Episode3
878 Words
(Rose POV)
The metallic taste of blood filled my mouth from where I'd bitten my cheek during Xavier's slap. I tried to steady myself against his desk, my vision swimming as more blood trickled down my legs. To my surprise, Tara suddenly rushed behind Xavier, placing a delicate hand on his arm.
"Xavier, darling, please don't hurt her," Tara's voice dripped with honeyed concern. "She's still my sister, after all."
I stared at her in confusion, my mind struggling to process this sudden show of sisterly protection. But the glint in her eyes – identical to mine yet so different – told me this was just another act in her carefully orchestrated play.
Xavier's muscles tensed under her touch, but his rage didn't diminish. "After what she did to you? After she left you in that state for months?" His voice rose with each word, making me flinch. "Tell me, Rose, how could you do that to your own sister? Make her vegetative just so you could take her place?"
The accusation hit me like a physical blow. "What?" I gasped, my knees weakening further. "What are you talking about?"
"Don't pretend you don't know," he snarled, taking a menacing step toward me. "Tara told me everything. How you sabotaged her car that day, how you made sure she'd be incapacitated long enough for you to steal her place as my Luna."
I shook my head frantically, panic rising in my chest. "No, no, that's not what happened! Tara, tell him the truth!" I pleaded with my sister, but she just pressed herself closer to Xavier, tears gathering in her eyes.
"It's okay, Rose," she whispered. "I've forgiven you. I know you were just... jealous. You always have been, haven't you? Living in my shadow must have been so hard."
"Stop it," I choked out, my hands trembling. "Stop lying! There was never any accident, was there, Tara? You left because you didn't want to marry Xavier when his position was uncertain. You abandoned him!"
Xavier's eyes flashed dangerously. "Enough! How dare you accuse her of such things?" The mate bond between us pulsed with his fury, making me physically ill. Or maybe that was the blood loss – I couldn't tell anymore.
"Xavier, please," I tried again, desperately. "I'm telling you the truth. Ask your father, ask the council. They all knew about the arrangement. Tara left willingly, she—"
"My father is dead," Xavier cut me off coldly. "Convenient, isn't it, that the only person who could verify your story is no longer with us?"
Tara pressed her face into Xavier's shoulder, her body shaking with what appeared to be sobs. "I don't want her to go to jail, Xavier. Please, she's still my sister. Maybe... maybe she's just confused about what really happened."
The calculated manipulation in her words made me want to scream. This was what she'd always done – twist the truth, play the victim, make me look like the villain. And everyone always believed her. Everyone always chose her.
"I wish I could believe that," Xavier replied, wrapping an arm around Tara's waist. "But she's gone too far this time. Guards!"
The two pack warriors who had been waiting outside stepped forward. I recognized them – Marcus and Derek. They'd served under Xavier's father, had watched us grow up. Surely they knew the truth?
But their faces were impassive as they moved toward me. The blood was flowing more freely now, staining the expensive carpet beneath my feet. My wolf whimpered in distress, sensing the danger to our unborn pup.
"Please," I whispered, one hand pressed to my stomach. "Xavier, something's wrong. I need—"
"Still trying to manipulate your way out of this?" Tara's voice had lost its false sympathy, showing her true colors for just a moment. "Haven't you done enough damage, sister dear?"
The room spun violently as Marcus and Derek each took one of my arms. Through the haze of pain and betrayal, I saw Tara's triumphant smile, saw the way Xavier looked at her with such devotion – the look I'd desperately wished he'd give me just once in our three years of marriage.
"Remove her from the pack house," Xavier ordered, his voice devoid of any emotion. "I don't want to see her face again."
"But she's bleeding," Marcus hesitated, his grip on my arm loosening slightly.
"It's probably just another one of her acts," Tara said dismissively. "She always was good at playing the victim."
The last thing I saw before the guards dragged me away was Tara pulling Xavier into a passionate kiss. My wolf howled in agony at the sight, the rejection from our mate cutting deeper than any physical pain. As they half-carried, half-dragged me through the corridors where I'd walked as Luna for three years, I felt something crucial break inside me.
The precious gift box containing the positive pregnancy test lay forgotten on Xavier's study floor, along with the last shreds of my hope for happiness in this pack. As consciousness began to fade, I made a silent promise to myself and to the life I could feel slipping away inside me – if I survived this, I would never let anyone make me feel this worthless again.
- Writer
