen before. He seemed torn.

When Jaxon dropped to his knees, I was left stunned. The boy covered his face with his hands, and I watched as he sobbed soundly.

The scene before me made me fall back in to a tree and I shifted back to my human form. I found a dress in a nearby wooden dresser, and slipped it on.

I was grateful for whoever had employed the scattered wooden dressers across the land. It made shifting more comfortable.

When my eyes landed back on Jaxon, I realised he had calmed down but remained with his gaze on the ground.

"If you want to kill me to get back at what my family did to you, go ahead," he said, coldly.

He looked like life had been sucked out of him. I had been mad at him for what his family had done to me, but I couldn't imagine what it had done to him.

My eyes narrowed at him. "Jaxon."

"How do I live on knowing they did that to you?" he asked, raising his head to glance at me. "Just kill me, already."

Despite the horror that his family had created in my life, in that moment with how vulnerable Jaxon looked, I wanted to embrace him.

"Let me do the honours!"

At the sound of the intruder, I held my hand up to stop her.

"Don't," I warned her.

"How could they do this to her, Jaxon?" Ava grabbed the boy by his collar, and shook him.

Jaxon didn't respond, but kept his head down.

I rushed over to Ava and stilled her movements. "Ave, stop."

The girl, however, ignored me and started to throw punches at Jaxon's chest. "I am sorry Jaxon, but this is for your asshole family!"

She continued to physically abuse the boy until I pushed her off of him.

Ava remained on the ground and sat there staring in to space before breaking down in loud sobs.

A crushing ache radiated throughout my chest, and I found myself struggling to breathe.

My life had been torn to pieces after my mother's death, but to finally know the complete truth, that shocked me. I was terrified.

"I'm so sorry," Jaxon muttered lowly.

"You didn't know," I whispered, actually feeling sorry for him.

"I always hated them, you know that," he responded, scoffing. "But to find out the truth behind what they were really like— I wish I had killed Gabriel myself."

"Well, he's dead now." I shrugged.

"Good. I hope he rots in hell," Jaxon spat, his eyes dark.

Ava murmured an 'Amen' and crawled over to the boy. "I'm sorry for punching you," she whimpered and nudged her shoulder against his.

The boy turned his gaze on her and pressed his lips together. He raised his hand and ran his fingers through her auburn hair. She swatted his hand away, and caught my gaze in the process.

She smiled at me sadly. "Come here."

Instinctively, I followed her order and kneeled before my two best friends. Before I could even comprehend what was happening, I leaned in to the pair and cried soundly.

Though, I hadn't really doubted Jaxon, it had been easy to dispose my frustration on to him because it had been his family that had made my life a living hell.

In reality, Ava and Jaxon had been the two who had made life worth living after my mother's death. Being in their embrace and crying in to them in that moment was exactly what I needed to get closure.

We remained in the woods for another hour or two, and talked about the past. Jaxon continued to apologise every few minutes and Ava gave him a hard time, but I remained silent for the most part— just adjusting to my new life now that I knew the truth.

I was so immersed in my thoughts that I hadn't noticed the presence of someone by my side, until my Wolf purred.

Alexander wrapped his arms around me and pulled me up in to him. He didn't say anything, but embraced me tightly. He buried his face in my neck and inhaled my scent.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and rested in to him.

How stupid I had been to want to escape this boy, I thought to myself. Alexander had quite literally saved my life, and ruined Gabriel's plan. I was grateful for him. If I had ended up as Gabriel's Luna, the truth would have been buried.

"Let's go home, baby," he murmured in to my neck, before pecking my skin softly. "I miss you."

I pulled away slightly and nodded. "Let's go home."

His lips curled up and he smiled down at me, before bringing his face closer and pecking my cheek.

Alexander placed my hand in his and began leading us toward the direction of his house. I wasn't sure where Jaxon and Ava were, but didn't stop to question. I was sure they would find their way around the pack.

When we entered our bedroom, Alexander helped me out of my dress and guided me to the shower.

He gently massaged the soap in to my muscles and pecked the areas where there was no soap. It was exactly what I needed after the nightmare of a day that I had.

"Lyra?"

"Hmm?" I murmured, my eyes closed.

I had my back to him, he was stood behind me with his hands on my shoulders. He leaned in closer and when I felt his breath fan my ear, a shudder raced through me.

"Today was really hard on you," he said, softly, his thumbs rubbing deeply in to my skin.

"It was a hard pill to swallow," I admitted, and tilted my head to the side.

"You handled it well, baby," he whispered in to my ear.

"You killed him, aside from knowing the truth, there is nothing else left," I responded, nonchalantly.

If Gabriel had been alive, I would have watched him suffer with my own eyes. But lucky for him, we had learned the truth after he had been killed.

Alexander stilled his movement and gripped my arms. He turned me around, making me face him.

"I'm sorry for hurting you," he told me, gently.

"You had no choice," I defended, my eyes lost in his blue ones.

"I was mad at Dyami and Adam for kidnapping you," my mate told me. "But I will forever be grateful to them, they brought you to me."

I bit my lip. I had arrived at his territory for the wrong reasons, but that had turned out to be exactly what we both needed to find each other.

"I suppose that worked out in our favour," I agreed, smiling at my mate lovingly.

Alexander grinned but his demeanour changed completely when I saw his eyes darken and he had me pushed up against the black tiles in a flash.

"You are mine," he claimed, bringing his head down until his lips were inches from mine. "I love you."

The words made me melt in to him, it was the first time hearing them and I wanted to cry in happiness. I really did feel loved.

"I love you too, Alexander."

That was all the words he needed to hear before he crashed his lips on mine, and his hand roamed down my body until they found my entrance.

With a loud moan, Alexander had me turned and pushed up against the wall. My face buried in to the tiles as he thrusted inside of me.

He was being rough, but it was exactly what I needed to diminish the frustration that had built up.

The horror that I had faced in the day was long behind us, and all I could think about was how lucky I was to have found my mate.

And how good he felt, right now, inside of me as he pounded in to me harder.