Chapter Three
1147 Words
Something stirred within me. Something primal, and ancient. I couldn't control it. It was more than just rage.
Before I could stop myself, I was on my feet, screaming at the top of my voice.
“How dare you, Vaughn?! You are mated to me!”
“I’m not even dead yet and you’re already replacing me?!”
The crowd gasped in awe as they all turned to me.
Dozens of cameras flashed, capturing the outburst. Warriors stiffened at the edges of the room. Elders whispered. Some looked stunned. Others… amused.
Vaughn’s face twisted in fury, his jaw clenched so tight his teeth looked like they’d shatter.
My mother was even faster; she stormed up to me, her eyes glowing gold, as fury radiated like fire off her skin.
Before I could brace myself, her claws gripped my arm and yanked me out of the hall.
“Let me go!” I cried, digging my heels into the polished stone floor.
“You just can’t stop embarrassing this pack, can you?!” she snapped, dragging me up the stone stairwell behind the summit lodge.
“It wasn’t enough that you tried to kill your sister last year, now you want to ruin her moment?”
I froze mid-step.
“You know I didn’t try to kill her. She—”
“Enough!” she snapped, her eyes blazing. “Davina is the pride of this pack. Of this entire region. She’s the one the Elders are grooming to lead. You? You’re a stain we’ve been trying to scrub out for years.”
I wasn’t surprised, most people didn’t recognize me as a daughter of the alpha of the Silvercrest pack. Davina was always flaunted and glorified while I was always serving one punishment or the other.
“Mom…” My voice cracked. “Vaughn is my mate. We’ve been bonded for two years. No rejection. No severance. He can’t just… propose to someone else.”
Tears streamed down my face.
“Please, make him stop. You know this isn’t right—”
“Right?” she barked a laugh. “You think this is about right? This is about power, Nyra. Alliance. Legacy. Things Davina understands. Things you never could.”
I swallowed the ache in my throat. “I’m your daughter.”
“You’re a curse,” she spat. “Do you know how many wolves would kill to be Davina? And you have the audacity to cry because your little placeholder role is finally being reassigned?”
Placeholder… That word again.
I staggered, trying to catch my breath.
“You don’t deserve anything good, Nyra. I curse the day I birthed you. Do you know the kind of influence our family and pack would get from that union?” My mom snapped, ignoring the tears that streamed from my eyes.
“Mom, please, stop. You’re hurting me,” I cried, begging, desperate for a bit of love from my mother.
“You know me, Nyra, I’d rather hurt you with the truth than make you feel good with lies.” She snapped.
“Here is what you will do. You will go downstairs, apologize to everyone, and fix the mess you created,”
“I won’t. I can’t. Davina and Vaughn are having an affair! In my house! That’s why Davina insisted on taking care of me, so she could get closer to Vaughn!” I yelled.
I felt a little light as I let the burden off my chest, hoping for some sort of sympathy or realization from my mom.
“What did you expect? You were never supposed to have him, Nyra. Vaughn and Davina belong together.” she said without the slightest bit of pity.
“You should’ve died with your twin,” she hissed. “He was the future we prayed for. You were the mistake that took him.”
Every breath I took after that felt like broken glass.
I had heard the whispers growing up and had seen the way my parents looked at me. My mother never failed to remind me that my twin, the son they prayed for never made it, but I did.
Then came the voice I dreaded most.
“Where is that blind b***h?!” Davina’s voice came hollering.
I turned just as she lunged. Her claws raked across my forearm as she shoved me hard into the wall.
“You ruined everything!” she screamed. “Do you know how long I planned this? How hard I worked to clean up your pathetic image just enough for Vaughn not to puke when he saw you? And this is how you repay me?”
“I didn’t ask you to take care of me,” I rasped, clutching my arm. “You did that so you could get closer to him.”
“And it worked.” She smirked. “You were so busy pretending to be helpless, you didn’t notice him slipping away, night after night.”
“Davina, I’m your sister…”
She rolled her eyes. “Don’t insult me.”
“Vaughn and I… we have a bond. He is still mine. At least let him reject me formally.”
She slapped me.
The sound rang louder than my scream.
“You ruined my proposal,” she said through gritted teeth. “So now, I’m going to ruin what’s left of you.”
She shoved me hard.
I stumbled backward, skidding toward the edge of the terrace
“No! Davina, stop!” I screamed, gripping the stone railing.
“Don’t make this harder than it has to be.”
“Please… I’m your blood.”
She didn’t even blink. “You’re a stain in our bloodline. You should’ve died a long time ago.”
She began peeling my fingers from the rail.
“Davina! Please! Please, don’t do this!” I sobbed, clinging to her crimson gown.
But she was stronger, more practiced at cruelty.
I lost my grip, and so did she.
We both fell… maybe to our deaths.
The water rushed up to meet us like a wild animal. The moment I hit it, everything went quiet.
My chest burned. My lungs screamed. I fought to rise, but I couldn’t swim and neither could Davina.
I heard voices, people yelling, but they sounded far away… like they were in another world.
Still, I held on to a sliver of hope. Maybe someone would save us and someone did.
They dove in and pulled Davina out.
But no one came for me.
I kept fighting, kicking, gasping.
Then I saw my glasses, floating above me like a goodbye.
And I wondered; what was the point?
For twenty-four years, I had been nothing but a burden. A mistake.
And for the first time in my life… I stopped fighting.
I let the water take me.
And the darkness swallowed me whole.
- Writer
