Shattered Bonds: A Second Chance Mate - Chapter 73: Chapter 73
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The manor was restless tonight.
It wasn’t the creak of ancient floors beneath shifting shadows, or the trees groaning in the wind outside. No—this was different. The air itself felt electrified, thrumming with barely-contained dominance.
Francesco was awake.
Awake in a way the world had forgotten.
He was no longer the grieving Alpha hidden behind thick stone walls and the veil of old grief. He had stepped fully into himself again—and the world had no choice but to remember who he truly was.
The council had grown arrogant during his absence, mistaking his mourning for weakness, mistaking his silence for surrender. For two decades, they held sway over territories they never earned, supported by the claim that Francesco had abandoned his throne.
But now?
Now the Lycan Alpha had returned.
“What do you mean you have no guards around Blackpine territory!?”
His voice boomed from somewhere down the corridor, cold and thunderous.
My spine stiffened even as I smiled faintly. That tone—that absolute authority—it made my wolf stir in quiet awe.
“I don’t want to hear your excuses. I want the names, the reports, and your guard rotation logs in one hour—or I’m coming to your office myself.”
A soft sigh of pity escaped my lips.
Whoever was on the other end of that call was probably regretting every decision they made since waking up this morning.
I pulled the thick, leather-bound book closer to my chest and retreated deeper into the library’s window seat. The warmth of the fire to my right flickered like the heartbeat of the room, but even that was quiet in the presence of this diary.
Anastasia’s diary.
I'd skimmed through it before, and I already knew its secrets.
I knew she had lied to Francesco.
That she was never his fated mate.
That she was not human—but a witch. A powerful one.
And that she had used forbidden magic to forge a false mate bond with the strongest Alpha this world had seen in centuries.
But tonight…
Tonight, I read further. And what I found twisted something inside me.
23 August
He doesn’t see through me yet.
I don’t know whether to be relieved… or sick.
I can feel the magic pulse between us—it binds him like silk, soft but unbreakable.
He thinks I’m his mate. That the Moon fated us. But I know better.
I made it happen.
Because I had to.
Because Francesco is too strong.
And Luca said if we don’t break him, we lose everything.
I felt my fingers tighten on the page. There it was. Cold. Blunt. Calculated.
She told me that she hadn’t just tricked him but she’d come to destroy him.
Her diary shows it all.
I turned the page.
24 August
He trusts me. More than I thought he would.
I told him I was a human—lost, naive, fascinated by his world. He believed it.
Every time he smiles at me, I want to scream.
Because he’s already falling.
And I…
am still pretending.
A heavy ache settled in my chest.
I could hear her voice between the lines—steady but cracking at the edges. Cold, but shaking beneath the surface.
How come a person could do something like this to him?
I can’t imagine someone was this horrible.
26 August
He showed me his Lycan form today.
I was not prepared.
I thought I was.
I told myself I was.
But seeing it… seeing him…
He is not just strong.
He is divine.
A force of nature shaped into a man.
And for the first time…
I felt the lie falter.
I turned another page, breath uneven for read another truth revealed.
28 August
He made me tea this morning.
Not because I asked.
Not because of anything I did.
Just… because…
He kissed my temple and told me he dreamt of me.
I laughed. Pretended to be flustered.
But inside… I was quiet.
He looks at me like I’m sacred.
And I don’t know how to carry that weight anymore.
Because I’ve lied.
And lied.
And lied.
But his love is not a lie.
And I think…
some part of me is starting to wish it was real.
I drew in a shaky breath.
This wasn’t what I expected.
Not from her. Not after what she’d done.
She had come with poison. But somewhere along the way, she had started to drink it herself.
31 August
I told him I loved him.
He said it back.
He meant it.
I didn’t.
But I wanted to.
Is that enough?
No.
Of course it’s not.
But I don’t know how to fix this.
I want to stop lying.
I want to be the girl he thinks I am.
But the spell is already rotting.
He’s starting to see the cracks.
And if he ever learns the truth…
He’ll never forgive me.
I couldn’t turn the page yet.
The fire beside me hissed softly.
I pressed my hand over the next blank sheet, wondering if more magic lay hidden beneath.
There was.
Words shimmered into being beneath my touch.
2 September
I dreamt of him dying.
By Luca’s hands.
It was supposed to be our triumph.
Instead, I woke up screaming.
He held me.
So gently.
And I realized… I would die for him.
Not because of the spell.
Not because of guilt.
Because I love him.
I don’t know when it happened.
But I love him.
And I can never tell him the truth now.
I closed the book slowly.
The ache in my chest was real. Sharp. Complicated.
I knew she had tricked him. Used him. Lied to him at every turn.
I’d known it before I opened the diary, but reading it—seeing it unfold in her own trembling handwriting—was different. It was one thing to hear a truth, another to feel it bleed through parchment and ink.
She came into his life with poison on her tongue and a mission in her heart—to weaken the greatest Alpha the supernatural world had seen in centuries. And yet, somewhere in the cracks of her deception… she fell.
She hadn’t meant to love him. But she did. And it destroyed her.
That was the part I hadn't expected—the slow, aching transformation of a woman who had walked into his life wearing a mask, only to find that the mask no longer fit.
