His Rejected 'Queen'.

Her Truth.

One of the most courageous and brave decisions you will ever make is to finally finally say the truth and let out of what is hurting your mind and soul, of what is your greatest demon.

~too late at night, Albert and Stacy's house~

Nikki's pov

"Nikki... You are Diana's friend!" she murmurs terrified, without taking breath and I lose every sense of mine for good.

I want to believe that I didn't hear correctly. This happens for too many reasons, but the most important of them is that my intense, bad feeling starts taking shape and I feel extremely vulnerable.

From where does she know me? And more importantly, how?

This can't be good, there is no way it's good, and I am not so sure that I owe it to Landon and the fact we are mates. I think I have mentioned again that I have become quite famous lately, because everyone knows him and I am his mate, the King's first female Beta, but my heart tells me that there is something deeper here and this scares me, but...

What scares me the most is the fear I see in Mila's big, crystal eyes, her out of nowhere tears and her horrified expression. I can smell it, I can clearly see it, I feel it and I hate it, because I am scared, it's one of the very few times in my life and I am not used to it, it is weird.

I try to breathe while I observe Mila gasping, fighting and struggling to take even one short breath, but I can't. Her image breaks my heart and makes Natalia silent like she doesn't exist anymore and I am completely alone. It might be very dark, but I can see that she is turning pale and can't stop herself from shaking.

It's like she has seen a ghost, and my curiosity takes fire and starts burning me.

What is happening here?

"Nikki... It's you, isn't it?" she whispers, not wanting to believe it, and I am caught off guard from her sudden question, almost certain statement.

The pain and despair I distinguish in her trembling, weak and panicked voice is enough to make my skin shiver. I can't think, talk of move for few long seconds, but I can feel... It's fear, desperation, worry and pain.

After a while that feels like a century I don't know how, but I push myself with efforts and try to find back my composure and last sign of strength and courage. I focus on my fast and echoing heartbeat, take a sharp, violent breath and fill my lungs with a small amount of air. I ask for Natalia's help and then stiffen quite worried, but I feel stronger already, not a lot, but still...

"You... Know me, Mila. How?" I manage to ask almost from inside me and she exhales harshly, moves backwards, towards the bed's head, curls like a ball and continues shaking.

"From photos and countless information about Diana and her life, but... Where are we? Mason and Lucas... Where is Diana? And Aiden? Is he... Dead?" she asks weakly and by the end of her last words about Aiden she breaks into sobbing and cries out.

Her sobs don't leave me unaffected and I don't understand how, but I find myself reaching and hugging her the very next moment, our pain gets united before I realize it and I start sobbing.

Her touch leaves me a very sweet and intense sensation, it eases the pain somehow, but not more than a second, because Mila surprisingly hugs me back the very next moment and I react by sobbing more heavily than before. I can't explain why, but I don't feel so alone anymore. I know I have Albert and Stacy, but for a weird reason they didn't feel enough, unlike Mila, who makes me feel more confident.