Chapter 195: How Dare You?!
Damon blinked placidly. "Do what? Is helping Harper put on a necklace a crime?"
His lack of reaction only served to make Dahlia more infuriated. The shine of the silver chain and the sparkle of the diamonds seemed to mock her in their finery, and she made a desperate grab at the necklace in Damon’s hands, fully intending on tearing it to pieces despite the silver burning her fingers.
Damon was caught by surprise, and before he could react, the necklace was in Dahlia’s hands.
I guessed he fully expected himself to be the target of Dahlia’s rage. I wouldn’t expect Dahlia to direct her hatred towards the poor necklace, and I stepped forward, wanting to take it from her hands.
It was mine, and even if it wasn’t, I couldn’t bear to see this fine piece of jewelry ill-treated this way.
"This blasted thing! How dare you put this on her when I’m right here in front of you!" Dahlia cursed loudly, as she tugged and twisted at the chains. They dug into her fingers, turning them red.
I could even hear a faint sizzle if I strained my ears hard enough. Her cheeks were flushed with anger.
"Just break already!" She cursed at the inanimate necklace, that only glittered in silence. Lines marred her skin, though Dahlia acted as though they hurt her no more than blunt pieces of steel.
"Dahlia, come on," Darach hissed, his own face red with embarrassment. Even though he wanted this wedding to end in failure, I doubted he was prepared for his sister’s melting down before Damon even rejected her. He tried to distract Dahlia from her futile task. "You’re ruining your own wedding!"
"Piss off, Darach!" Dahlia screamed at her brother, giving him the middle finger that was wrapped around the necklace. Even though the parts of the silver necklace were thin, they held firm and did enough damage to peel off the topmost layer of her skin. There were even lines of scarlet, akin to blood, coating her finger. "Go make yourself useful and scram!"
Yikes.
"Dahlia, that’s enough," Alpha Thorton cautioned, walking towards his precious daughter. He had been lingering in the background, his jaw clenched so tightly that one could spot the twitching muscle from a mile away.
I highly doubted that he cared about Darach getting insulted, and true enough, his next words weren’t rebuking her behavior.
"There are people watching, Dahlia. You need to calm down and behave rationally now."
I guess he wanted to stop his daughter from throwing a tantrum right in front of everyone, in order to save her reputation and her image in front of the other packs.
"Damon is just being helpful. Give her back the necklace, and we can proceed with the wedding," Alpha Thorton continued to cajole his daughter. "It will proceed as planned. You know Damon will not refuse you."
But Dahlia had gone so far in her anger that she would not listen to reason, no matter what words he spoke.
"Even if he marries me, his heart is not with me!" Dahlia screamed, shaking the necklace in her hands with vitriol. The silver chains began to tangle with each other, and I was worried that they might snap under her hands.
"Dahlia, stop it! Give it back!" I protested, trying to stop her, but she snarled, shoving me aside.
"You vixen slut! You seduced Damon so he would give this to you, didn’t you? You’re having an affair with him right under Blaise’s nose! This... this is a gift from him to you, isn’t it? That’s why you’re so attached to it!" she screamed.
"I’m not having an affair. I can swear to the Moon Goddess if you need me to."
Technically, it was the truth. How could any situation between two fated mates that marked each other be constituted as an affair?
"I can vouch for her," Blaise added, sounding too amused in this situation. "I would know better than anyone."
"You know nothing, Blaise Valentine!" Dahlia pointed a shaky finger at him, her other hand clenched tightly around my necklace as if she longed to crush it under her palms. "You’re being hoodwinked by her! I saw her neck― she had a second mating mark! It wasn’t yours― it was his!"
I exchanged a worried look with Blaise; Dahlia was quickly resembling a raving lunatic.
The crowd was slowly getting hostile, their shock fading into anger. I supposed they had never heard of something so scandalous. I could spot many angry faces glaring in my direction.
Dahlia’s words were painting a picture of me as a shameless homewrecker who was having an affair with my fated mate’s brother under his nose. There was no werewolf dead or alive who would look at me kindly.
I had to shut her up now before she made the three of us the pariahs of the werewolf world. But how?
"Stop this right now," Damon said with a long-suffering look on his face. "Dahlia, you look like a fool."
"I will not!" Dahlia screamed out, her eyes bulging in hysterical anger as she glared at Damon for daring to rebuke her. "You don’t have her mark yet, but you want it, don’t you?"
"I can see it in your eyes, you’re a despicable man, Damon Valentine! To think you’ll want to steal the mate of your own twin brother! Even if she threw herself at you, you should have rejected her! You’re going to hell! All of you are! You’ll mate her over my dead body!"
"Don’t make yourself sound so high and mighty," Damon said with gritted teeth, his face darkening in anger as he finally had enough of Dahlia’s accusations.
"If I’m going to hell, you’re way ahead of me," he continued. "You, who had discarded your fated mate as easily as a crumpled piece of tissue paper yet had the nerve to invite him to see you get married to someone else."
Dahlia scoffed, jabbing a finger at the audience where Milo was sitting. "I’m just looking out for my own future! Although, with the way you’re acting now, I’m not sure you’re a better option than that stupid tree hugger."
"Since you’re going to run your mouth like this, I see no reason to maintain this farce any longer. Priest, ask your question. We still have a ceremony to continue," Damon growled out, and the poor priest’s face blanched whiter than his robes when he was suddenly addressed without warning.
"I... I..."
"Damon, remember what you’re risking," Alpha Thorton said warningly. "An alpha cannot be so easily swayed by emotion."
Damon sucked in a deep breath, seemingly calming down. Yet, I could still feel the wellspring of rage coiling beneath the surface, like a rattlesnake waiting to strike.
"Of course, Alpha Thorton. I know very well what’s at stake," Damon said with a scoff. "But does your daughter know?"
