  Isaac's POV
      I looked at the ring lying in my hand that Claudia had given me, a relic that had originally belonged to her mother. I told her to keep something so valuable for herself. But she told me that it represented her trust in me. This little ring burned my palm. My mate had given it to me and she trusted me. And I wanted to take responsibility.
      I had been staying at the training ground for the past few days and throwing myself into training was able to clear my mind. When I broke the eighth dummy, the resolve was made. I was going to explain my relationship with Claudia to my father and mother.
      The future Alpha of the pack would definitely be me. I couldn't think of any other possibility. I must have Claudia as my mate if I was determined enough. My parents couldn't stop it. Even if they chose Neil to be the future Alpha, the people of the pack wouldn't agree. I

  Claudia's POV
      I was in a hurry to talk to Isaac about my parents when I ran into Fiona's best friend Ellie on the road. I was going to avoid her but she was ready to let her friend stop and surround me and block my way.
      "Don't run, I'm not in the mood to beat you up today." Ellie looked at her pink nails and gave me a dismissive look. "I came to tell you that Isaac had been attacked. Right now he's resting in Fiona's room, so you'd better go and check."
      This doesn't make sense. Why would Isaac be resting in Fiona's room after being attacked? And how could Fiona possibly let me visit Isaac? But if I didn't go with her, she would probably force me to go.
      Ellie saw that I did not have any intention of going. She was a little anxious. "Isaac was seriously injured. It was Fiona who saved him and took him to her room. But Isaac only clamored to see you." Ellie said in

