Chapter 54: Chapter 54 You Hurt Them First
Phoebe’s POV
The shower kept running, mixing with my tears and blood, but the cold didn’t touch me anymore.
Hollow. Used. Dead inside.
I watched my blood swirl down the drain with the water, my mind blank.
Even fear had abandoned me.
Perry was gone. After he finished with me, he’d stormed from the bathroom, leaving me shattered on the tiles.
Time meant nothing as I sat there, cold water beating down on me, until Mason’s scream pierced the silence.
"My lady, are you okay?" Mason rushed to me, dropping to her knees as she shut off the water. "Come on, get up. You’ll catch pneumonia sitting here."
Everything blurred after that. Mason’s gentle care amazed me.
She wept while cleaning the blood from my skin, tending to the bite marks on my breast, hip, and arms.
The wounds would scar, joining the one on my neck, but I couldn’t bring myself to care. I kept staring at the ceiling.
"Should I get the healer?" Mason muttered, more to herself than me.
She dried me off, then went to my backpack in the closet, pulling out comfortable clothes to dress me.
Mason’s tears fell harder when I didn’t respond. "I’ll bring Helen," she said, worry creasing her face. She knew about my condition—how I couldn’t heal like other shifters.
"No," I whispered, my voice barely audible.
"No..."
"But..."
"No."
Mason stayed, unable to abandon me. She sobbed into her hands. "I’m sorry you had to endure this."
I stopped listening to her words, but her tears comforted me somehow. I was too drained to cry, so she could weep for both of us.
"The poison..." I mumbled, my head spinning. I remembered I hadn’t eaten since morning.
"Yes?" Mason looked up sharply at the mention of poison. "What about it?"
She glanced around nervously, checking for eavesdroppers. Discovery would mean death for her.
"How long before it works?"
Mason considered this. "I’m not certain, but I have three bottles. I’m supposed to give them to you one at a time, after you finish each one."
I focused on Mason again. "How long do they need to move against the king?"
"They told me a year," Mason said, sympathy filling her eyes. "I know this is difficult. I know he’s your mate and his death will cause you agony, but he’s already destroying you, isn’t he?"
Mason wanted to say that either way—feeling the mate bond break or living under his abuse—I’d be in pain. At least this way, I could choose my suffering.
I understood her meaning.
"I’ll do it." I met Mason’s gaze, tears sliding down my cheeks. "I’ll do it."
"Thank you. Thank you, my lady. You’re crucial to this plan." Mason wept again, covering her face. "It helps knowing my family will have justice."
Guilt twisted in my stomach. I wasn’t doing this for justice—I was doing it for survival, for my own revenge.
But our goals aligned.
——
Perry’s POV
"Are you out of your damn mind?!" Timothy’s rage was shocking. The gamma was usually easygoing, laid-back compared to Flynn and me.
Seeing him this furious was unprecedented.
I glared at my royal gamma, hating his tone, but something gnawed at me—guilt over what I’d done to Phoebe.
I’d left her alone, not from cruelty, but because seeing her made me want to rip my heart from my chest.
I knew it was wrong, but I couldn’t admit it. Fuck. I wouldn’t admit it.
"How disgusting do you think I am that I’d touch her like that?! Do you even know what she told me?! Why do you think my scent is on her?!" Timothy exploded. "I can’t believe you’d accuse me of something so vile!"
"Timothy..." Flynn tried to calm him down. He looked as stunned as I felt by Timothy’s outburst. I’d seen him lose control in battle, but never in an argument.
We stood in the front yard. Flynn had rushed over when warriors reported the king and gamma were fighting.
This rarely happened, especially with Timothy being the one attacking me.
"I told you I had something important to share, didn’t I?! But you went ahead and hurt her worse, and now she’ll never open up to you!" Timothy’s voice dripped with disgust. "You need to pull your head out of your ass! You know nothing about decency!"
"Watch your tongue!"
"You watch yours!" Timothy shot back. "If you think so little of her for being close to me, you think just as little of me!"
Timothy’s stare was dangerous. It took balls to face down a king like that—most would lose their heads. But Timothy was too angry to care.
"She wouldn’t talk to me at first, but slowly she opened up about what happened in her pack. I was trying to help you figure this out! She was too emotional to speak! Yes, I touched her! But not the way your sick mind imagines!"
I stepped closer, the urge to strangle him rising.
"Now after what you’ve done, she’ll never trust you! You always push everyone away! You think they’ll hurt you, so you hurt them first! You never feel sorry! In your twisted mind, because you’re in pain, it’s fine to cause pain! You’re sick, Perry!"
That was it. I shifted into my beast.
