6
1492 Palabras
It was nearly midnight when the guard banged on the bars of my cell.
I got up from the cot and squinted when I heard him say I had a visitor.
I thought of my parents—about whom I’d been asking since the moment I was locked up—though none of my requests had ever been answered.
When I saw the tall, broad silhouette of my visitor, disappointment settled in my chest.
“What are you doing here? Did you come to gloat over my suffering too?”
Ethan asked the guard to open the cell and bring coffee.
“I would never do that,” he finally said after sitting down on what had been my bed just moments earlier. I stayed on my feet. I didn’t even want to be near him.
“I’m hurting too, sweetheart. None of this was supposed to happen.”
“You made it happen. You should’ve thought about the consequences of your actions.” I leaned against the bars, arms crossed over my chest. “Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like you to leave—because the only visit I want is from my parents. Or have you locked them up too?”
Ethan shook his head.
“They’re in their apartment. I’d never—”
“Yes, yes, I know you’d never want to hurt me… but you do, Ethan. All the time. It wasn’t enough that I rejected you—you had to get revenge, right? Is that it? You needed to see me locked up, humiliated, afraid for my life, so you could feel redeemed?”
The guard returned with coffee and a box of freshly baked donuts. The smell tormented me—I hadn’t eaten since my arrest—but I wouldn’t give Ethan the satisfaction. No matter how loudly my stomach protested, I wouldn’t take anything from him.
He opened the box and held it out to me. Proudly, I refused without even glancing at it.
“Why don’t you just tell me what the hell you came here for?” I asked, struggling to hold back my anger—but especially the pain.
Because Ethan hurt.
His presence hurt.
His closeness was a barbed wire wrapped around my skin, tearing at my soul. His cologne cut through my muscles and made me want to collapse into his arms and never let go.
He was my mate, by the Goddess!
Yes, I had rejected him—but that was only a formality.
A sentence that didn’t soothe anything I felt inside.
There was no way I could ever truly heal from this.
“I want us to forget all of this, sweetheart. I want you to come back—right now—to the pack house. Take back your role as Luna and leave all this behind us.”
It was so damn tempting—much more than the cursed smell of those donuts coated in powdered sugar.
Yes, I wanted to forgive him.
I wanted everything to be like it was the night before, when I’d fallen asleep in his arms, still the happiest woman in the world.
Of course I wanted that.
“You know what my condition is for that to happen: she has to go.”
Ethan dropped the donut he was about to eat.
“Is it really that hard to put yourself in Serena’s shoes? Can’t you understand, love?”
“Oh, believe me, I understand her perfectly, Ethan—and please, stop calling me ‘love.’”
I hardened my gaze so he wouldn’t see the tears threatening to betray me.
“This afternoon I had the pleasure of talking to her—because Serena was the one who brought me here. Did you know that? And she told me everything I needed to know.
It’s you, Ethan, who doesn’t understand that your b***h has wanted me dead since the moment she found out I was your mate.”
Ethan shook his head.
“No, no, darling, that’s not true. Serena would be happy to welcome you back with—”
“What!? What the hell are you talking about? ‘Welcome me’?! You’re not seriously thinking you can keep both of us happy at your side, sharing your bed, cuddling on your chest after making love like some kind of threesome—are you, Ethan? Is that why you’re here? You want me to come back so the three of us can sleep in our marriage bed together?”
Ethan’s silence condemned him.
“I can’t believe this. You two are sick.”
“If you don’t want it at the same time… we can take turns.”
I raised my hand to shut him up.
“That’s enough, Ethan. This is sick. I already told you—I won’t accept that. If you want me back, she has to be out of our lives. That’s non-negotiable.
I’d rather die, Ethan—have you condemn me under this ridiculous case you’re fabricating against me, like I’m the criminal—than accept her in our marriage.
Do you understand me?”
Ethan stood up, approached me, and tried to embrace me—but as much as I wanted to feel his arms around me again, I pushed him away.
“No. Don’t come any closer. Let’s end this quickly. Sign my execution already—because I’m going to confess to save my parents.
I’m guilty, Ethan.
I tried to leave the pack without permission.
And not just that—I intended to abandon it entirely.
I wanted to run, to get as far away from here as possible—the farther, the better—and never come back.
I’m guilty of treason.
Now, if you would, go ahead and order my death.”
The warmth of his body—still so close to mine—was killing me slowly.
I needed to end this and find the peace I longed for, even if it meant being executed.
“I could never sign a sentence that would end your life, Nelly,” he whispered, his breath brushing the back of my neck.
If he’d wanted to take me right then, I would’ve been too weak to stop him.
And I hated myself for that.
“Then you must. Because I won’t die in a forced labor camp. I’d kill myself first.”
His jaw rested against my back, and his hands tightened around my hips.
I felt myself giving in. My strength was failing.
Then I saw her.
The image of her ass bouncing on my marital bed.
I slid away from the bars.
“No! Stop trying, Ethan. Let me go, then.
If you won’t sign my death sentence,
let me leave—with my parents.
We’ll go somewhere far away.
Please, Ethan, you owe me at least that much.”
I saw the pain that pierced him—and as a nurse, I wanted to go to him, to ease it.
But I had to be strong.
I had to resist.
“If you leave, I’ll become a laughingstock among the packs.
I can’t allow that.”
Those weren’t Ethan’s words.
No—those were his mother’s.
I could almost see her signature stamped on them.
“I’ll change my name.
I’ll move to a pack so far away they won’t even have heard of ours—I swear it.
No one will know my past.
No one will know who I am.
I’ll say I’m just an omega—because that’s all I’ve ever been—
and that I came from a pack that was destroyed by a rogue attack… or taken over by enemies.
I’ll make up a story so wild, Moon’s Fang will never be mentioned.
Please, Ethan.
Give me that, at least.”
He looked up—and his eyes pierced through me.
There was so much pain in them I almost gave in.
Almost said yes to his disgusting idea of a ménage à trois with Serena.
But I bit my tongue.
I held firm.
I was so close—I couldn’t collapse now.
“Give me a kiss.”
…What?
“Give me one last kiss, Nell.
Give me that kiss, and you can go wherever you want.”
“With my parents.”
“With your parents.”
I accepted his request, despite the risk—because that was the moment I could break.
With the image of Serena’s ass as my source of strength,
I kissed his sweet lips just like I had the first time—
back when we were at the hospital and had recognized each other as mates.
“Now I’ll go, Ethan…
and I’ll take the donuts, too—
for the road.”
He said nothing.
He turned around and laid down on the cot.
And when I left,
it felt like he was the prisoner,
and I was the Alpha who had come to visit.
- Autor
