Leilani
As if noticing my suddenly foul mood, Zevran gritted his teeth as he turned to look at , his face a mask of embarrassnt and frustration.
He pushed through the people standing between us and ca to stand so close that his arms brushed against shoulders softly. His voice calm as he dragged out the word; "Leilani..."
But now, tears were actively pooling at the corners of my eyes. But I was not sad, I was enraged.
Goddess, I wanted to yell in his face. I wanted to curse him for pretending to be so nice to despite all they’ve ever done to in the past. My hands shook and I balled them into tight fists; my voice coming out sharper than I had intended as I spat;
"What?"
"Are you satisfied with what Caelum just said? Will you let everything go away after Chalice strikes herself eighty tis?"
For a mont, I was so stunned, I could barely understand what I was hearing. And when the haze slowly began to lift from my mind, I slowly tilted my head upward until I t his confused gaze... and then I hissed;
"Huh?"
"Leilan—"
"What did you just say to ?" I bit out, interrupting him, and at the sound of my voice, he gulped.
"Are you telling to let go of nineteen wasted years of my life because y’all’s golden girl is having it rough? You’re asking to let go of the mistreatnt? The lies? The manipulations... goddess, are you telling to let go of the attempted murder and the fact that I was frad simply because she’s about to slap herself eighty tis?"
"No, that’s not... that’s not what I am saying..."
"That’s exactly how it sounded to ." I growled, interrupting him for the second ti in a few minutes.
His eyes dropped from my face and now, looking at him as he watched the floor in complete silence, I couldn’t help but be imnsely disgusted. I continued; "Do you guys rember when I was flogged eighty tis with the burning whip because of so lie that Chalice had spun from the top of her mischievous head?"
"Oh?"
"Do you even know that I had to lie on that sa back while in hospital despite it being so torn and brutalized by you people because my chest was hurting too much and I couldn’t afford to lay on it?"
"Leilani, please wait—"
"Well, that’s beside the case!" I waved my arm, interrupting him again. "All I am saying is that I was frad for pushing her down the stairs when I never did that. In fact, what happened was that she threw herself down the stairs! And despite yelling the truth to all of you, what did you do?"
"Nothing..."
"You did absolutely nothing. You beat up. Goddess, you guys seem to not realize that I had my skin grafted due to the extent of the damage that that action had done to and my body. Yet, you think that so stupid slaps can asure up to it? Does that even make sense?"
"No!" Now, that was Caelum. I turned to face him, not bothering to hide the annoyance in my face as I spat;
"What?"
"That is only the beginning of what Chalice would be put through." He said.
However, before I could ask him what he ant by that, he drew himself to his full height and hissed; "Before this small gathering and before the moon goddess, I Caelum Stormborn, hereby reject you Chalice Blackthorne as my chosen mate, my bride and my Luna."
I gasped.
The color completely drained from Chalice’s face as she clutched her chest and began to slam her forehead against the floor. She cried out sorrowfully; "Caelum no! That hurts! Please... don’t, the pup—!"
"Isn’t mine!" He completed, his voice as cold as ice.
He then took a step back as if waiting for his brothers to do just as he had done but none of them moved imdiately. I had even almost began to think that they wouldn’t until Zevran spoke up next, he drawled;
"Chalice Blackthorne, you’ve been accused of treason in every sense. You’ve betrayed your family, your pack, the child in your womb and us, your husbands. You’ve been an infidel and I hate to use this word, but a slut too. And for this reason, you should be punished. But first, I, Zevran Stormborn hereby declare you an enemy of the pack and throne. I reject you as my chosen mate, my bride and my Luna and may the goddess and the people present here bear witness!"
The way Chalice slamd her body against the floor told only one thing: she was in agony.
And maybe I am a fool or just a pathetic wench but that in itself made my heart feel heavy in a way that I couldn’t quite understand.
I could swear that I felt her pain. Her anguish... her sorrow. But upon rembering that she would probably never feel any of that if I were in her current shoes, I turned away and squeezed my eyes shut, gulping when her high pitched cries tore through the air like a dagger.
"Co forward!" Kael suddenly spoke up, snapping out of my thoughts, and when he did, Chalice suddenly stopped crying and imdiately rushed forward.
Like this I couldn’t miss the way her cloth clung to her body in patches. I didn’t miss the dirt now clustered under her fingernails. Her hair and makeup were a ss. She bowed ekly and whispered;
"I am here."
He had used his Alpha voice on her.
"I intend to give you a chance..." he drawled, earning himself shocked gasps from the crowd of people around us, "...a chance to save your pup."
"I will do anything, Alpha." She answered, and even though her voice shook, her words ca out clear and composed.
She was even holding herself up just fine, and I couldn’t help but wonder how strong the hold of Kael’s Alpha voice could be to keep her in place so much.
"Would you allow yourself to be operated on, and the child taken out of you where it is placed on rcy support until it’s its due ti to be born?" He asked and as soon as he did, her head snapped up.
"Why?"
"Because I fear that the punishnt about to be ted on you should be for you alone and your child should be spared."
"But I don’t want—" she began to say but stopped when he started talking;
"So you reject the offer?"
"Yes,"
"Good."
"Now, you’ll start by slapping yourself in the face eighty tis. By the ti you’re done with that, your blood would have to be drained from your body." He hissed and as soon as he said those words, the entire room plunged into an insane kind of silence.
The tension in the air increased by tenfold and so did the panic on Chalice’s face.
Smirking, he continued; "And that is because you had connived with that nonsensical doctor. Doctor Sebastian or whatever he is called to lie about your health just to ensure that we forced Leilani to donate her blood."
"You would afterwards be taken to the dungeon where you’ll serve your punishnt for the rest of the month without food or water, and after that, do you know what is next?"
Tears leaked out of her eyes as she shook her head. "No."
"You would be branded a rogue and would be killed if you ever step foot in this pack and its environs again."
She gasped.
"Now before you comnce with all of that. I would like to finish what my brothers have started. I, Kael Stormborn, hereby reject you as my chosen mate, bride and Luna... Now, reject us." He snarled,
I saw the way Chalice tried to fight against his power. Noticed the way she coughed violently as if trying to resist saying the words.
Goddess, if she say those words then she would lose all protection. She would once again beco an ordinary wolf. Heck, she would no longer have any hold over them.
Maybe these were the things she thought as she fought hard but he easily overpowered her.
Her knees crashed to the floor as she spat out a mouthful of blood. And in a voice barely above a whisper, she drawled; "I reject you three!"
And I know that it was none of my business. That I shouldn’t feel a thing, so tell why a strange warmth filled my chest and why a sudden jolt of electricity began to surge through my veins, humming just beneath my skin like a buzz?
The sensation made sowhat lightheaded and I staggered slightly, but before I could fall, steady arms caught .
—And thankfully, it wasn’t Kael, Zevran or Caelum. It was Jarek.
User Comments
0 comments from readers