She loved him.
Not because of a spell. Not because it was convenient. Not because it was part of the plan.
She simply… did.
And it broke her from the inside out.
The weight of that truth sat heavily on my chest—not out of sympathy, but because I understood how someone like him could unravel the walls you swore were impenetrable.
Francesco Totti was never meant to be anyone’s weakness.
But love doesn’t ask for permission.
And it had undone her—just as it had, in some small way, undone me too.
And Francesco?
He had loved her back. Even if everything else had been false—his feelings had been real?
He didn’t know that she lied.
The door opened quietly behind me.
I felt him before I saw him.
Francesco.
His presence soaked into the room like the scent of rain—wild, ancient, and grounding all at once. The weight of him filled every breath I took.
I didn’t move.
He stepped closer, pausing beside me. I looked up, our eyes locking.
His gaze flicked to the diary on my lap.
“You could read it?” he asked, voice low.
I nodded once. “Yes.”
His brows drew together. “It was empty pages. Noone could see anything on it.”
I gave a small shrug. “It let me in.”
He knelt beside the seat, searching my face. “How?”
I touched the cover gently. “Magic,” I said. “Not mine. Hers.”
He frowned, waiting.
I hesitated, then whispered, “I think… she wanted someone to find it. Eventually.”
His expression darkened with something unreadable. But he didn’t speak.
So I continue.
“It was about how she lied,” I said softly. “About being your mate. About who she was. But… she also lied to herself. She didn’t mean to fall in love with you.”
His jaw tightened.
“But she did.”
He was silent.
“She came to weaken you,” I continued. “So Luca could control you. But the longer she stayed, the more it changed. She loved you, Francesco. Truly. I saw it in her words. It wasn’t just guilt.”
Still, he didn’t speak.
Then, slowly, his eyes drifted shut.
And in the next breath, he leaned forward and wrapped his arms around me.
My breath caught as he pulled me into his warmth, into his strength. I melted into him instinctively, my arms slipping around his neck as he held me close—his heartbeat steady against mine.
He didn’t speak for a long while.
Then his voice rumbled near my ear, quiet and hoarse.
“I don’t care about the past anymore.”
I felt his grip tighten slightly.
“I have you now, Ellaine. That’s all that matters.”
He pulled back just enough to meet my eyes.
“You’re my everything.”
Tears pricked my vision, unexpected and uninvited.
But I didn’t look away.
I reached up, brushing my fingers along his jaw, and whispered, “And you’re mine.”
He nodded “Always.”
It wasn’t the creak of ancient floors beneath shifting shadows, or the trees groaning in the wind outside. No—this was different. The air itself felt electrified, thrumming with barely-contained dominance.
Francesco was awake.
Awake in a way the world had forgotten.
He was no longer the grieving Alpha hidden behind thick stone walls and the veil of old grief. He had stepped fully into himself again—and the world had no choice but to remember who he truly was.
The council had grown arrogant during his absence, mistaking his mourning for weakness, mistaking his silence for surrender. For two decades, they held sway over territories they never earned, supported by the claim that Francesco had abandoned his throne.
But now?
Now the Lycan Alpha had returned.
“What do you mean you have no guards around Blackpine territory!?”
His voice boomed from somewhere down the corridor, cold and thunderous.
My spine stiffened even as I smiled faintly. That tone—that absolute authority—it made my wolf stir in quiet awe.
“I don’t want to hear your excuses. I want the names, the reports, and your guard rotation logs in one hour—or I’m coming to your office myself.”
A soft sigh of pity escaped my lips.
Whoever was on the other end of that call was probably regretting every decision they made since waking up this morning.
I pulled the thick, leather-bound book closer to my chest and retreated deeper into the library’s window seat. The warmth of the fire to my right flickered like the heartbeat of the room, but even that was quiet in the presence of this diary.
Anastasia’s diary.
I'd skimmed through it before, and I already knew its secrets.
I knew she had lied to Francesco.
That she was never his fated mate.
That she was not human—but a witch. A powerful one.
And that she had used forbidden magic to forge a false mate bond with the strongest Alpha this world had seen in centuries.
But tonight…
Tonight, I read further. And what I found twisted something inside me.
23 August
He doesn’t see through me yet.
I don’t know whether to be relieved… or sick.
I can feel the magic pulse between us—it binds him like silk, soft but unbreakable.
He thinks I’m his mate. That the Moon fated us. But I know better.
I made it happen.
Because I had to.
Because Francesco is too strong.
And Luca said if we don’t break him, we lose everything.
I felt my fingers tighten on the page. There it was. Cold. Blunt. Calculated.
She told me that she hadn’t just tricked him but she’d come to destroy him.
Her diary shows it all.
I turned the page.
24 August
He trusts me. More than I thought he would.
I told him I was a human—lost, naive, fascinated by his world. He believed it.
Every time he smiles at me, I want to scream.
Because he’s already falling.
And I…
am still pretending.
A heavy ache settled in my chest.
I could hear her voice between the lines—steady but cracking at the edges. Cold, but shaking beneath the surface.
How come a person could do something like this to him?
