Chapter 24

Valen’s POV

“No, no, no, don’t cry,” Gina rushed to her to hold her. “I only meant that you are unstable , that is what the doctor said”

"She's not thinking clearly because she's a liar. I mean her own boyfriend just said it!” someone in the crowd muttered.

"That's wrong,”" Gina suddenly faced them off with a stern look. "Who are you to judge her. Besides, like I said before, this is a private matter!”

A few people nodded in agreement. Some walked away murmuring

“My friend has just been through a lot lately,” Gina continued. "So she needs our compassion, not our criticism, judgements and side talks”

I watched as Gina worked the crowd, and something about it felt off. She was defending Veyra, but somehow she was also making her look worse. She was making it sound as if Veyra is fragile, unstable, not to be trusted- which she actually is, but did she have to tell the public like that?

I shrugged. It didn’t really concern me. This thing was between friends, and besides I figured out that Gina talks that way all the time. That is just her manner of talking and that is who she is.

"Have you taken her to the doctor? Maybe she should see a doctor? She’s acting so unstable r," someone suggested.

"That's exactly what I've been saying," Gina agreed. "We have taken her to see the doctor before. I told her to see the doctor again today, but she's been resistant to the idea. She thinks everyone is against her."

"That is because everybody thinks I am lying!" Veyra screams and a few people move backwards because they thought that she was harmful. She was acting so volatile and she was confirming what Gina said about her - that she was unstable. I was pretty sure that People thought she had a mental issue

“You just keep leaving the people that love you confused. You have refused to say the truth about what happened that night. If you say the truth, Valen might consider you. You say you don’t remember, I advise you to think. Think and think well. At least there should be something you remember" Gina said gently. "Everything you are saying does not make sense. We found you in bed with another man and you are so happy to be with him. That's not something that happens to someone who's been assaulted."

The crowd gasped and I flinched too. I didn’t want that information out in public. It was supposed to be a secret and now Gina had just exposed it to the public just like that

"It is if they drugged me!" Veyra insisted.

The crowd gasped again in surprise. They started to pay more interest. It seems to them like there was more to this than meets the eyes

"But you don't have any proof," Gina pointed out. "No evidence. No witnesses. I saw you in bed with another man willingly. The way you were acting was not as if you were being forced”

The crowd murmured among themselves. Some of them were just there for the story, nothing else. They didn’t have compassion on Veyra or aided anybody. The few that sided with Veyra initially started to lose sympathy for her. They started talking loudly and themselves

"She's always been a bit dramatic," someone whispered so loud that I could hear

"That was how she claimed that she saw rogues in the pack border last year? She just wasted the alphas resources and it turned out that there were no rogues. She has been unstable for a long time…”

But Veyra actually saw rogues. She told me and I believed that she saw rogues at the borders, but what was happening? I actually had lost trust for her and it must be true what these people are saying- that she was lying about the rogues that she saw

"Yes, she is just an attention seeker”

I would have defended her, but I didn’t even know who she was anymore. And Dada reminded me that this was exactly what cheaters did. They made themselves the victim.

"My suggestion is that everyone should return to their homes. I think this thing just came up on all of us too quickly. But I have a favour to ask. My friend here is sick and I need everybody in the pack to understand that she is unstable,” Gina said to the crowd. "I hope everybody understands that we need to give her some privacy to work this out?” she asked the crowd who was already listening to her

They nodded in agreement.

“Thank you,” she smiled at them. “ I want us to create a hashtag. #unstableveyra #veyraandvalenbreakup #followgina. So before you all leave, I want everyone to help support her. All you need to do is to take pictures of her in her state and post it on your social media account, then follow my accounts across all my social media accounts so that I can alway update the public about what is happening to her,” she nods at them. “ I am doing this so that people understand what she is going through and they don’t judge her quickly. Please do not stop patronising her pantry too, it will open soon, I promise."

How does this even make sense? I ask myself. People should take pictures of her and follow Gina’s account , why? It felt like clout chasing to me, but I guessed that Gina knew what she was doing period

“But the pictures, make sure that you don’t Alex to it, we don’t want him to get worried about his sister and leave important park functions wherever he is”

I felt in my bones that this was wrong. Veyra was vulnerable and it was not a good thing for anybody to take pictures of her at this moment, but I remember that I should be caring about her. “ I don’t give a shit!” I muttered to myself to convince myself that I actually did not give a shit

“It is so sad that she has lost her mind,” somebody said as people started taking pictures of her. They, people started to leave. But they kept talking as they went, and none of them were supporting Veyra.

"I always asked myself why the future alpha decided to settle for her. Her friend is way better."

"Yes,Valen deserves better than this."

"She's just embarrassing herself now."

“Can you imagine? She cheated on her boyfriend and drugs and now she’s claiming to be a victim?”

“Let the alpha not even head of that because she would be banished

When the crowd was gone, everywhere was quiet a bit at least. I knew I had to leave. That was enough embarrassment for the day

Gina helped Veyra to her feet. "Come on," she said softly. "Let's get you inside. You need to take your bath and clean up.”

“And I need to leave…” I announced. “ if I hadn’t listened to you and come here, I will not be embarrassed this way,” I said to Gina

Veyra looked at me one more time, her eyes pleading. "Please Valen," she cried loudly as I walked towards the car. I guessed it felt ro her as if she was losing me forever- which was actually it. "Valen, I was supposed to be your Luna! We were supposed to rule the world together”

“Maybe you should just accept the fact that he is going to rule the world with someone else now,” Gina held Vayra in place as she tried to run towards me. “It is okay if you never be his Luna and someone else’s does. Life is never fair, Veyra. Let him be”

“No! I can’t accept that!” Veyra screamed.

"It's already over," I said coldly even as she screamed as I walked away

I soon got to my car, entered it and started the engine. As I was reversing my car, through my rearview mirror, I could see how Veyra collapsed again, gasping for air and crying. Now that would be a tough one for Gina. Nevertheless, Gina managed to y Veyra to get up and they started walking toward the house.

At least she had someone, I told myself. She has a friend

As I was driving, I couldn’t help but think about what just happened back at Veyra’s street. Something about the way Gina had handled the crowd was wrong. I felt like she handled it poorly

No. I was being paranoid. Gina was a good friend. I pushed the thoughts away and focused on the road

***

The next morning, I woke up to a loud knock on my door. I thought it was a servant and I was so angry because I have not gotten a good night’s rest. I opened the door only to find Gina at my door as early as 5 am. She was panting, shaking as if she had just been attacked by a wild animal

“What is it!?” I said with wide eyes. I was alarmed. It was too early for her to be here

“It’s Veyra!” Gina kept panting