Chapter 3: The storm he had waiting for me.

Ella's POV.

 I couldn’t believe my ears. Is Jason trying to pin his affair on me?… on me! Like I’m the one who cheated? He wants me to look like the whore while he’s the saint? Goddess… this feels like a bad dream. 

 I stared into space, not knowing what to say next. Sylvia was right… this is beyond just a scandal. Even my mom isn’t safe from the fallout. At worst, the Pack Senate could sentence me to death for disgracing the pack’s name.

 “Wait… Ella.” Mom’s voice cut in. Her eyes wide, and desperately searching my face for answers . “Tell me the truth. Did you… did you really have an affair?”

 The question knocked the breath out of me. My knees trembled. “Mom!” My voice broke. “If someone came to you and said I did that… would you really believe it?”

 Her hands flew up. “No, no, baby… no! That’s not what I mean. I just… this came out of nowhere. I don’t understand, I’m… I’m lost.”

 I wrapped my hands around my body trying to cool my burning chest. My head was spinning now, and I bit down on my lip until I tasted blood. 

 How am I going to get out of this?

 Michael uncrossed his arms and stepped closer to me. “Ella,” His voice was steady but sharp. “Before I found you in Jason’s room… who was there with you? What happened?”

 I took a deep breath, then forced myself to tell them everything, right up to Jason's silence as he walked past me and the horrible things Dahlia said to me. By the time I finished talking, Sylvia’s jaw had dropped. My mom was even more shocked.

 “Wait.” Sylvia’s voice snapped. “You’re telling me the bitch Jason’s been screwing is your half-sister?! The nerve of that asshole!” She laughed, sharp and humorless. “Goddess, I’ll fucking twist that bitch’s neck till she begs for death!”

 Michael turned gently toward her, giving her a quiet look. But Sylvia spun on him. “What? You're gonna tell me to calm down again? Can't you see what your precious cousin is playing at?!”

 “Please!” My voice cracked as I staggered back, clutching the hospital sheet like it could hold me together. “I can’t handle you two fighting right now.” I turned to my mother, desperate. “Mom… what am I going to do?” My throat burned. “I’m messed up.”

 My mom straightened suddenly, wiping her own tears. “We can't sit here, waiting for them to come bury you. We need to leave now before the press gets here.”

 My stomach twisted. “Leave?”

 “Yes.” Her tone was firm. “It doesn't matter what your side of the story is, Ella, no one is going to believe you over Jason. They already know where you are. And Jason will want to turn this hospital into the stage for his little story. We can’t let them have cameras all over your face. We have to move. Fast.”

 Sylvia and my mom were packing my bag when the door slammed open and three Gammas stormed in.

 “By order of Alpha Jason…” Gamma Bane began. Jason’s personal bimbo. He didn’t even bother with respect anymore. The other two yanked me by my arms.

 “Don’t you dare touch her!” my mother cried, throwing herself in front of me. One of them shoved her back and she fell hard to the ground on her buttocks.

 “Mom!” I screamed in rage, hitting the guard hard across his face. My wolf clawed at my chest, whimpering but too weak to rise. 

 “Bane! Since when did we start handling Lunas like criminals!” Michael yelled, stepping in but Bane walked up to him, whispering something in his ear. Whatever Bane said turned Michael’s face pale. He shot me a look full of panic and rage, then shoved the guards aside and ran out. I knew something was terribly wrong, but no one else knew what it was.

 “Take her,” Bane ordered flatly.

 Sylvia lunged, but Bane caught her wrist. “This is none of your concern,” he snapped. “You’ll only make it worse for her.” 

 She jerked free, eyes blazing. “Worse? You’re dragging her out like a criminal in front of her mother. And you want me to sit still?” She kept thrashing and cursing but Bane pushed her aside with brutal force that, she hit the wall with a cry, sliding to the floor.

 That was my breaking point. I wanted to spit in his face, scream, claw at him until he bled. But my eyes darted to my mother, trembling on the ground, and Sylvia who was clutching her ribs and glaring at the men with all the defiance she had left. I couldn’t risk them being hurt more because of me. 

 “Wait outside.” I ordered gently as tears welled up in my eyes. But they hesitated. “We were ordered…”

 “Oh! You want to stand here and watch me change clothes?” I snapped. “Or would you rather drag me half-naked through the halls in a hospital gown?”

 Their eyes flickered with unease. And one by one, they obeyed, filing out, including Bane, though he lingered a bit giving me a look I couldn’t read before shutting the door.

 The room fell silent. Only my mother, Sylvia, and I remained. “Ella, please, don’t do this,” Sylvia begged. “You know what Jason’s capable of. Don’t walk into his hands.”

 I shook my head. “If I run, I’d be putting you both in danger. And I can’t let that happen.” My throat burned, “I’ll be fine.”

 My mother’s lips trembled, but she nodded slowly forcing herself to let me go.

 I grabbed the bag she’d brought, and shakily pulled out and change into the jeans and black hoodie she had carried all the way from home.

 When I opened the door, the Gammas were waiting. And the moment I stepped out, their hands moved to grab my arms. “Don’t touch me!” I growled, my voice echoing through the corridor. “This is an investigation, not an arrest. Remember your place!”

 Whispers rose from the onlookers gathering around. Nurses and patients. Even doctors.

 “They say she had an affair.”

 “How shameless."

 Each word tore me into a million pieces, but I kept my fists clenched and my head high. I would not give them the satisfaction of seeing me break. Especially for something I didn't do.

 Behind me, Sylvia was scolding and cursing the blabbermouths. But I didn’t turn back. I just walked, every step I took heavier than the last, straight into whatever storm Jason had waiting for me.

 This ends tonight.