I can’t imagine someone was this horrible.
26 August
He showed me his Lycan form today.
I was not prepared.
I thought I was.
I told myself I was.
But seeing it… seeing him…
He is not just strong.
He is divine.
A force of nature shaped into a man.
And for the first time…
I felt the lie falter.
I turned another page, breath uneven for read another truth revealed.
28 August
He made me tea this morning.
Not because I asked.
Not because of anything I did.
Just… because…
He kissed my temple and told me he dreamt of me.
I laughed. Pretended to be flustered.
But inside… I was quiet.
He looks at me like I’m sacred.
And I don’t know how to carry that weight anymore.
Because I’ve lied.
And lied.
And lied.
But his love is not a lie.
And I think…
some part of me is starting to wish it was real.
I drew in a shaky breath.
This wasn’t what I expected.
Not from her. Not after what she’d done.
She had come with poison. But somewhere along the way, she had started to drink it herself.
31 August
I told him I loved him.
He said it back.
He meant it.
I didn’t.
But I wanted to.
Is that enough?
No.
Of course it’s not.
But I don’t know how to fix this.
I want to stop lying.
I want to be the girl he thinks I am.
But the spell is already rotting.
He’s starting to see the cracks.
And if he ever learns the truth…
He’ll never forgive me.
I couldn’t turn the page yet.
The fire beside me hissed softly.
I pressed my hand over the next blank sheet, wondering if more magic lay hidden beneath.
There was.
Words shimmered into being beneath my touch.
2 September
I dreamt of him dying.
By Luca’s hands.
It was supposed to be our triumph.
Instead, I woke up screaming.
He held me.
So gently.
And I realized… I would die for him.
Not because of the spell.
Not because of guilt.
Because I love him.
I don’t know when it happened.
But I love him.
And I can never tell him the truth now.
I closed the book slowly.
The ache in my chest was real. Sharp. Complicated.
I knew she had tricked him. Used him. Lied to him at every turn.
I’d known it before I opened the diary, but reading it—seeing it unfold in her own trembling handwriting—was different. It was one thing to hear a truth, another to feel it bleed through parchment and ink.
She came into his life with poison on her tongue and a mission in her heart—to weaken the greatest Alpha the supernatural world had seen in centuries. And yet, somewhere in the cracks of her deception… she fell.
She hadn’t meant to love him. But she did. And it destroyed her.
That was the part I hadn't expected—the slow, aching transformation of a woman who had walked into his life wearing a mask, only to find that the mask no longer fit.
She loved him.
Not because of a spell. Not because it was convenient. Not because it was part of the plan.
She simply… did.
And it broke her from the inside out.
The weight of that truth sat heavily on my chest—not out of sympathy, but because I understood how someone like him could unravel the walls you swore were impenetrable.
Francesco Totti was never meant to be anyone’s weakness.
But love doesn’t ask for permission.
And it had undone her—just as it had, in some small way, undone me too.
And Francesco?
He had loved her back. Even if everything else had been false—his feelings had been real?
He didn’t know that she lied.
The door opened quietly behind me.
I felt him before I saw him.
Francesco.
His presence soaked into the room like the scent of rain—wild, ancient, and grounding all at once. The weight of him filled every breath I took.
I didn’t move.
He stepped closer, pausing beside me. I looked up, our eyes locking.
His gaze flicked to the diary on my lap.
“You could read it?” he asked, voice low.
I nodded once. “Yes.”
His brows drew together. “It was empty pages. Noone could see anything on it.”
I gave a small shrug. “It let me in.”
He knelt beside the seat, searching my face. “How?”
I touched the cover gently. “Magic,” I said. “Not mine. Hers.”
He frowned, waiting.
I hesitated, then whispered, “I think… she wanted someone to find it. Eventually.”
His expression darkened with something unreadable. But he didn’t speak.
So I continue.
“It was about how she lied,” I said softly. “About being your mate. About who she was. But… she also lied to herself. She didn’t mean to fall in love with you.”
His jaw tightened.
“But she did.”
He was silent.
“She came to weaken you,” I continued. “So Luca could control you. But the longer she stayed, the more it changed. She loved you, Francesco. Truly. I saw it in her words. It wasn’t just guilt.”
Still, he didn’t speak.
Then, slowly, his eyes drifted shut.
And in the next breath, he leaned forward and wrapped his arms around me.
My breath caught as he pulled me into his warmth, into his strength. I melted into him instinctively, my arms slipping around his neck as he held me close—his heartbeat steady against mine.
He didn’t speak for a long while.
Then his voice rumbled near my ear, quiet and hoarse.
“I don’t care about the past anymore.”
I felt his grip tighten slightly.
“I have you now, Ellaine. That’s all that matters.”
He pulled back just enough to meet my eyes.
“You’re my everything.”
Tears pricked my vision, unexpected and uninvited.
But I didn’t look away.
I reached up, brushing my fingers along his jaw, and whispered, “And you’re mine.”
He nodded “Always.”
End of Shattered Bonds: A Second Chance Mate Chapter 73. Continue reading Chapter 74 or return to Shattered Bonds: A Second Chance Mate book page.