004

Raven's POV

Yara raced out of the room even faster than she'd walked in. I sat still on the windowsill, shock numbing my other feelings. 

Alpha Jaxon was standing between me and the open door, as though he had no idea who to go to first. He stood still for a few seconds, his back to me. Then he yelled and dragged his fingers through his hair. "Fuck!"

Quickly I sprang from the windowsill, moving towards the open door. "Stay here!" I muttered to the alpha as I walked past, following my sister downstairs.

I found her halfway down the stairs, clutching the banisters and swaying with tears. Yara was normally small and fragile, but she looked as though the sight of Jaxon and I kissing had finally pushed her off the edge. She looked broken, and it shattered my heart to know I was the cause of all of this.

At that moment, I hated the Moon Goddess for playing with our emotions this way. Hell, perhaps I hated myself even more.

"Yara?" I called out in a tentative voice. I watched as she stiffened at the sound of my voice, her body suddenly going rigid. Her sobs stopped abruptly, and slowly she turned to me.

The look in her eyes was of pure hatred.

"You could have had anyone, Raven. Anyone you wanted!" She snapped at me with a sniffle. "And yet you went for the one man I truly loved."

My heart sank at her words as tears pooled in my eyes. "Yara, please listen!"

"No!" She screamed, a feral look in her eyes. "I will not listen to any more of your lies!"

I blanched. "What lies? What are you—"

"You told me you never wanted to find a mate." She snarled, her face streaked with tears. "You told me you never wanted the life that I liked. And then you went for the first thing I truly wanted in all the world."

"I didn't want this either!" I yelled back. "It just happened, Yara—"

She scoffed and wiped her face with the back of her hand. "Yeah. And you want me to believe that, right? You want me to act like the stupid little sister I've always been, to eat up your lies like gold, right?"

She paused, then shook her head slowly. "I saw the way you looked at him when he walked into the party. I saw how the both of you had looked at each other on the dance floor. I'd killed that part of me that thought you'd take Alpha Jaxon from me. I thought you'd never do that to me, Raven. I trusted you!"

My heart plummeted. "Yara, listen—"

"You are nothing but a lying, conniving little—" Yara choked back on the rest of her words, then chuckled sadly. "You know what? You can have him. I don't care anymore."

For some reason, her offhanded statement scared me even more than her cutting words. She continued down the staircase and towards the party, her back stiff and resolute.

"Yara, wait!" I followed after her, feeling a sense of dread wash over me. I raced down the rest of the stairs, coming out into the party. She had disappeared into the crowd very fast.

My eyes darted around as I searched for her, feeling the dread in my chest grow by the second. Suddenly I felt a hand on my shoulder and I turned abruptly, a gasp slipping from my lips. It was Alpha Jaxon.

"Where is she?" He asked, withdrawing his hand.

"Stay away from this!" I snarled, feeling my anger rise to the surface. This was all his fault!

Quickly I darted into the crowd of partying people, my head swivelling this way and that for any sign of my sister. Finally I found her in a corner of the hall, her head on my stepmother's shoulder. 

My parents turned to me as I reached them, double looks of contempt on their faces. 

"How could you?" My father started, his lips curling with distaste. "This was your sister's moment, and you took it!"

The first tear slipped from my eyes. "Father, I don't want this either—"

"You took it," my father continued as though he hadn't heard me. "The same way you took your mother's life."

I took two steps back as his words hit me like a double blow. My mother had died while birthing me, but I could never imagine that my own father would use that against me this way. "How can you say such a—"

"Leave!" My father raised his voice, drawing a couple of stares from the guests. "Go and be his Luna like you want. At least the alliance between myself and Alpha Jaxon still stands either way."

I couldn't believe what he was saying. "That's a totally unfair thing to say!" I roared, finally attracting the attention of everyone else in the room. Suddenly it felt as though I was under a spotlight as every pair of eyes were drawn to me, but I didn't care.

I stepped foward to my father, feeling anger warm my skin. "All I have done as your daughter is obey and respect you. All I have done is bow to your wishes, even when I didn't like those wishes. I agreed to go all the way to Stormgate to be your little spy, even when it would mean endangering my own life. I agreed to do that while Yara goes to play fancy little Luna in another pack. I am putting myself in danger for this family and for this pack, and yet all everyone wants to talk about is this one thing I did that wasn't my mistake to make anyway."

Alpha Jaxon materialized beside me and placed a hand on my shoulder to calm me down, but I wasn't budging. All the hatred and repressed feelings of so many years was rising to the surface, and I couldn't control it. 

"You and I know that I cannot just pick my mate." I continued, my heart thudding with anger and sadness. "You and I know I don't want this life, but yeah. Go on and make this Raven's fault like you've always done. This isn't the first time you'd blame me for something that wasn't my fault anyway."

My father appeared taken aback at my words. Then he quickly regained his composure. His jaw tightened as he turned to Alpha Jaxon. 

"So!" He started. "What do yoy say to this, Alpha Jaxon? Will you be Raven's mate? Or will you continue with the engagement preparations with my younger daughter?"

Alpha Jaxon stared at my father for long seconds, then turned to the party guests. I watched as his jaw tightened, then he turned to me. The look in his eyes made my heart skip several beats as he stretched his hand and took mine.

"I choose Raven."