Chapter 195: Chapter 195: The Weight of Rejection
RAMON’S POV
Liam opted to drive, and I allowed him based on the mere fact that I didn’t feel like doing it. My hands still trembled slightly from the confrontation, the echo of Sonia’s cold words ringing in my ears like a fresh wound that refused to close.
I just wanted to be alone with my thoughts, so I could lick my wounds privately. The pain in my chest felt like it was cracking wider with every mile, a deep ache that no amount of distance could dull.
Sonia had done the worst thing she could do to me. Openly reject me in front of her pack, even though she didn’t reject me fully and legally. The memory of her standing there, her voice steady and distant, played over and over in my mind. Her eyes had been so cold, so empty of the warmth I had started to crave. Each word she spoke had cut deeper than the last, leaving me raw and exposed.
Her brothers represented the pack after all.
I was also pretty sure Ferins had been somewhere, watching.
He had to have been watching us. He probably had gloated when she rejected me too. The thought made my jaw clench so tight it ached, my fists tightening in my lap as the anger simmered low in my gut.
I wasn’t sure where to go from here. It was a pretty dicey situation to start with. Every path seemed to lead back to the same sharp pain in my chest, the same bitter taste of rejection that refused to fade.
We arrived at the pack, and even before Liam could turn off the car, I stepped out, and headed in. The familiar scent of home should have brought some comfort, but it only made the emptiness sharper, the weight of failure heavier on my shoulders.
"Ramon!" I heard him call after me, but I couldn’t be arsed to answer him.
I needed to act. It was the only way I could rid myself of this stench of rejection. The need to do something, anything, burned in my veins, pushing me forward even as the pain threatened to pull me under.
Instead of going into my quarters, I sought out Ivy’s house.
I needed to speak to Moon in person. He was the architect of all of this bullshit.
Not even Ivy would stop me from talking to him.
I couldn’t care less how she felt about the situation.
I was going to talk to him, and that would be it. The anger simmered low in my gut, a constant burn that refused to fade.
The sun was just setting when I arrived at the house. The golden light cast long shadows across the yard, painting everything in warm hues that felt mocking against my dark mood.
Ivy was seated outside, staring into space. She looked like there was a lot in her mind too. Her shoulders were slumped, her fingers tracing idle patterns on the bench beside her, her expression distant and weary.
I would ask her, but I doubted she had any answers for me.
So, I walked straight past her to the door. But as I made to open it, I heard her speak.
"Don’t bother, you won’t see Moon. I already took him somewhere safe. I knew you would act this way, and you didn’t prove me wrong," she said in what sounded like a disappointed voice, her tone heavy with exhaustion.
I paused, wondering how I became the bad guy in this situation.
Everyone blamed me for something, when this all started because of what Moon tried to do to Sonia. The unfairness of it all pressed down on me, making it hard to breathe.
I couldn’t believe she forgave, and even defended him.
Everytime I remembered the words she had thrown at me, I felt like my heart was about to rip apart. The pain was sharp and deep, spreading through every part of me until I could barely think straight.
"Why did you do that?" I asked, trying to maintain my calm, though my voice came out rougher than I intended.
"Because you’re getting worse by the day. It’s time to retrace your steps, Ramon. You’ve lost it, and it’s all because of Lorena."
"Lorena has done nothing wrong!" I howled in frustration. "You all just want her to be this horrible person so bad, and I don’t know why. You’re even believing a servant over her!"
"You would have to. Before Lorena became more than a maid who fled her pack with me to seek safety here, you would have believed the servant too. I don’t know what spell she has over you," she said, and shook her head, her eyes filled with a mix of pity and disappointment.
"It’s called common sense. Something you all could do with. But anyway, I won’t let you all dissuade me from my goals. I’ll prove to everyone how manipulative this entire situation has been. Starting from finding Moon."
"Well good luck with that. And while you’re at it, pay Hazel a visit at the cell. I had him arrested after Blane told me he was the spy," she said much to my disbelief.
"Are you insane? Why would you have him arrested because Moon said he’s a bad person? I raised him myself. You of all people know that," I said, unable to disguise the hurt in my voice. The betrayal stung sharper than I expected, twisting like a knife in my gut.
She rose to her feet, and stared directly at me, her expression firm.
"I did what I had to do to protect the brother I love. My only remaining family. I care about you, but it seems like you only care about yourself, Ramon."
She walked past me, and entered the house, her footsteps heavy on the wooden floor.
I wanted to call her back so we could squash all of these problems once and for all.
However, I couldn’t physically bring myself to do it. The pain in my chest made every breath feel labored, the weight of rejection pressing down harder with each passing second.
I walked away, determined to find Hazel in whatever cell he was.
As I arrived at the cells, I saw Daniel coming out of it, his face grim.
"Why are you here?" I asked, my voice sharper than I intended.
"It’s the guy you brought in. The wolf from MoonRay. He’s dead," Daniel said, his tone flat.
"What?! How?!"
"He got in a fight with Hazel the second Hazel was taken in. Apparently, he recognized Hazel as someone who always dropped by MoonRay. In a bid to silence him, they got into a fight, and Hazel snuffed him out."
I scoffed in disbelief. "I can’t believe you’re in on this madness too."
He looked up at me, his face contorted in confusion.
"I don’t understand you, alpha. What am I a part of?" He asked in an innocent voice.
He wasn’t fooling me though. None of them were.
"Let me guess, Ivy told you to cook up this story so it would make me believe that Hazel, I trained him with my own hands since he was a baby, betrayed me? And all of this just to exonerate Moon? How stupid do you all think I am?"
"Alpha Ramon, I’d never do that to you, and you know it."
"So how come they were thrust into the same cell? Just some random coincidence right?"
"No, that was on purpose. Ivy said that if Jack was involved in this, one of his wolves would recognize Hazel. And it worked!" Daniel said enthusiastically.
"No it didn’t, and you know why? I don’t believe any of you. Moon is the problem, and I’m going to prove it."
I turned around, and walked away in haste.
Nothing was going as well as I planned it.
I felt like everyone was conspiring against me.
To get me to see things the way they saw it.
Unfortunately for them, I didn’t see it that way, and I was getting pissed with the force fed truth.
Maybe I needed my child to get me some sort of peace.
I set out to find Lorena, remembering she had returned to her room.
Arriving at her door, I knocked once, and she opened the door, cladded in nothing.
Yeah, this was more like it. I needed something that appreciates me.
Her warmth did, and I was going to bury myself in it, so I could breathe again.
