Chapter 59: Wicked, Jealous, Conniving
"I..." I stuttered, my words clogged in my throat.
More and more people were starting to gather. They scrunched their noses when they smelled the scent of blood in the air, and when they caught sight of Violet on the floor at the bottom of the stairs, their eyes widened as they began to whisper about me.
With me standing on top of the stairs, and Violet at the bottom of it, this was not a good sight for me.
"Oh my gosh, did she seriously just push the Luna off the stairs?"
"The nerve of her!"
"Isn’t this basically treason? Even if it were another pack member, this still calls for a punishment, right?"
"Who knows? The Alphas didn’t even punish her for the death of you-know-who."
I glanced around, and everywhere I looked, there were eyes staring at me. Shaking my head, I began to deny, "I didn’t―"
A strong grip wrapped around my throat before I was allowed to finish my sentence. When I turned around, I realized that it was Rowan. He hadn’t entered the front door like his brothers, and instead, came from one of the higher floors. His eyes were glowing, his wolf on the verge of losing control.
"Get Violet to the infirmary," Rowan growled at his brothers.
Cassian didn’t need telling twice. He carefully lifted Violet off the floor, and she leaned against his chest for support, sobbing.
"It hurts, Cassian," she cried. "There’s so much blood. Do you think... Do you think my baby is..." Violet burst into tears immediately after, unable to complete her sentence.
"It’s alright," Cassian said. "Don’t cry. It will be alright."
He disappeared past one of the archways immediately, headed towards the infirmary.
Soren stared at me from the bottom of the stairs. He said nothing, simply looking at me wordlessly. After a while, he finally tore his eyes away and left.
I felt the hand around my neck squeeze tighter. I slightly tilted my head back to look at Rowan, whose face had turned as dark as coal.
"Warriors," he lowly said, bring this woman to the cells."
***
I sat on the cold stone floors, shivering as I hugged my knees.
Maybe this would finally be it. After this, maybe the Alphas would decide to have me killed for good.
I stared at the ceiling, sighing. Night had already fallen. I had been kept here for a full day, and my stomach was protesting.
Normally, I could still take a little bit of hunger, but now that I was growing a new life inside of me, I felt absolutely famished. Even if I didn’t have food for myself, I needed something for the child.
After a long while, footsteps finally approached the prison cell where I was being held. Ralph appeared, stopping right outside with a jingle of his keys.
"The Alphas have ordered your presence," he said. "You are to be escorted to their bedroom."
I nodded wordlessly, allowing Ralph to lead the way. He didn’t say much, and when we finally reached, he knocked.
"Enter," came a cold voice from inside.
Ralph gave me a sympathetic look before pushing the door open. I walked in.
Rowan was standing by the window, while Cassian sat right next to the bed where Violet lay. Soren, on the other hand, was pacing back and forth.
I chanced a glance at Violet. She seemed asleep, her lips pale and her eyebrows furrowed.
"For attempting to murder the Luna, we should have you killed," Rowan slowly said, turning to look away from the window and at me.
I inhaled deeply, standing completely still.
"Do you even realize what you have just done?" Soren added, his gaze cold.
"I didn’t do it," I said. I didn’t care if they believed me or not at this point. "I will not plead guilty to an act I didn’t commit."
A loud crack echoed across the room, and I flinched in response. When I opened my eyes again, the small side table had been perfectly split in two with just one punch from Soren. His blood dripped from his hand, a wound caused by the splinters of wood. However, it also quickly mended itself right before my eyes.
"You are a wicked, jealous, and conniving bitch," Cassian spat out from his spot next to Violet. His eyes seemed red, as though he had just cried.
"If you checked the security footage, you would know that I wasn’t the one who pushed her off the stairs―"
"There’s no need to check what we already know," Cassian hissed. "Did you really think we would believe you? That Violet would throw herself off the stairs just to frame you and risk our child?"
"Yes!" I yelled, exasperated. "That child she is carrying is not even yours! Any of yours! It belongs to her fated mate!"
The room went silent, so quiet that the crackling of the fireplace sounded nearly deafening. However, it wasn’t from shock or surprise, but rather disgust. It was just as Violet and I had predicted― the triplets didn’t believe me one bit. And now that Violet was the victim of all this, they had even less reason to believe me.
"I told you she wouldn’t feel even the slightest bit of remorse," Soren muttered under his breath. He grabbed the shot glass on the table and tossed his head back, downing it at one go.
I clenched my jaw and looked at the bed.
"Is she... Is the baby..."
"Oh, so you do have a heart?" Cassian mockingly said. He sneered. "The baby is fine, no thanks to you."
I felt as though a huge rock had been lifted from my chest.
"But don’t you dare think that you’re going to go unpunished," Cassian continued.
"As I said, I didn’t push her," I insisted. "She threw herself off the stairs―"
Soren was now in front of me. He had crossed the room nearly instantly, slamming me against the wall. I grunted in agony, pain blooming at the back of my head as I tried to regulate my breathing and prevent it from showing on my face.
"Do you really think you can get away from this scot free?!" he snarled. I could smell the alcohol on his breath. His eyes were bloodshot, and his cheeks had the slight blush of intoxication. "If it weren’t for this cursed mate bond, I would have you skinned!"
