Chapter Five

“You should be in bed resting,” Liam said, holding my hand tenderly in his.

I looked down at where he touched me and felt bile fill my mouth. I knew what those hands had done. I’d seen the results with my own eyes now. It was truly disgusting.

“I’m fine, really,” I assured, forcing a smile on my lips. “I just heard a noise and came to investigate.”

I was never good at improvising, usually getting a bad grade in Drama class back at school, but I quickly realised I’d said the wrong thing when Liam then turned his attention to the malnourished girl on the floor.

“Did you disturb Scarlett’s rest?” he growled out in a low voice. “Are you so desperate for any attention that you would resort to such nasty methods?”

He let go of me and started moving towards Aurora, his hand balling into a fist.

And I knew what would happen next. There was no mistaking it.

He was going to hurt her.

There was no longer any time left, the decision of whether to run away or befriend her now demanded an answer.

But... there had never really been any choice, had there? Not really. Unlike the monsters who lived in this pack, I couldn’t just turn a blind eye and tell myself it didn’t concern me. If I wanted a real chance at surviving, at changing Scarlett’s fate for the better, then I needed to act.

Now.

But how? If I openly opposed Liam and stood up for Aurora, he would suspect that something was wrong. There was never any way to morally reason with these characters, they were written specifically to be unnecessarily cruel. Acting rashly here was either going to make him blame Aurora for the sudden change in my attitude, or it was going to ostracise me instead. Neither of which were going to put me in a good position where I could help her. No, I needed a way to safely divert his attention instead.

And then it came to me.

I wasn’t certain it would work, but I had to try. I just had to hope I’d improved my acting skills significantly since my school days.

“Ohhhh... my head,” I whined loudly, pretending to falter backwards into the wall.

Liam immediately stopped moving and turned around to look at me. “Scarlett? Are you okay?”

“Ohh... it hurts so bad. Please, Liam....”

“What’s wrong? Do you need the pack doctor?” He quickly rushed to my side and began fussing over me again.

“No, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you worry so much,” I sighed, bringing a shaky hand up to touch his face. “I just... I need some rest. Will you help me back to my bed?”

“Of course,” he answered.

I expected him to help me walk the short distance back to my room, but instead he scooped me up into his arms and carried me bridal style. He did it with ease, as if I weighed nothing at all. A grim reminder of just how strong an Alpha really was.

...And to think he’d used this strength against Aurora for years...

As he carried me down the hall, I tipped my head back just far enough so that I could look towards the girl still sat frozen in fear on the floor. Huddled in a pile of broken shards and bruises. I wasn’t sure how long my plan would work for, maybe not long at all. But in that moment, right before Liam turned the corner into my bedroom, she looked up at me with those frightened blue orbs. And I knew then that I’d at least given her a few minutes to spare herself.

“...Run,” I mouthed silently to her.

...And then Liam entered the room.

“You should be more careful,” he scolded, placing me gently down onto the bed. “You’ve only just woken up. There was no reason to add unnecessary stress.”

“You’re right. I’m sorry to worry you.”

With a sigh, he sat himself down next to me. Maybe a little closer than I would have liked, but I had to remind myself that he’d probably been far more intimate with Scarlett than this. From the way it was described in the book, the two were basically screwing each other despite not being mated. I wondered why that even was. Why not just mark Scarlett as a chosen mate if they were so close?

I suppose it would make for less interesting story telling if Liam didn’t experience some kind of moment of deep regret or ultimate punishment. His entire character was written solely for the purpose of making Aurora’s rise in power and revenge seem more meaningful.

Would there be a reason for why certain things weren’t explained now that I was here? Did my being here influence the storyline to become more realistic? Or was this truly just a world within a badly written book, blank spaces and redacted information filling the plots that held no prior explanation?

If the latter were true, it made me concerned about just how much I could truly influence and change.

“Scarlett...,” Liam soothed, bringing a hand up to my cheek. “You look worried. What’s wrong?”

I blinked several times, realising I’d been so deep in thought that I’d neglected to keep up the conversation.

“N-nothing,” I stuttered, grabbing his hand to move it away from my face. The more he touched me, the more I had to ignore the ick feeling it gave me inside. “I just spaced out for a moment.”

“Do you need sleep? I can stay and keep you company tonight if you’d like.”

“NO!” I quickly blurted out. Definitely a little too fast. “I mean... no, I couldn’t possibly ask that of you. You’re so busy with, uhh, running the pack... and other... stuff.”

I mentally slapped my forehead for how awkward I was coming across. How did people act so naturally? Was he going to notice?

But he didn’t seem too phased by my reaction, giving me a sly smile instead. The kind I was sure was meant to make a girl’s heart race fast.

“I suppose you’re right,” he admitted with a sad sigh. “In that case, I’ll leave you to rest then.”

I thought that was going to be the end of it with his small goodbye. That I was in the clear, already giving myself an internal pat on the back for the acting I’d accomplished, navigating through the situations fairly well. A few minutes had already passed, hopefully enough time for Aurora to escape the hallway, and I was now going to be free to figure out what the hell I should do next.

Only, nothing was ever that simple.

Because as Liam said his final goodbye, I hadn’t planned for him to then immediately lean in close.

...A closeness that had a very clear intent.

The action took me completely off guard, moving faster than I had time to think of what to do. So quick it rendered me paralysed in place as I helplessly watched it unfold.

And with one final look that trailed from my eyes down to my lips, his hand reaching for the back of my head... he moved in to kiss me.