Fated To Three, Betrayed By All… Until She Rose. Chapter 4: All the love and attention

Leilani.

I woke up to the sound of beeping monitors and shuffling feet scrambling about the room.

Slowly peeling my eyes open, I wasn’t so surprised when I found myself in a hospital room, on a hospital bed. However, what surprised was the middle aged doctor hovering over , his brows furrowed in worry as he checked for my pulse.

"Her breathing is erratic, and her pulse isn’t stable too. Also, I don’t think we should take out more blood from her as she’s already so pale, she might not survive this if we continue to—"

"My other daughter, the one who’s more important needs the blood. So I don’t care if we drain Leilani clean, as long as Chalice is saved!" My father’s gruff voice pierced through the room and my heart, but I struggled not to react.

I struggled to act like I was still unconscious too even though it took everything in not to cry out in anguish. Even though all I wanted to do was to back myself into a corner and cry out my eyes.

"But..." the doctor began, obviously about to argue, when Gavin suddenly struck him hard, his hard eyes hardening even more as he regarded the doctor with contempt.

"Do as my father says. No one cares about this wench in the first place!" He growled, and for so reason, that hurt even more.

Whatever was left of my heart shattered into a million pieces, and whatever hope I clung to before now seed lost as it finally dawned on that these people didn’t care one bit about .

They never loved .

They will never love .

Tears trickled down the corner of my closed eyes as I listened to them berate the doctor even more, and I laid still, unmoving as the doctor did as told, dutifully draining of more blood until I began to feel lightheaded and nauseous. And he didn’t even stop when a nurse barged in and gasped;

"She’s so pale! She’s almost blue!"

But my family didn’t care. All they cared about was Chalice. All they cared about was giving my blood to her.

What hurt the most was the fact that my mates were there too, but do you want to know what they were only concerned about?

Whether the blood taken was enough for Chalice.

If they could be tested too to see if the doctors could take so from them as well.

My body shook, my shivering intensifying with each passing second. But I was not shaking from the cold. I was shaking from the heartache. The pain. And the betrayal.

I do not know for how long I laid there letting my body get battered by the people who should protect , but soon, the world began to spin again. The only sounds I could hear was that of my blood rushing in my ears. All I could feel was the taste of my blood in my mouth.

Suddenly, the sound of the heart monitor picking up my erratic heartbeat filled the room and I heard as doctors scrambled around to stabilize . But I was too far gone.

The world slowly went dark, and soon I slipped into unconsciousness.

—

I stood to the side of the cetery with my eyes hidden behind hideous glasses as I watched the ceremony unfolding before and my very perfect family hugging each other at the front.

As usual, I was left out, but this ti, I didn’t care. For so reason, grandmother’s death had hardened sothing within . It finally corroded my need to feel among, quieted the inner child in that wanted to be loved.

My heart felt heavy, but this didn’t have anything to do with the fact that my skin was covered in heavy makeup to hide my scars and pain inflicted upon by my family, but everything to do with the fact that I was being punished for a cri I didn’t even commit.

I wasn’t the one who killed grandma.

In fact, her murderer was standing at the front of the crowd, lodged between my supposed mates, whilst crying softly into a handkerchief.

She looked like the perfect depiction of innocent elegance, and damn, even I for the first ti saw what everyone else saw about her.

I saw how innocent she looked, how fragile... if I didn’t know better, I would’ve thought she was a saint. If I didn’t know any better, I would’ve said I was the problem too.

The ceremony continued in solemnity, and after grandma was quietly laid to rest, the mbers of the pack soon began to file out one after the other, leaving just , my family, my mates and so few other people who waited to ’console’ my family— most especially Chalice.

I silently walked over to the now newly covered grave, whilst ignoring the looks from my family and focusing instead on the weird sensation now blooming in my chest.

I didn’t feel pain— mind you, my heart was shattered at the thought of grandma’s death. But that was it.

I didn’t feel the need to explain myself to my family. I didn’t feel bad when I was obviously being secluded from them. I felt nothing.

I. Was. Numb.

Picking up a fistful of sand by the grave, I cried softly, glad that my eyes were shielded behind these sunglasses. My lips trembled as I tried to say my last words to grandma, but just as I was still trying to form the words, I felt a presence behind .

Her sugary vanilla scent filled my nostrils before I even saw her face and I rolled my eyes, grumbling under my breath; "Not today Chalice, I do not want to play one of your gas right now."

"Oh, sister..." Chalice purred, her perfectly manicured finger trailing over my hurting arm— the one covered in bruises, then makeup. "You’re always playing my gas, you just do not know it yet." She drawled, and when I wouldn’t respond, she continued;

"So what will you do now?"

I stilled. "About what?"

"How do you intend to clear your na? Seeing as your grandma dearest isn’t here to save you anymore?" She asked, but seeing as she was telling the truth this ti— there was no way to clear my na— I sealed my mouth shut.

"You see, this is it, Leilani. You cannot get out of this one so easily. I never planned for things to turn out this way but deep down I’m glad it did, because now, I finally have a reason to get rid of you."

The tears I have been holding back slipped out now even though I’d tried to school it to remain at bay. My shoulders tensed, my heart raced too, but it wasn’t her words that stuck out to , it was the bite behind each word. It was the hate dripping down each syllable like honey.

"Why?" I asked quietly, my breath uneven. "Why do you hate so much?"

Chalice chuckled low and dark, again her fingers began to trail down my arm but this ti, I flinched away from her touch. This ti, it burned.

She sneered; "Because what’s there not to hate? First, you go ahead to be the smart one. The one loved by all, leaving with nothing but scraps of their attention... and then to top it all, the stupid motherfucking moon goddess decides to pair you with the hottest guys in the pack—"

The laugh that wrenched free from my chest was dripping in sarcasm. I barked; "I had all the love and attention? Co on, Chalice!"

A flicker of sothing dark crossed my sister’s features before she turned away. Ignoring my question, she spat;

"Now between us girls, you need to know that I didn’t intend to push grandma that hard... All I wanted to do was to teach her a lesson, to hurt her a little bit. I never knew she wasn’t even strong enough to begin with!"

"How dare you!" I growled, my anger rising as I turned to face her.

I briefly saw a smug smile flash across Chalice’s face before her face morphed into a look of horror. She stumbled back, looking mortified and then fell to the floor in front of , her face flushed as a loud pained cry slipped through her lips.

My eyes widened, I gasped. "But I didn’t... I didn’t even touch you!"

My family that had been busy doing ’other things’ turned to us at the sound of Chalice’s cry, and I vaguely heard their thundering footsteps as they approached .

And then—

Bam!

"You monster!" My father growled as he punched square in the face. I heard the faint sound of my bone cracking, and heard the gurgling sound from the back of my throat as my blood rushed forward. And then ca the pain.

I scread.