Chapter 5

Nyra’s POV

Vanessa recoiled back into her shell almost immediately.

I had never spoken to her that way before.

But I was done being so soft to leeches that deserved my fury.

Silas scoffed harshly.

“You want to act like a victim? Fine. Go ahead.” His voice rose louder.

The laugh I had been holding back finally escaped my lips.

The hall stayed in silence until I had laughed to my fill.

Before this amount of scrutiny would have had me running for the hills and they knew it but I had died… that shyness had nothing on me.

“You are still playing this card?” I asked, stepping closer slowly to the twins' disapproval.

“You mean I should have walked down the aisle to marry you even after discovering my fiancé had already fathered a child with my own sister?”

His expression twisted as gasps once again filled the echoed silence.

“That was in the past.”

In my past life, two days after the wedding… two of them had approached me with very detailed information on their affair.

I confronted Silas and asked them to repeat themselves to which they did but he had a perfect answer and used his love to shift my view.

The two maids had disappeared the next day and I hadn’t asked any questions.

“The past? Wasn’t it common sense that your wife-to-be… and her father, the Alpha king, be aware that the child you had claimed was motherless was actually the son of my sister?” I coldly asked.

His face gave away nothing, he hadn’t regretted it.

“Call me a cheat all you want but I would have swallowed that deceit down my throat if I hadn’t seen with my very own eyes, my dearest sister sneaking out of your bedroom early this morning while on my morning stroll.”

That finally did it.

The polished mask shattered completely.

And if these messy nobles hadn’t been loud enough, their murmurs doubled.

“Fine! Since we’re apparently being honest now…” Silas barked.

Vanessa grabbed his arm quickly.

“Silas…”

He shook her off violently.

Perfect.

“No! She wants honesty? Let her hear it.”

The look on his face was rage… pre undiluted rage.

And when men are angry, they make mistakes…

They say things they shouldn’t say… things that would show everyone who they really are.

His eyes burned into mine with contempt.

“You were never good enough for me in the first place.”

His words didn’t faze me one bit, especially since I knew he was capable of much worse.

“You are nothing but a weak, spoiled and gullible princess… one whose authority as soon to be Alpha queen should be questioned.” he continued viciously.

My nails dug into my palms.

He had clearly crossed the line and if he was attained with his emotions… he would have probably seen the warning look on everyone’s face around him.

“You couldn’t even awaken your wolf properly.” He laughed harshly.

His words dragged me violently back toward my first life.

Reminding me of every moment I had bent myself apart trying to become enough for him… trying to prove myself.

“You were so desperate to be loved it was sooo pathetic.” He sneered

Pain stabbed through me as I remembered the girl I used to be.

That pathetic girl would have chosen him over and over again without waiting… I didn’t mind dying for him.

I was such a fool.

So yes I deserved this.

“Do you know how embarrassing that was for me?”

Dante stepped forward and almost immediately I felt the loss of his warmth.

There was nothing calm about Dante right now.

“This is why we need the sexy brothers.” Serenyz purred in delight.

I watched as he tried to keep his anger under restraint.

It was amusing in a weird way.

My eyes trailed from his face down to his shoulder muscles that tensed and released in a loop.

I felt Rhys close the gap between us before his arms wrapped around me… I found myself leaning back into the warmth he provided.

His breath fanned against the nape of my neck causing spams of shivers to race down my spine… he was making it hard for me to think straight.

Rhys didn’t have an idea of the effect he had on me.

Serenyz chipped in almost immediately, “How about the effect you are having on him for him to crave your bodily heat.”

I shut her down almost immediately.

And pushed her teasing down my throat before my face could go up in flames.

Dante pulled me back to the present, “I’d refrain from making stupid comments about a woman that publicly claimed us.”

The room froze.

My heartbeat stumbled violently.

Silas looked stunned for half a second before fury consumed him entirely.

“Claimed?” he barked out a laugh.

And only stopped when he saw that no one around him found it funny.

“You think kissing a desperate woman makes her yours?”

“You’re angry, because you lost something you never valued.” Rhys suddenly said from behind me.

Silas’s expression transitioned into something far more uglier than his character.

“You know nothing about me, you walking dead.”

“No but I’m less than thirty minutes away from helping you close your mouth… you have shown us all what kind of a man you are.” Dante coldly said.

“A disgusting, narcissistic man that hides under the cowardice of lies… even the blind can see that the lipstick on your shirt doesn’t match the shade on her lips.”

As expected Silas was going to blame everyone but himself.

"Is this what you've been doing behind my back? Fucking the damn Vale curse?!" Silas bellowed.

Before I could react, Rhys’s hands wrapped around my waist from behind, pulling me flush against him.

Heat shot violently through my spine as his lips brushed near my ear.

“Should we teach him a lesson, beautiful?” he asked softly, although very audibly.

For some reason, the question startled me because he sounded like he genuinely needed my permission.

He was handing me the reins to make me feel in control.

I knew men like Rhys Vale never truly surrendered control to anyone.

My throat tightened.

But the truth was... I wasn't in control.

My legs were beginning to tremble.

I couldn't think at all, not when his fingers were still on my waist drawing circles.

A lump grew in my throat and I swallowed it down fast.

"I don't know..." I breathed, my eyes lifting to his. "Maybe?"

His silver eyes flickered to Dante's.

"Beautiful doesn't want to see the dog's face," he said to his brother who smirked.

"Got it."

Dante turned to look at Silas whose eyes were now red, with his chest heaving like a machine.

“Step back, Silas Holt”

Silas growled, squaring his shoulders in challenge.

"Make me you fuckers!" He yelled as he lunged. "Bunch of fuckers! Screwing every whore within…"

That was all it took.

The hall erupted into screams as Dante’s fist collided hard with Silas’s jaw, sending him stumbling backward into a table of champagne glasses.

The crash echoed violently through the room.

Everyone knew better than to sit still in their seats.

Screams came from every corner of the hall.

Silas recovered quickly, wiping blood from the corner of his mouth before throwing himself in reckless abandon at Dante with a snarl.

Rhys didn’t even blink in the panic.

Instead, he kept me tucked against him while watching the fight unfold with a very familiar look of amusement.

“Should we help him?” I asked faintly.

Rhys looked down at me like I’d said something ridiculous.

It wasn’t a question…

Unable to hold his gaze I looked back at the ongoing fight to see Silas face all bloodied up and swollen.

“Princess…” Rhys murmured, his arms still wrapped securely around me.

Another sickening crunch echoed across the hall and I gulped as Dante smiled down at a bloody Silas.

“I think your ex-fiancé should be far more concerned about surviving this fight without permanent scars.”