Forsaken by the Moon Goddess novel Chapter 27

Sloane

I watch as shock spreads across Benedict’s face. He begins blinking like he’s struggling to process what I’ve just said and his hand drops from my hair.

I hadn’t intended to tell him, but Aisling has been loudly purring in my head and pressuring me to trust him all night. She’s all in when it comes to Benedict and Marrok.

I’m not so easily convinced. That is until he forces me to see the truth in his eyes. He holds my gaze and challenges every reason my brain comes up with that he’s here with me tonight for any reason other than he wants to be with me.

“So, you’re not a choice of successor. You’re an heir,” he says slowly, as if trying to comprehend what I’m saying.

“I’m not just AN heir, Benedict. I’m THE heir,” I say quietly.

“What do you mean?”

“When my grandfather met my grandmother, his fated mate, he didn’t accept her. He didn’t realize that she had Alpha blood. You know how second sons become Betas and second sons of Betas become Gammas, etc?” | ask.

“Yeah.”

“So, that was my grandmother Judith. She comes from Alpha blood, but my grandfather wanted a true Alphafemale as his mate. That didn’t stop him from having a sexual relationship with my grandmother and my father was the result.”

“This was before he took his chosen mate?” Benedict asks, looking shocked.

“Yes,” I say softly. “Apparently, he’d already chosen the woman he wanted as his mate.”

“Holy fucking shit, Sloane!”

“My grandfather kept Grandmother Judith and my father, Derrick, a secret.”

“A serious fucking secret if no one knows about him or you,” he says.

I stop, watching him carefully. Maybe Aisling is wrong.

Maybe I shouldn’t trust him.

“I’d like to keep this a secret for now.”

He shrugs. “Of course. I won’t say a word.”

I stare at him, not sure I believe him.

“Sloane, if I wanted to out you, I could have done it at my birthday party. That’s not what this is about. If you don’t want to tell me, okay, but that was one hell of a bomb you dropped just to back off now,” he says.

I scrub my hands over my face.We can trust him, Sloane. I don’t sense any deceit in him or Marrok,” Aisling says.

When I open my eyes, Benedict is watching me intently.

“What does Aisling say?” he asks.

[sigh. “That I should trust you.”

He shrugs slowly, looking at me like that should be enough for me. And, in truth, it is. I trust Aisling implicitly.

I’ve just never had to trust her with things like this. No one has ever gotten this close to me who wasn’t part of my immediate family or Scarlet’s family. And I count Scarlet as family.

“If you betray me, I swear to the goddess..” I begin.

“If I betray you, l’ll give up my Alpha birthright and let Bethany take over my pack,” he says.

I glare at him. “That doesn’t make me feel better. She’d make a fantastic Alpha.”

He grins. “You have no idea. Okay, full truth, she’s the one who realized that it was you who was Alpha Waylon’s choice for successor.”

“Bethany did?”

He nods. “When I say I keep my eyes and ears open, I mean I have Bethany. She’s young and no one pays a lot of attention to her, which is stupid on their part. My sister is incredibly intelligent and she loves me. She and I are

really close, and I trust her as much as she trusts me. So when she told me that she saw you, Slade, and Scarlet walking Alpha Waylon’s pack lands a couple of weekends ago…

“You put two and two together..” I say, then narrow my eyes at him. “Is that why she’s friends with my brother?”

“No, she likes Slade. She says he’s not like most Alphas, kind of like you.”

He looks at me, tilting his head. “How do you feel about all of this? I can’t imagine what it must be like to have the opportunity to take over a pack when you haven’t been raised to do that. But, add to that, you are a true heir that no one knows about, and, maybe I’m wrong, but you don’t seem to have a great relationship with your grandparents.”

flook at him. “Apparently, you don’t always need Bethany.”

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