  Fiona's POV
      Tonight was a family gathering. It had been a while since that time, Isaac got angry and kicked me out of the room. I had been pretty quiet since that time, and hopefully he was not angry anymore, and my father had organized this family gathering specifically because he wanted me to be the future Luna.
      Isaac looked as handsome as ever and I approached him pretending to cry. "It's my fault for loving you so much that I acted that stupid way. Can you forgive me?"
      Isaac took the impatience off his face, probably out of pity or for the parents' sake, "Whatever, just don't mess with me in the future."
      "Thanks!" I intimately held his arm. He tried to push me away but he saw Luna's disgruntled gaze, so he could only let me wrap my arms around him.
      My father brought up my engagement to Isaac at the dinner table. Alpha didn't care much, Luna and my father talked about it very well.
      Isaac and I were herded out into the garden. He was walking ahead of me. I took his hand, but he shook it off.
      "You're really still mad at me." I pouted at him.
      "Can't you understand what I say?" He suddenly stopped, turned to me and said "Don't mess with me."
      "But we'll be ...... later." Isaac interrupted me before the word marriage could be uttered.
      "There's nothing between us. You're not my mate!"
      I watched his back as he left and clenched my fists. Whether he acknowledged me or not, I would, definitely, become our pack's Luna, and I would do anything to achieve that.
      Isaac's POV
      I should have sensed something was wrong, but I was in a state of joy and sweetness. Claudia and I were kissing in the corner. I had put up with it long enough, and she always peeked at me with a shy face today. It was so cute, and then I thought it was a good idea to pull her into this corner. But it turned out that people would be less smart when they were in love.
      "Why?! Why this basebred slut!" Fiona's shout interrupted us. Her face turned red from anger and it was all I could do to stand in front of Claudia so she wouldn't get hurt.
      "If you say that again, I'll cut out your tongue." I warned Fiona, but Claudia tugged gently at my coat behind me.
      She whispered behind me "You can't help me like that. If our relationship is exposed, I'll be thrown out of the pack."
      Claudia's words sobered me up, and it was all I could do to curb my protectiveness of my mate and turn to Fiona. "You stalked me?" Fiona was no longer arrogant.
      "How come? I just happened to pass by." She had the perfect fake smile on her face. "Don't tell me that you guys are accidentally running your mouths into each other."
      "It's none of your business?" I wanted to punch the fake smile off her face. "Get out of my sight."
      I wasn't in the mood to continue after being interrupted and I sent Claudia back to the basement. I didn't know when this hiding would end, I wanted so badly to hug my mate without caring about other people's thinking.
      Neil found me with a rare look of panic. "What did you do? Mother told you to meet her. She looked angry." I could probably guess what it was. Shit, I knew Fiona would rat on me. But I didn't expect her to be that quick.
      My mother's face was even more grave than usual. She asked me. "You seem to be getting close to that traitor's daughter lately."
      Thankfully, Mother wasn't willing to guess that an Omega without a wolf would be my mate. Otherwise, Claudia would be killed by her. I hid my nervousness and acted naturally. "No, I am just playing around."
      That was the expected response that my mother wanted. "Boys of your age, I can understand. But don't get involved with the daughter of a traitor." She stepped closer to me and looked me straight in the eyes. There was a note of warning in what she said. "You will be the Alpha in the future, watch your reputation. Don't let a slave ruin your future."
      "I know, Mother." I bowed to her. Only then did she nod and let me go.
      Once again, I struggled with the consideration of the pack and my mate; I had given so much to be the future Alpha. But I remembered Claudia. I couldn't lose her. I had promised her I would protect her for the rest of my life. Because of this, these days I wasn't in good spirits. My mate felt my anxiety in the same way. She took me to the basement and said she wanted to hand me something important.
      I was surprised and amused that Claudia pulled a few things out from under the floor tiles. How did she come up with this?
      Claudia solemnly handed me a ring. It was her mother's legacy, she said, and it was the most precious thing she had ever owned. I immediately felt the weight of this gift. "I want you to listen to what I have to say next carefully." Claudia looked at me. In front of me, she was no longer covering her eyes with her hair. "My parents are not traitors."
      I knew she never admitted her parents were traitors, even if she had to take a lot of beatings for it. We were all young when her parents were executed. But Alpha said they were traitors, and that's all we could think.
      I looked at Claudia without contradicting her and let her continue.
      "I know you all don't believe it, but my parents aren't like that." The more Claudia spoke, the more emotional she became, her emerald-like eyes flooding with tears. "The night before the execution, my father told me that they had never done anything against the pack." "He knew his fate from a long time ago, but he didn't run from the pack." I tried to wipe away her tears, but she stopped me. "One day, I will clear their name."
      This was the first I'd heard of this, but I trusted my mate more than my father. The honesty and toughness in her had always been there and had always been the way I loved.
      "I believe you." I kissed away her tears "I'll always be with you."
      Claudia's POV
      Thanks to Isaac, my life in the pack was much better, except for this immediate trouble. Fiona came up to me. She had just caught me kissing Isaac the other day and she looked like she was going to rip me to pieces. So I decided to turn and run, only to run head-on into a tall and warm wall.
      "Look out!" Neil held me up the moment I ran into him.
      "Thank you, but I need to go now." I was afraid Fiona would catch up with me.
      "Is it because of Fiona?" Neil looked behind me. "It's okay, she can't do anything to you because I'm here."
      Neil made me hide behind him. Fiona could only stare at me dryly and she looked even angrier. I tried to shrink myself a little smaller behind Neil.
      "I've noticed that everyone around me loves to be around you these days." Neil asked me after the alarm was lifted.
      "Yeah?" I asked him nervously. God, this was awful. What could I do? Trouble always came to me on its own.
      "I always got the feeling you had a big secret." Neil said, suddenly coming close to my face, and all I could do was duck my head.
      "I'm just a slave, they got used to bullying me and now they're just screwing with me in a different way." Hopefully my off-the-cuff excuse would fool him.
      Neil didn't seem inclined to pursue it any further. "Come on, let me take you to somewhere nice." He took my hand and led me to a courtyard.
      The courtyard was enclosed by a copper fence and there was a beautiful garden and a small fountain. I looked at the roses of different colors in the shrubs. "This can't be your backyard, can it?"
      "Of course not!" He looked offended. "How can my backyard be so small?"
      He patiently explained to me that this was his uncle's little garden, but it was deserted now. He used to come here alone when he was being bullied. "You will like it. I always saw you sitting alone on the bench reading a book before."
      I was surprised that he had paid attention to me.
      Neil smiled thoughtfully. "There are few quiet girls like you in our pack."
      I was grateful to him that I could finally read a book without being disturbed. And I did need a quiet place like this to escape the trouble that always came my way.
      I was leaving the garden with Neil. He stopped and said hello to a middle-aged man. "Beta Gordon."
      Beta Gordon? That's Fiona's father, and the man who succeeded my father as Beta. I'd barely seen him. I quietly looked at him under the cover of my long hair.
      He happened to be looking at me too. "Neil, who is this child?" Fiona hadn't inherited any of her father's affability. Maybe because of my thinness, Gordon thought of me as a child.
      "She's Claudia."
      "Claudia?" the name seemed to be familiar to Gordon and he thought for a moment "Ah, you're the one who..." He suddenly choked and didn't finish his sentence.
      I felt strange and looked into Gordon's eyes. 'We did something bad to the kid. I feel very sorry for her. She's so pathetic.'
      Sorry for me? Why did Fiona's father think this way? I had never met him, and even if he knew about Fiona's bullying of me, it wouldn't be enough to make him feel so strongly guilty. Shocked, a million questions flooded my mind. Who were "We"? I tried to continue reading Gordon's thoughts, but he found an excuse and left in a hurry.
      I calmed down from the shock, all his reactions told me that he had something to do with my dead parents.
      "What's wrong?" Neil called me back to reality.
      "Nothing, I didn't think Fiona's father was that kind of character."
      "True, probably because he spoils Fiona too much." I wasn't even listening to what Neil was saying, all I could think about was the incident of my parents being wrongfully accused. But it wasn't something I could find out alone, and I wanted to tell Isaac about it right away.

Isaac's POV
      I looked at the ring lying in my hand that Claudia had given me, a relic that had originally belonged to her mother. I told her to keep something so valuable for herself. But she told me that it represented her trust in me. This little ring burned my palm. My mate had given it to me and she trusted me. And I wanted to take responsibility.
      I had been staying at the training ground for the past few days and throwing myself into training was able to clear my mind. When I broke the eighth dummy, the resolve was made. I was going to explain my relationship with Claudia to my father and mother.
      The future Alpha of the pack would definitely be me. I couldn't think of any other possibility. I must have Claudia as my mate if I was determined enough. My parents couldn't stop it. Even if they chose Neil to be the future Alpha, the people of the pack wouldn't agree. If that happened, our entire pack would be in jeopardy. I gripped the ring in my hand, intending to 

Chapter 20