CHAPTER 4

FREYA

By evening, preparation had already begun for the mating ceremony. I walked into the bedroom — which was supposed to be mine and Lucian's.

But the sickening thoughts of what happened here came rushing back to me. Lilith’s scent was everywhere.

I began to pack a few of my things into a box. I opened a small chest which contained the trinkets Lucian had gifted me.

It was only now I realized these were Lilith’s leftovers. But I used to cherish them like they held my life.

I tossed them into the crackling fireplace. Our first framed photo in highschool. A beige dress he’d given me on the night I wolved out. A broken classic watch, the one I later discovered was broken by Lilith in an argument.

I burned all of these, incinerating the memories with them. Just then, Lilith walked in. Her eyes glazed over the boxes and she laughed mockingly.

“Have you finally had the good sense to pack your things into the servants’ chambers where you belong?” she sneered.

I ignored her and kept picking through my things.

She scoffed.

“My dear sister, you make things hard for yourself. Lucian has been very pissed with you. Just apologize to him and he would consider having you back.”

Her words were like a blunt knife scraping at me incessantly.

“About me having a good time with your mate…” she laughed, like it meant nothing but a casual joke.

“He was tired of you. Your being a virgin made him sick to the stomach, he didn't even want to make any advances. Look at your body, fat! Fat! Fat! You're pathetic, a useless thorn in his flesh.”

“So you should be grateful I stepped in to ease his pain. I'm surprised he hasn't chosen me yet over you. I guess we'll find out tonight.”

Her laughter rang out, filling my ears with bile.

Then she went for a small dress, the one I had painstakingly made while fantasizing about my first child.

“Give that back,” I snapped, my heart jumping.

But Lilith was already at the door, a pair of scissors in her hand. Before I could react, the dress was shredded into pieces.

She didn't stop there. She grabbed a box containing my white Luna gowns and turned it over. She grabbed a red wine from the bar and emptied it on the white gowns. In a second, all the gowns were ruined.

“Oops, I'm so clumsy.” She touched her lips.

Her eyes fell on my jewellery box, which carried a neck piece I made as a child with hard fetched shells and gems.

My reaction this time was swift. I pulled the bust away and Lilith tripped on the destroyed gowns and fell face first. Her scream was immediate and intentional. She looked up and smirked.

“Watch how your mate will barge in like the wind to save me.”

I decided that was enough. “I wonder what would happen if I told him you're not an Alpha blood.”

Her eyes twitched and her face instantly turned pale.

That was her biggest secret, her nemesis. From childhood I had hidden it from everyone that she didn't have an alpha blood like I did.

So she was politically unworthy to be chosen by an Alpha, let alone a Lycan. This secret alone could make Lucian hate her in seconds.

Her jaws tightened as she spoke through them. “You don't dare…”

Tears appeared in her eyes just as running footsteps landed on the stairs.

Lucian.

The moment he opened the door, Lilith wailed out.

“She tried to kill me! She tried to stab me with scissors because I came to make peace!”

I looked at her and jolted at the sudden appearance of blood on her wrist. The bitch had cut herself!

Lucian moved like the wind, no questions, no second thought.

“She's lying…” I tried but he kicked me hard on my stomach. I hit the opposite wall, crashing into a ceramic vase. Something snapped in my skull.

“Your jealousy is devilish and unacceptable!” Lucian growled, picking Lilith in his arms.

Warm blood streamed through my hair and to the floor.

Lilith saw it. Lucian too.

But he bolted through the door with my sister in his arms, leaving me to bleed to my death.

My world swam around my eyes. My heart was twisted with the overwhelming pain of betrayal. Tears gathered in my eyes but were frozen before they fell.

I crawled to the corner of the room and reached my phone. I dialed Lucian's number. Fifteen times he ignored the calls. At the sixteenth ring, my battery went flat.

By this time, my consciousness was slipping from me.

I can't stand this anymore. I can't…

Just as I was about to slip into unconsciousness, I perceived that fuzzy intoxicating scent again. This time it was stronger and persistent. What is Dante Hamilton doing in my father's palace? How did he get past the tight security?

My eyelids were half-closed when a pair of strong arms lifted me off the floor. I could tell from his raspy breath that he'd run all the way here.

“Dan… Dante?” I mumbled as the last shred of consciousness seeped out of my body.

The figure simply chuckled and said, “Well, I guess you've met my brother.”