MATED TO FATHER, FAT Chapter 67: JUSTIFICATION

Chapter 67: JUSTIFICATION

RYKER

Yes, you might call me a prick.

Feel free to judge me for what I did last night, for taking Amaris’s virginity and walking out the second I realized it was pointless. Go ahead and think I am a monster, that I used her and threw her away like she meant nothing.

But I never said I wanted a relationship with her.

Never pretended to be the good guy or made promises I had no intention of keeping. I was honest about being selfish and cruel and only caring about hurting my father, and she still let me touch her knowing exactly what I was.

So what use would it be to have her if my father would never know?

The whole point was revenge, was taking something he wanted before he could claim it, and ruining her for him in ways he would discover on their wedding night. But if there was no wedding night, if he planned to artificially inseminate her like she was livestock instead of a woman, then what was the fucking point of any of it?

I was not the bad guy here.

My father was the monster, planning to inject his geic material into her without even having the decency to fuck her properly if producing an heir was the priority. At least if you were going to use someone for breeding purposes you should do it right, should give them the experience of actual intimacy instead of treating them like a science experiment.

But no, Alpha Corvin was too in love with a dead woman to touch the living one he intended to mate.

And somehow I was the villain in this pack.

Now I had to find a way to turn this whole situation around, had to figure out how to make having Amaris matter again because walking away last night felt wrong like a half completed story, I need to find a way to get the ball rolling.

"You look like hell," Cole’s voice cut through my thoughts.

I turned to find him walking toward me down the hallway, his hair slightly messed up and his clothes rumpled like he had slept in them or not slept at all.

"Yeah?" I shot back. "You don’t look much better. Nia kept you up all night?"

Cole opened his mouth to confirm but I leaned in and sniffed him, catching the unmistakable smell of whiskey and smoke that clung to his clothes.

"Nah," I corrected. "You were drinking. And definitely not with Nia because she is too uptight to do shots."

Cole sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "Fine, you got me. I went to the pub just outside town, to Carlos, had a few drinks."

"Was that where you were all day?" I asked, starting to walk toward the board room.

He fell into step beside me. "I had a couple of errands to run."

The vague answer told me he was lying or at least not telling the whole truth, but I did not push because we all had secrets we were not ready to share. Marco had come that morning to inform us that Alpha Corvin wanted a meeting with everyone, which was the last thing I wanted after the disaster of last night.

Seeing Amaris again before I got my shit together felt like asking for more complications I could not afford.

"I heard you killed Commander Bruno," Cole mentioned casually. "I leave you alone for one day and you go around murdering people."

I smirked. "What can I say? You are the only bit of control I have in this pack."

We both laughed and the sound echoed off the stone walls.

"Seriously though," Cole’s expression shifted to a more concerned gaze. "What were you thinking? Killing our commander, especially now that Victor has resurfaced, is pretty reckless."

"Commander Bruno was not the one who stopped Victor the first time," I countered, my voice hardening. "I did. We don’t fucking need him." I paused. "Plus this is an opportunity for you to become commander."

Cole stopped walking and stared at me. "No way. I am too young and I don’t even have the fighting experience."

"What the fuck are you talking about?" I turned to face him fully. "You are more skilled than everyone I know. Yes, you were a late bloomer and practically got your wolf at twenty-five, but that gave you hand-to-hand combat and sword advantages that no one else has."

He looked at me suspiciously. "What has gotten into you with the ass kissing today?"

I laughed and clapped him on the shoulder. "Man, I believe in you. And I will make sure you become commander. Else I will just have to kill every other potential candidate."

"And there is the sick bastard I know," Cole muttered, but he was smiling.

We stopped in front of the board room doors and Cole’s expression shifted to something more serious. "The files about Victor, who has them?"

"Already acting the role I see, Commander Cole," I teased.

He punched my arm. "Shut up and answer the question."

"Beta Marco," I supplied. "He handles all the filing and documentation."

I pushed open the doors and we walked in together.

Rowan was already seated on the right side of the long table, his posture perfect and his expression carefully neutral. Alpha Corvin sat at the head looking as imposing as ever, dark eyes tracking our entrance with that calculating gaze that missed nothing. Beta Marco stood near him with folders stacked in front of him.

I scanned the room looking for her even though I told myself I did not want to see her yet.

She was not there.

Disappointment hit harder than it should have and I pushed it down, taking a seat across from Rowan and trying to look like I gave a fuck about whatever meeting was about to happen.

The doors opened again and I looked up automatically.

Amaris walked in with Nia by her side.

Our eyes locked immediately and the mate bond slammed into my chest so hard I actually felt my ribs compress. She looked tired, her eyes red like she had been crying all night, her hair pulled back in a simple braid that made her look younger and more vulnerable than I wanted her to look.

She was wearing a navy dress that showed the marks I had left on her neck. It was simple but somehow looked so elegant and exquisite on her. Especially with the marks.

My marks.

Proof that I had touched her, claimed her, ruined her in ways that would not wash off no matter how many showers she took.

And looking at her standing there trying to pretend last night never happened, trying to hold herself together in a room full of people who would destroy her if they knew the truth of what we did, I realized something that had been gnawing in my mind since I left her room.

I wanted to fuck her again. Needed to.

What a sick bastard I was.