---- In the old mansion, after disappearing for half a month, Shawn now sat across from his grandfather. "you've found out everything?" "So what now? You're not going through with the wedding?" Shawn sat with his head lowered, utterly drained. "T can't. She's no longer in this world. Who else would I claim?" "What kind of nonsense is that? Isn't your mate alive and well, still waiting for you?" He looked up, but his gaze was blank, hollow, fixed on the window. "Grandfather... I never intended to bond with her. That wedding- It was meant for me and Kendra. Thad it all planned out. If she didn't show up before the ceremony, I was ---- going to tie her up and drag her there by force. Make her my Luna, whether she liked it or not. Even if she hated me, I'd still choose a life of torment with her... over a life without her." "You-what did you just say? No wonder! No wonder your mate said you never asked her how she felt! You ungrateful bastard!" Shawn's grandfather finally snapped. He raised his cane and brought it down hard on Shawn's shoulder. "Her family killed your biological father-your brother! And you still had the audacity to talk about claiming her? You've disgraced our entire clan!" Shawn sneered. ---- "My father? Tell me, if they hadn't died... would you have even acknowledged me? I graduated at twenty-one, and my mother told me since I was a pup that I had no father. This so-called father of mine-aside from a photo on a memorial wall, have I ever actually seen him? Grandfather, you're wrong. Inever had a father. And I certainly never had a brother." He pulled out a thick folder and slammed it on the table. "This father you speak of-he raped his secretary just to 'feel something new.' That secretary... is my mother. And you-terrified of scandal-banished her the moment you found out.