Page 50 of The Alpha's Unclaimed Mate
I stand up and raise my hand, holding it out.
For half a breath, for one terrible half of a breath, I see her move. A small lift of her own hand. A flinch forward. As if she thought…As if for one instant she believed…
Lydia rises smoothly, brushing past Sienna as she walks toward me. She takes my outstretched hand.
Forgive me.
The room erupts. Cheers. Fists pounding the table. Someone whoops.
One of the council members is grinning. “About time,” he says to the man next to him.
The older members of the council nod at each other as if something long awaited has finally arrived. Lydia smiles, accepting congratulations as people move forward. I try to smile, but my expression is stiff.
I can’t bring myself to express any sort of joy when my heart is being torn apart. Unable to stop myself, I look where my fated mate is still seated.
Sienna is clutching the tablet to her chest, her face ashen as she stares at Lydia.
Her eyes drift to mine, and inside her gaze, I see a mixture of humiliation and grief. The pain is so intense that I nearly stagger.
I want to tear this room apart. I want to shift and howl again. I want to cross to her and fall on my knees and tell her why.
I can’t do any of that.
She gets up, turns around, and walks out of the conference room with her head high. Her gait is wobbly, and at one point she grabs the back of a chair to steady herself. My feet move without consulting me, but Lydia’s hand closes on my forearm.
“Don’t follow her. Not now,” she murmurs, low enough that only I can hear. “Let her go.”
And I know I have to.
Chapter Twelve
Sienna
The ceiling has become blurred.
My eyes are throbbing, but I can’t close them. Because whenever I do, I see Lydia putting her hand in Lucas’s. I see the smile on her face.
I always told myself I wasn’t a coward. You can’t succeed in life if you run away from your problems. You have to face everything head on. But today, I broke my most sacred rule.
I ran away.
I am in the nearby human town, on the bed in a hotel room with the curtains pulled. My shoes are still on. My tears are all dried up—another rule I broke tonight, never to cry over a man. Or because of one. Ever since I met Lucas Steele, I’ve been breaking a lot of rules, it seems.
Outside the window, a car pulls into the parking lot. A child laughs. A door slams. Normal life continues at its normal speed.
Inside this room, I cannot feel my fingers.
She took his hand.
I stare numbly at the ceiling. My shoulder still burns from where Lydia brushed against me in her hurry to get to Lucas. To get to my fated mate.
The cheer going up around them was loud enough that, for a couple of seconds, I could not hear my own heartbeat.
“About time,” somebody said.
About time.
I wet my cracked lips, and my tongue tastes salt.
