After Hearing Their Thoughts, I Chose My Rival as My Mate Chapter 04

After Hearing Their Thoughts, I Chose My Rival as My Mate Chapter 04

Father looked at me, startled and worried. “Are you truly choosing Rowan?”

I heard his private thoughts.

[Rowan is someone I trust, but his legs… If Aveline seals the mate bond with him, will she suffer

later?]

I nodded firmly. “I am.”

Cedric blurted out, “No!”

He strode up to me in a few quick steps, as if he had finally decided to lower himself for my sake.

“Aveline, don’t do this just because you’re angry. Luna Maren’s words were cruel, but Rowan can’t even get to his feet right now. If you seal the mate bond with him, people will whisper about it for the rest of your life.”

He gritted his teeth, as if he were making some enormous sacrifice. “If you really like me that much, I can seal the mate bond with you.”

Lucian looked at me as well, his gaze calm, but his private thoughts were perfectly clear.

(As long as Aveline begs me one more time, I am willing to become her mate too.]

These two were almost laughable.

A moment ago, one had refused me for Serena, and the other had been ready to drink a witch-brewed sterility draught for Serena. Now that I wanted to choose Rowan, they were suddenly

anxious.

Impatient, I pushed Cedric aside and walked straight toward Rowan.

He was still sitting in his wheelchair. His ears had already gone red, and his entire body was stiff as stone. Even when I reached him, he still had not reacted.

I bent down and looked at him. “Rowan Blackthorne, are you willing to be my mate?”

His fingers dug hard into the side of his leg, and his eyes were full of naked longing when he looked

at me.

“I am.”

His voice trembled, but there was not the slightest hesitation in it.

“Aveline, I have wanted you for a very long time. Sealing the mate bond with you is something I

never even dared to ask for.”

The direct, fierce look in his eyes made my heart lurch, and I nearly turned and fled.

Father laughed and immediately ordered that a date be chosen for Rowan and me to hold our mate

Ceremony.

Mother stared blankly at everything before her. Then, as if she had finally come back to herself, she

rushed to my side.

“If Aveline has chosen a mate, what about the alliance with Bloodfang Pack? Are you going to send

Serena instead?”

“I raised Serena under my protection. She can’t endure that kind of suffering. The old Alpha of Bloodfang Pack has already tortured two Lunas to death. You cannot send her there!”

So she knew.

She knew Bloodfang Pack was a pit of fire, and she knew that whoever went there for the alliance would not end well.

She simply did not love me. From the very beginning, she had planned to push me forward as Serena’s shield.

Father’s expression turned completely dark.

“Princesses are not chess pieces, and Silvercrest Pack is not so weak that we must trade our daughters for peace.”

“Whether it is Aveline or Serena, I will not send either of them to Bloodfang Pack to be degraded.”

Lucian said quietly, “But the people who understood Bloodfang Pack’s defenses best all died in the last border war. If we truly go to war…”

Rowan sat nearby, his hands trembling slightly.

In the last border war, it had not only been Rowan’s parents who died. Several of the strongest warriors had fallen as well.

Now their heirs had not yet come of age, and Bloodfang Pack was beginning to stir again.

I watched exhaustion settle over Father’s shoulders, and my heart ached despite myself.

Rowan and I left the great hall together. The thrill of having just pledged ourselves to the mate bond was quickly smothered by the crisis before us.

The people I had planted at the border had already sent that remedy for old injuries halfway here. In a few days, I would find out whether it could truly help Rowan stand again.

Rowan was not good at comforting people, but for once, his voice softened.

“Aveline, don’t worry too much. Even if I can’t return to the battlefield, there are still other

warriors at the border.”

I looked at him. “If your legs heal, are you confident you can defeat Bloodfang Pack?”

“Yes.”

That was enough.

I said softly, “When your legs heal, I’ll go to the battlefield with you.”

He did not hear me, because Cedric and Lucian had followed us again.

Both of them wore the regret that had come far too late, yet neither dared to speak first.

Their private thoughts, however, were already loud enough to make my head ache.

Cedric thought, [If Serena hadn’t saved me from humiliation at that banquet years ago, I probably would have stayed closer to Aveline.]

Lucian thought, [The oath Serena wrote for the Alpha King was stunning, and her etiquette was flawless. Only a woman like that is worthy of becoming the Luna of the Hale line. Aveline was born too free-spirited. I could not bear to see her suffer.]

My steps halted.

Saved Cedric from humiliation?

I was the one who had done that.

The oath for the Alpha King?

I was the one who had written it.

What truly sent a chill down my spine was this: when had all of these things become Serena’s

credit?