Drake's POV:
I still loved her. I couldn't deny it, even as everything inside me screamed that I shouldn't. My hands itched to touch her, to pull her close and drown in her scent again. The stupid mate bond didn't seem to care that this was a doomed relationship, that it was twisted and broken beyond repair. I had allowed the daughter of my parents' killers to mark me. Worse, I had marked her in return.
It was the ultimate betrayal to their memory. How could I live with myself knowing that I had mated with the bloodline I swore to destroy? And yet... if I had known the truth from the beginning, would I have rejected her? The question gnawed at me every day, because deep down, I wasn't sure I could have.
