Chapter five.

Selina's POV.

I flooded my knees to my chest, weary and tired as the cold floor of the cell blew at me.

I shivered pathetically, my teeth gritted noisily against each other.

For an intended future Luna, now ending up as a prisoner, my story is really pathetic.

I was certain that the mating ceremony would no longer be happening, not after everything that happened last night.

Right now, I was more concerned about Malik, what was his take on the situation? Does he believe that I was innocent? He has to believe me.

But then every hope of that being possible was brutally shattered as I thought back to last night, he couldn't hold my gaze despite how loudly I repeatedly screamed his name, neither did he utter a single word while I was dragged away.

He stood still, his palms hurled into a tight fist.

I never slept a wink through the night, I stayed up hoping that he'd show up and at least talk to me, he could yell at me, but he never came.

Could he have believed that I was guilty of the act? Was it that easy for him to believe? Did he not trust me after all? Despite all that we shared?

I was exactly shocked seeing how the rest of the pack members easily believed the story and immediately campaigned for a brutal punishment against me, they hated me that much.

No one stopped for a moment to think about the possibility of someone like me who hasn't kept a boyfriend all my life, no man has ever looked at me twice actually, except for Malik who has done nothing but love me unconditionally since he found out about us, why then would I want to hurt him this way?

I suddenly thought of Chloe.

She had been the loudest on the scene, screaming to the hearing of everyone who cared to listen how capable I was of the offense, bearing witness to her encounter with me and how much of a terrible person I was.

Of course, they all believed her, and together, they campaigned for my penalty.

Different thoughts ran through my head, but one dominated, the fear of Malik taking sides with the rest of the pack members and casting me away.

I held strongly onto my faith, hoping fervently that my worst fear wouldn't hit me hard in the face.

Suddenly, rustling noises from the cell door interrupted my chain of thought.

I looked up and there he was, the man I've waited for all night.

Malik.

Relief washed over me as I released the breath I never knew I was withholding.

I made to rush into his arms but the rigid look in his eyes notified me not to take another step, I stopped dead in my track, my eyes searching his for any sign of sympathy but there was none, anger and terror were all that was laced in his gaze.

This isn't Malik, my mate whose gaze on me spoke passion and affection; the man standing before me seemed a lot like a different person.

Cold shivers of fear washed over me, my breath wavered in panic and my knees were beginning to wobble.

This can't be happening.

"I'm only going to ask one time," his voice came out as cold as I've never heard before.

"Why did you do it?"

I stared at him, remarkably shocked by his words.

My worst fears have finally found it's way to reality.

Malik really believed that I would ever have an affair with another man despite all that we shared?

Not even a single word left my mouth, it felt like my mouth was glued to my teeth unable to open up and defend myself.

"You know, never in my wildest imagination would I have believed that you would be so heartless to do something like this to me,"

He fixed his intent glare on me, breathing heavily in anger.

"Malik please..." I reached out to hold his hands, maybe he could still be sensitive to my touch, that way I could calm him down a little, but he moved farther away from me.

That broke the last string of hope in me, I could tell now that things had gone way out of my fixing capacity, the situation was rather going downhill too fast.

His gaze now held nothing but disgust for me.

"You can't even defend yourself," he rasped.

"I really thought you to be nothing but innocent, I can't believe you proved me wrong so quickly," he continued to blurt, his piercing gaze hovered all over me.

"I didn't do it, Malik," my voice came out surprisingly low, I could barely hear myself, the sudden realization of the horrible situation hovering over me totally left me speechless and in crumbles.

"There's absolutely no need to deny this, you are only going to make your punishment worse," he cut in sternly.

There's really no way out of this for me, Malik totally believed the stories he heard, Chloe must have also contributed by feeding him a great deal of lies; it's an opportunity for her to push me away and secure a place for herself in his heart anyway.

"Malik please, you have to believe me, I would never do a thing like this, why would I want to hurt you when all you've done was care for me?" I cried hoping to convince him.

His gaze seems only to harden at my explanation.

"This was supposed to be a special night Selina, how more horribly could you have chosen to shatter my heart?"

"Malik please..." I mumbled, a stream of tears rolling down my cheeks.

But at this point, not even my pleas nor my tears seemed to have any effect on him, his cold glare on me never wavered.

"The least I wanted to do was to get the truth from you and maybe your punishment will be less, but you seem not to want that," he blurted.

"Malik..."

"You will have to face the council, selina," he spat with a tone of finality, turning around and walked stormed out.