Chained By The Alpha Jessica Hall

"Relax, Cleo," he replies, a wicked grin playing on his lips. "T have no intention of getting you in trouble with your father." He revs the engine, sending a shiver down my spine as I fumble for the seatbelt

As we drive, I can't help but feel torn with the information of Deacon abandoning me and the knowledge that being involved with Zayn could have dire consequences. He is powerful, intoxicating - different from Deacon in every conceivable way. I can't help but remember what he said last night. That he would never be caught dancing with another woman if I was

his

"Stop overthinking things," he says suddenly, as

if reading my mind. "T'll make sure nothing bad happens to you, your father won't find you here."

I want to believe him, more than anything. But deep down, I know that anything to do with Alpha Zayn is playing with fire - and Iam dangerously close to getting burned

"My step-sister is always looking for any excuse to get me in trouble, and this wouldn't just get me in trouble. My father would disown me," I explain, feeling the heat rise in my cheeks as I think about Lydia's constant meddling "So?" he asks, his gray eyes meeting mine with a challenge. "You're an adult, you can be around whoever you want," Zayn shrugs and I raise an eyebrow. No, he can be around whoever he wants, he's an Alpha. Right now, I am just the

Alpha's daughter who relies on her father to still pay her tuition

"My father hates you for some reason, he blames you for killing his best friend, but I am yet to

hear word of this so called friend he had." I admit

"Ah, he's talking about my father," Zayn states

Confusion washes over me and Zayn smirks, his fingers tapping against the steering wheel

"That's your real concern, your father."

I swallow hard, averting my gaze. I can't deny the truth of his words

"Relax, Cleo," Zayn murmurs, his hand reaching over to brush against mine, sending an electric thrill up my arm. "I promise I won't let anything happen to you."

"Easy for you to say," I mutter under my breath, but the warmth of his touch somehow eases my fears. I pull my hand away, he clears his throat, placing both hands on the steering wheel

"Because of my father," he abruptly answers, catching me off guard. I look at him, confusion mixing with curiosity

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"Excuse me?" I ask

"They used to be best friends and they were talking again before my father died. Your father, he hates me because my father is dead, he blames me. My father was going to sell him back the land but I stopped him not wanting Linda to get her hands on it. When the city was founded, your father and mine, along with four other men, co-owned the land on which it was built. However, your father got into debt to mine, and after he was caught out, he spent the

funds put aside for his half. My father was going to file for bankruptcy when your mother told my father to sell half of it."

"So he was forced to sell half of their shared half or lose it all. He left a patch for your father from his half, which he finished paying off just before you were born, but back then my father had no choice but to sell the rest off. It took until I took over my father's pack to recover

what he lost," he explains

"And as a result, your father has been holding a grudge against my father ever since, and he's been trying to find a way to take the land back

That's why he hates me - he thinks my father sold him out and tried to steal what is hisCcontent © exclusive by Nô/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.

However, that hatred grew when my father died, your father hated him but for years they were really close."

"But if my father were in debt, he wouldn't have had a choice," I say, the pieces not quite fitting together in my mind

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"True, but your father didn't see it that way and reckons my father caused issues in his marriage to your mother. However, what he doesn't know is that your mother told my father to sell it because the money used to buy it originally came from her parents." My brows furrow, my grandparents died when I was six, so hearing him speak of them 1s a little odd?

"Only when your mother learned your father spent the land taxes and defaulted on her parents' credit. So she asked my father to sell it to get back anything he could for it. My father, luckily, was able to sell a sizable chunk that paid her parents back. But he kept a piece and gave it to your mother because your mother used to be best friends with mine until your father got

it in his head that my father was meddling and after his wife."

"Yet he left her for the troll he has now because she is his mate," I scoff, shaking my head at the absurdity of it all. Zayn remains silent on the matter, clearly uncomfortable with discussing my father's choices

"So, where is your mother now?" I ask him, trying to shift the conversation

"Dead. She died 19 years ago," Zayn reveals, swallowing thickly as if the words still sting after all these years

"So, just after I was born?" Realization dawns; I never heard of this or met him before the Alpha meeting. If our mothers were close, surely I would have known him if she did not die

I stare at Zayn, trying to wrap my head around the revelation he's just laid before me. My father's long-standing grudge against him wasn't because of some imagined slight or personal vendetta it was rooted in a complicated history between our families and that sense of betrayal that has festered over the years