Chapter 32
Chapter 32
Chapter 32
Rhea
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When I reach the pack house the next day, I go straight to Catelyn. I want answers. I demand them. I’m ready to fight for them if need be.
After the events of last night, I hardly slept. There was no restfulness, nothing to soothe the pain, not even a little. My mind refused to switch off, and every moment of the hours that passed was spent thinking of the same questions and feeling the same heartache.
But I will get my answers.
I’m determined about that.
I find Catelyn in the tea room on the second floor of the pack house. Her legs are elegantly folded underneath her chair, and her attention is entirely focused on the book she holds in her hand.
When I enter the room, she gives me a brief glance before her attention returns to her book. She seems to be somewhat interested in whatever she’s reading, her eyes squinting and flickering as if she’s attempting to decipher something.
I clear my throat and step forward. I don’t want to be disrespectful, considering she’s the Luna now. But I must do this. I have never seen my family so disappointed in me. Everyone is appalled, especially my brother.
“Yes?” She lifts her eyes to my face again.
“I want to ask something.”
“Go ahead.”
I step forward, a couple more steps, and then I still. “My brother–did you tell him something?”
Her lips are thin, and when I meet her gaze, it’s a hard, piercing stare. She holds still for a moment, perhaps assessing if she
wants to answer me or not.
“Tell him what, exactly?”
“Did you say anything about me to him? Something that’s not true?”
“Rhea, I don’t think you understand. As the Luna, I have better things to do. I do not intend or have intentions to make up or spread lies about someone I know nothing about. And I don’t even know who your brother is.” She closes her book and
says.
Maybe she hasn’t said anything. Perhaps it came from somewhere else?
No.
“But you once asked me w–if I was giving favors to men,” I take a sudden breath. “And you were the only one who knew about my interaction with the Alpha of BloodClaws. It’s somehow reached my little brother’s ears, and he’s assuming that I’m–that I’m some sort of–of-
“So you and the Alpha of BloodClaws were intimate?” The corners of her lips pull up in a condescending smirk, her gaze bright with humor. “Is it that why you disappeared with him in the library? For some private moments?”
“No.” I breathe in.
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Chapter 32
Nothing happened. Nothing ever will happen.
Catelyn holds her smile for another moment and looks at me as though she doesn’t know whether or not to believe my words.
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“Then, I’m sure you can clear your honor with your brother with your own means, given that you didn’t do anything wrong in the first place, did you?”
“I didn’t.” I blink.
“Well, that’s good for you. Then, there should be no trouble, correct?”
I keep my posture.
“I just want to know if you are saying things about me,” I repeat myself. “Things that are untrue.”.
Her eyes lower to her book before she looks up at me
again.
“Perhaps you should use more appropriate timing and place to ask such questions,” She raises a brow and speaks, “Do you understand?”
“It’s crucial that I get to know where this rumor started from.”
She takes a deep breath in, and something shifts. Her gaze, the curve of her lips, the way she flexes her fingers. I wouldn’t say I like it one bit.
And I particularly don’t like the following words that leave her mouth.
“Are you questioning me, Rhea? You–a runt–questioning a Luna?” She shifts slightly in her seat and leans forward to look closer at me, “You’ve got no sense of respect, do you? No sense of what is right and what is not. No understanding, either. Maybe it’s not your fault entirely. Maybe it’s because you’re a runt? Someone who doesn’t have a proper wolf. Someone who doesn’t even belong here.”
My heart thumps a beat painfully–and I wonder how quickly this situation has turned to my disadvantage. It’s almost as if a heavy stone has been hurled into my gut, weighing my insides down and squeezing them. It won’t relent.
It only appears to intensify and grow with every second, every passing moment.
This conversation was supposed to go differently. I only wanted to stop these rumors about me.
“I-”
“Get out, Rhea. Before I really lose my patience.” She snaps, her words final.
I take a step back and then turn around to leave the room. As I go, a thread of dread crawls up my spine. It rises higher and higher. Maybe I shouldn’t have asked that. Maybe I could’ve thought of a different approach, a different method that she could accept.
I just should’ve known better than to let my temper get the better of me. Now, I can only imagine what kind of damage it would do to my livelihood and my life here.
Whatever was left of it.
Shit.
When I reach downstairs, I’m in a complete haze. My chest feels cramped, as if there’s a weight pressing upon it, making it difficult to breathe. The same heaviness and pressure in my chest spread to my stomach and my throat, making my neck
ache.
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Chapter 32
It’s happening again.
“Rhea, Ethel takes my name, and I turn. “You’re late.”
I–I came- My voice fails me. “Sorry”
I don’t say anything else.
No more words.
They’ll only get me into more trouble than necessary.
Then, Ethel glances at me and blinks. “Yeah. Well, there’s something I wanted to talk to you about Walk with me
I remain quiet and walk beside her to the house’s west wing. When we’re out of everyone’s ears, the leads me toward a corner and then stops to face me. Her eyes drop over me, head to toe, thoroughly, observantly.
“Someone has mentioned something to me about you”
That phrase in and of itself is heavy with worry and implications. Not good ones. I wish she wouldn’t have told me
But there’s no going back now. “About?”
“Your reputation,” She speaks. “What else.”
I grip my hands and peer at her, dread filling my heart. “It’s just rumors. I don’t know how it got started—”
“I’m not a fool.”
I lower my gaze and nod, “You’re not.”
“Do you know what they are about? Every staff member in this house is talking about it. I’m sure you’re aware, too.”
The rumor is spreading amongst everyone in this house, and I’m certain Catelyn did this.
But why?
“I am.”
She steps closer to me and tilts her head, her eyes giving me a cursory scan. “I don’t give rumors much thought, especially rumors about females in this pack.”
“I didn’t do anything.”
“I know the kind of girl you are. But I once found you alone and in the presence of an Alpha. And I asked you then if something was going on, and you told me there was nothing.” She pauses for a second, and I quickly give her a nod. “I also recall warning you about what happens to someone of your status when an association is made with someone of higher status. Someone like the Alpha of BloodClaws, for example.”
I still remember it. I haven’t forgotten the clear implication or warning Ethel gave me that day. There will be no consequences for him, but only for the she–wolf, especially if she’s merely a runt.
“I had some doubts then, but your reaction reassured me,” Ethel shakes her head, her gaze skimming over me, “But with what is surfacing now, the rumors, I must ask you this—”
“I didn’t do anything.” I repeat again. It’s like I’m stuck in a loop. Those are the only words my tongue knows.
She closes her eyes and breathes through her mouth.
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“I will only ask this once, Rhea, and if you answer truthfully, I will not delve any further into this situation, but if you are lying or refusing to answer, there will be consequences”
I hate myself.
I hate this.
I don’t want her to ask that question that’s definitely about to come next. If she does, I don’t know what I’ll do because ! cannot possibly convince her that nothing happened, that I hadn’t done anything
“Tell me the truth-” She starts,
“There’s nothing to tell,” I breathe out, “Nothing happened. 1 didn’t do anything I didn’t do anything
“-did the Alpha of the BloodClaw pack pursue you because he knew you were his fated mate?
Her question knocks the breath out of me.
What?
