Epilogue

Raven

I shouldn't be doing this.

It was the only thing they asked for, and I'd made a vow—they'd never see or hear from me again after they helped me.

They didn't need to help me in the first place. To this day, I was still shocked that they had. If I had been in their position—or if my late mate had been in their position—they'd be dead full stop. But that was what made them better than we were…than I was.

If they had let me be, let me run, I'd never have been able to stop. And really, running wasn't going to be much of a help, not really. All those assholes would've had to do was look on their phones to know exactly where I was. I'd been set free to die, and I deserved it and so much more.

My mate was evil. I had known that from the beginning. No one kidnaps an omega to make them their mate only to be so cruel as to intentionally form a half bond without being made of darkness. That is a cruelty that goes beyond the depths of human understanding. The worst part? Over the years, his evilness had seeped into me.

I didn't like to admit it. In fact, I hated it, but it was true. Part of me liked the things I did for him, things I did for the others who took ownership of me when he died. It was sick and twisted, but I could no longer deny it.

Ryan, his mate, their pack—they saw something better in me. I wasn't going to pretend I understood what that was. But when they set me free—truly free, I made a promise to the guys, telling them I would make my new life better than my old one and that they would never have to see me again.

That last part had been the biggest lie of all. I hadn't known it at the time, my promise made in earnest, but there was no denying it—staying away was no longer an option.

At first, I didn't understand why I was longing to go there. Why would I? It meant death or confinement, or goddess knew what. And even if it didn't mean all those things, why would I want to be around people who saw me at my worst, a daily reminder of the omega I'd allowed myself to become.

The problem was that whatever spell that healer put on me when he gave me that tonic and said those words—it not only weakened my partial bond, but it continued to do so, day by day, chipping at it, tiny piece by tiny piece. It wasn't gone—far from it—but the more that it faded, the more I could see what was in front of my eyes.

When they cut out my microchip, one of them was my mate. I didn't know which one. Heck, maybe it wasn't even one of them. Maybe it was the person who did their laundry or someone they shared a cab with the night before, but my fated mate's scent had been there that night. And my beast—he needed us to find him.

I held out as long as I could. I really did. But there was no turning back now. I was less than a mile from their territory. For all I knew, the second I crossed into it, they were going to put me down. But at least then I'd be out of my misery.

Or…maybe, just maybe, I, too, could find my happily ever after.

There was only one way to find out.

I picked my head up to the sky, scented the air, and then took off. It wouldn't be long now. Soon I would have answers to all of my questions. Please goddess, let them be ones I can handle.

Thank you for reading The Alpha King's Mate . Raven's story is next. One-click The Accidental Assassin's Mate today!