002| LOSING EVERYTHING

~Vixen~

For a heartbeat, I thought I’d misheard her.

Olaine’s lips curved like a crescent moon, too soft, cruel. She didn’t bat an eyelid as she lied between her teeth.

“You tried to kill me, sister. That’s why I ran. I had to.”

The air left my lungs. I stared at her, my fingers trembling against the fabric of my dress as her words began to sink in.

“What did you say?”

She folded her arms then, a faint tremor in her voice that almost sounded genuine.

“You sent men after me. Don’t you dare act innocent now.”

For a second, my mine went completely blank. Then, heat flooded my chest so violently I thought I’d explode.

“What—?” My voice cracked. “You’re lying, Olaine. I would never—”

Then, the whispers broke somewhere behind me.

“The Luna tried to kill her?”

“Goddess, she is her sister.”

“She wanted to marry the Alpha that badly?”

I froze instantly. Slowly, I turned, only to meet dozens of eyes gleaming from the shadows of the garden.

Guards, Omega and pack members who must have followed me when I was running to find their Alpha, were now faced with my own shame, like an entertainment piece.

They were watching us, listening and judging. Clearly not judging the fact I caught their Alpha cheating on me.

My throat burned. “You’re lying,” I said again, turning back to them, but my voice came out weak. “How could you say that?”

Olaine had been a thorn in my flesh for as long as I could remember, but I had never thought of killing her.

Olaine’s lips quivered. “You have always been so jealous of me. When you treated me badly after our parents got married, I endured it all without complaint, but you crossed the line.”

My legs almost gave way. I looked to Kael, hoping he would believe me.

But he looked away.

“What is she doing? She is trying to frame us for her own actions.” Emmie bitterness tugged at my heart.

My eyes moved from Olaine to Kael. He was still standing there, his eyes so cold it could frost glass.

He was calm, way too calm, like he knew everything.

Believed every lie.

“Kael—”

Olaine moved closer to him, clutching his arm like she needed protection.

“Kael,” she whispered, “I was going to keep silent about this, but she is dangerous.”

I scoffed. “Olaine, you are my sister. All I have ever done is love you. You pretended to be dead for 5 whole years, running off with your lover, letting us all grief over you, just to come back to f*ck my husband. Do you have no shame?”

My voice betrayed me, shaking a little despite how steady I tried to keep them.

Something flashed in her eyes, something like fear. But then, it was gone before I could place a meaning to it.

“You liar,” she winced, holding tightly unto Kael as though afraid of me.

“She sent men after me, Kael. I barely escaped.”

The tears that followed were obviously fake, but the look in Kael’s eyes showed it was convincing enough for him.

I clenched my fists. “I’ve had enough of you bullying me and pinning it on me. I was ready to forgive you for everything, but you crossed a line.”

I looked at Kael, his eyes were cold, angry. He stared at me like a monster.

“Kael. You can’t possibly believe her. Right? You know me…”

He didn’t pull away from her, even when my eyes were strongly fixed on their intwined arms.

My stomach twisted. “Kael…?” My voice cracked on his name, betraying my composure.

“Say something,” I pleaded, “You know me. You know I’d never hurt her.”

But he just stood there, cold and expressionless. Something about the look in his eyes made my body shiver.

The silence that settled between us screamed louder than my words could.

Emmie, clawed inside my chest, going completely wild and frantic.

“He’s letting her lie, he betrayed us! Let me out, Vixen—let me out!”

“No,” I whispered, shaking as I fought her for control. “If I lose control now, they’ll all believe her.”

But the problem was that they already believed her.

Olaine sniffled, burying her face against Kael’s chest, her voice trembling just enough to sound like truth.

“I barely escaped that night. They didn’t stop chasing me until I faked my death. She wanted me dead so she could replace me in your heart. This is all madness.”

I dug my nails into my palms, my body shaking.

Lies.

All of it.

“You’re insane,” I hissed. “Replace you? He was my mate all along, you knew that, and yet you seduced him just to take him away from me, like you have been taking everything that was rightfully mine from the first day you stepped into my home.”

I hate how my body trembled with need for retaliation. I was slowly losing control to Emmie.

Gasps rippled through the crowd. Someone muttered, “she seduced the Alpha? Then she must have sent someone to kill her truly.”

The heat behind my eyes broke. Tears streaked down my cheeks, blurring the world into shapes and shadows.

“I didn’t…” I whispered, breathing becoming harder. “I didn’t try to kill her. She’s lying, Kael tell them, please.”

His gaze finally met mine.

But what I saw in his eyes made me wish he hadn’t looked at me at all.

Quiet, deadly, bone-deep disgust was outlined on his face. The kind that said he believed everything she said. That he saw me as nothing but a monster.

My knees went weak. My heart pounding so loud I could hear it echo in my skull.

“You believe her,” I breathed, grabbing him while praying he would see through her lies. “After everything… After five years—”

But he shook me off like I disgust him. “You are shamelessly evil. If I had known all these years, I would never have married you.”

“Kael.” My lashes fluttered as an unwilling tear escaped my eyes.

He turned away, pulling the smirking Olaine closer until she was pressed against his chest.

“So you know, I love Olaine. If I hadn’t thought she was dead, I would never have agreed to your father’s demand to marry you.”

I opened my mouth to speak, but only a throat sound came out, like a cry.

“Kael, but… you are my mate.”

He looked away, while Olaine’s smile broadened.

Something inside me snapped.

Just like that, Emmie roared, clawing through the last of my control.

“I will make them regret this.” She cried, taking over.

“No—Emmie—”

But it was already too late.

The pain tore through my spine as my claws unsheathed. My vison reddened. I lunged forward, the sound of Emmie’s scream splitting the night.

“LIARS!”

The crowd scattered as my claws tore through the dirt.

For the first time, Olaine shrieked, stumbling back for protection.

Emmie rushed for her, but Kael moved faster.

He caught us mid-lunge, slamming us into the ground with a force that stole my breath away. then, his weight pinned me down.

“Vixen, that’s enough!” he growled, his voice thick with Alpha command.

I thrashed beneath him, sobbing, clawing at his arms, but Emmie kept struggling to fight back.

“Vixen? You betrayed us both, cheating and standing for another instead of your own Luna, you have no right to say her na—” Her words died as his hand wrapped around our throat, choking the air out of us.

His eyes blazed with fury. “You are no Luna of Mine.”

Emmie whimpered and then froze, the world shattering through us like glass. The pain caused her to withdraw to the back of my mind.

I lay there, unable to move or think.

I could see the soft satisfied smile on Olaine’s face through the blur of tears in my eyes.

She was winning afterall.

Kael got off then. “Take her,” he ordered, his voice too calm. “Lock her in the dungeon until I decide what to do with her.”

Two guards stepped forward dragging me to my feet.  I didn’t resist, I couldn’t.

My body felt heavy, but my heart had already died.

“Kael,” I finally rasped, my voice raw and broken. “Please, don’t do this to me.”

But he turned away.

That hurt worse than any blow would.

Blood trickled down my arm, staining the white of my dress. I stumbled, my feet scraping against the ground as the guards pulled me out of the garden.

The same moon that would have blessed our vows, had witnessed my own betrayal and rejection.