เล่ห์ร้ายเพื่อนรัก NC25+ ซีรีส์ Strong Heart 4

CHAPTER ONE

CALISTA’S POV

“Get out!”

My father’s voice shook the entire room, but I remained standing in front of him, staring at him through the tears filling my eyes.

“Father, I didn’t do anything. I swear I don’t know where Eira is.”

“You think I don’t know what you wanted?” my stepmother demanded, stepping forward with tears already running down her face. “You have always hated watching Eira have everything you could never have. Her beauty, her position, her wolf, and now the Alpha.”

“That’s not true.”

“Then where is she?” she snapped. “Where is my daughter?”

“I told you, I don’t know!”

“You were jealous of her,” she continued, her voice rising. “You knew the mating ceremony was tomorrow, and you knew Axton was going to make her his Luna. You couldn’t stand it.”

“I would never hurt Eira.”

“Get out!”

My father shouted again, so loudly that the walls seemed to shake.

I flinched.

For a moment, I wanted to stay and defend myself, to make them understand that I had nothing to do with Eira’s disappearance, but when I looked at my father’s face, I knew he had already made his decision.

He didn’t believe me.

None of them did.

I turned around without saying another word and walked out of the house.

The moment I stepped outside, several cameras flashed in my face.

“Calista!”

“Calista, did you have something to do with Eira’s disappearance?”

“Are you jealous that your sister was chosen by Alpha Axton?”

“Did you have an argument with her before she disappeared?”

“Where is the future Luna?”

I lowered my head and pushed through the reporters, trying to get away from them before the tears I had been holding back finally fell.

“Please, leave me alone.”

They followed me.

“Are you denying the accusations?”

“Why were you inside the house when Eira disappeared?”

“Did you want to stop the mating ceremony?”

I couldn’t take it anymore.

I ran.

I ran as fast as my legs could carry me, refusing to look back as the voices and cameras slowly disappeared behind me.

I didn’t stop until I was far enough from my father’s house that nobody could see me crying.

I was supposed to be the one standing beside Alpha Axton tomorrow.

I was supposed to be his Luna.

At least, that was what should have happened.

For years, I had secretly carried feelings for Axton, even though I knew there was no reason for someone like him to ever notice me. He was the Alpha, powerful and admired by everyone in the pack, while I was only an omega whose wolf had refused to awaken even after I turned eighteen.

Then the fire happened.

That was the night everything changed.

Axton had been trapped inside the burning building, and while everyone else was trying to escape, I ran inside after him.

I don’t know where I found the courage to do it, but I remember the heat against my skin, the smoke filling my lungs, and the moment I found him unconscious on the floor.

I thought I was going to die with him.

Then, for the first time in my life, I heard a voice inside my head.

My wolf had awakened.

She gave me the strength to pull Axton out of the fire, and somehow, I managed to save his life.

When Axton later announced that the person who rescued him would become his Luna, I thought my life was finally going to change.

But my father and stepmother had other plans.

They gave Eira the credit.

And when I confronted them, they made me a deal.

If I told everyone the truth, they would keep my mother’s possessions from me forever.

If I stayed silent and allowed Eira to take the credit, they would give me everything my mother had left behind.

I chose my mother’s inheritance.

I thought it would be enough.

I thought I could live with watching Eira take the position that should have been mine.

I never imagined that she would disappear the night before the mating ceremony and leave me to take the blame.

For years, I had lived in that house like a stranger.

Eira was always their precious daughter, the one they protected, praised, and proudly showed to the entire pack, while I was the omega they barely noticed.

And now the entire pack probably believed I was responsible for the disappearance of the woman who was supposed to become their Luna.

I didn’t know where else to turn.

So I walked into the nearest bar.

The bar attendant looked at me for a moment before reaching for a bottle beneath the counter.

“Give me something to go out of memory,” I said, wiping my tears with the back of my hand. “I don’t want to remember a thing tonight. Give me something very strong.”

He poured the drink into a glass and pushed it toward me.

I picked it up immediately and swallowed it without thinking, feeling the alcohol burn down my throat as I closed my eyes and tried to push every thought of Eira, my father, the reporters, and especially Axton out of my mind.

“Pour more.”

He poured another glass, and I drank it immediately. I kept asking for more until I could barely keep myself steady. When I finally stood up, my legs felt weak beneath me, and I struggled to take a few steps toward one of the rooms.

Then I saw one door slightly open.

I stopped in front of it, blinking several times as I tried to see clearly.

The room was dark.

I pushed the door open.

“Hello?”

There was no answer.

I stepped inside anyway.

The room smelled faintly of alcohol, and the only light came from a small lamp beside the bed.

Someone was sitting on the edge of the bed.

A man, he  had his head lowered, one hand resting against his forehead, and there was a bottle sitting on the small table beside him.

He looked drunk too.

I couldn’t see his face clearly because my vision was still spinning, but I could tell he was tall and broad-shouldered.

“Hey! You” he said, his voice also looked like someone who’s drink

I stumbled, and his hand immediately caught my arm. “Careful.”

I looked down at his hand around my wrist before slowly raising my eyes to his face.

His features were still blurred, and I could barely make them out through the alcohol clouding my vision.

He stared at me for a moment, then the drink in his hand slipped from his fingers and fell to the floor.

“Really…” he murmured, his voice low and slightly slurred. “You asked for this, stranger.”

Before I could respond, he leaned toward me and pressed his lips against mine.