Claimed by the Vengeful Alpha

"Then nearly two years after he first arrived in the High Alpha’s territory, he was sent off to war. I tried to stop it, you know." She sighed. "I guess it’s a good thing I failed. At the end of the war, he married me for his revenge. That’s how we got here."

"Alpha Keenan doesn’t know you’re Penelope?" Winnie asked.

"I don’t think so," she mumbled, then corrected herself. "He doesn’t." She wasn’t confused about that; she knew he didn’t know and had kept it that way.

"Why won’t you tell him?" Winnie asked in disbelief.

"Didn’t you hear all I just said? About all the bad things I did to him? I’m the reason he has that huge scar on his chest."

"But you just said it yourself—it wasn’t on purpose. You didn’t know the ointment was tainted."

"But that wasn’t the only thing I did—"

"If you didn’t, Maelle—the High Alpha’s daughter—made his punishment worse. You were trying to make it easier for him. You even tried to stop the High Alpha from sending him to war."

"It’s not as clean-cut as you’re making it sound."

"I know but do you know what I think is harder? Keenan not realizing you’re Penelope."

"I couldn’t tell him," she whispered and pulled her hands from Winnie’s grasp. She palmed her face as tears spilled. "At least not right now. I haven’t redeemed myself. I don’t want him to know that Penelope did all those cruel things to him. He would hate her too."

Winnie looked at Maya with sad eyes. "Penelope isn’t someone else. You’re Penelope and you did the best you could in the situation. You wanted to keep Keenan safe even if he hates you."

Maya bit the heel of her palm to keep from crying out. She leaned forward and Winnie hugged her while she sobbed on her shoulder.

"I am sorry," she mumbled through tears.

"You shouldn’t be apologizing to me. The only person you owe an explanation to is Keenan. You made things a little better."

"You don’t know that."

"Perhaps you were wrong. Perhaps things would have been different if you hadn’t gotten involved. But neither of us knows that. What we do know is that you acted on what you believed would protect him. You can’t punish yourself forever for making the best decision you could with the knowledge you had."

"Keenan had to go through so much because of me."

"Absolutely not. I told you Alaina would be cruel to me regardless of your presence or not. I think it’s the same thing in this situation. I don’t think your presence was the reason Alpha Keenan was tortured by the High Alpha. This is the man who sent most of the men in this town to the mines. He was heartless before he even adopted you. You shouldn’t take his and his daughter’s blame simply because you’re a part of their family. I promise your presence didn’t make anything worse."

She gently tapped Maya on her back as she sobbed on her shoulder. Maya nodded as she listened to Winnie. She heard her words, but it wasn’t easy to cast the guilt aside—not when she had done everything with her own hands. She slowly pulled away and wiped her wet face.

"I can’t believe you’re Penelope. Do you think Keenan would not be thrilled to hear that?"

"I don’t think so," she said and pulled her hand from her face. "You should see the way he looks at me."

"I think he would rather know that you’re alive, regardless of what you stand for now."

"You don’t know that."

"Really? I just told you the reason he got caught is because he came looking for you."

"It’s not like that."

"Really? Why do you think Alaina hates your guts? I always knew she was spiteful but she seemed to have no limit when it came to you." Winnie was grinning ear to ear.

"Why do you seem pleased about this?"

"No reason," she shrugged. "I am just glad I trusted my gut. So should we go tell him now? I’ll be—"

"What?" Maya yelled and leaned back, hitting the back of her head against the headboard. She winced; her barely healed bruise had made contact with the wood.

"Are you okay?" Winnie asked with concern at her expression.

"I am fine," she said. "We can’t tell him. I don’t think it’s time yet."

"What are you talking about? There is no better time than the present." She grabbed Maya’s hand and pulled.

"No," she cried and pulled back, bringing her hand close as panic rose in her chest.

Winnie didn’t try to reach for Maya’s hand again. Rather, she said, "How about this: if I find the courage to tell Asher, you’ll have to tell Keenan. You must promise me."

"I don’t know if I can make that promise."

"I’m not asking you to do it right away. I’m just asking you to promise me that you will. You have to, Maya. You just told me it’s not fair to Asher and now you’re doing the same thing to Alpha Keenan."

"It’s not the same thing," she lied. "I am trying to atone for Maya’s crimes first."

"As I have said, Penelope is not someone else. Let Alpha Keenan decide what he will do with that information. Don’t keep it away from him."

"Okay," she said with a long sigh. "I promise."

"Yay."

"When are you going to tell Asher?"

Winnie pouted. "Cutting off my celebration, eh? I don’t know, to be honest but I wouldn’t want to hold you back, so the next chance I get, I’ll go to the orphanage and speak to him."

"So soon," she mumbled fearfully.

"I’m scared too but think about what would happen if Keenan did accept you. Don’t dwell on only the sad part."

She couldn’t think about that. What if that future never came? "In the meantime, promise you won’t tell Keenan."

"Of course not. That’s up to you. The same way I know you won’t tell Asher."

Maya smiled. "I would never do that."

"Exactly. Do you think you’re still up to it? It’s about time we should get going."

"Yes," she replied and let Winnie help her out of bed.