Chapter 35
Chapter 35
Rhea
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I run out of the room, my chest heaving at what I’ve discovered. Right when I do so, I hear the shower going off inside the room and voices as they shuffle outside.
Shit. Did they hear me?
I rush down the stairs, holding a hand over my heart. What the hell was that all about? I keep wondering, even as I let out a shaken breath. It’s difficult to come down from the edge I’m on.
Catelyn’s having an affair.
With Ezra.
But why?
It makes no sense.
I go back to the kitchen, where all the servers are. As Nyla comes near me, her concerned gaze looks down at me.
“That was fast,” She says, “How did it go? Did she ask why it took so long?”
“I” I stare at her. “No. She wasn’t there.”
“She wasn’t?”
I try to find my words, “She was in the shower.”
“Ah, that’s better. Well, thanks a lot. I owe you one.” Nyla gives a pat on my back and walks away.
What am I supposed to do now? Am I supposed to tell anyone? What about Ethel? No, I can’t. I don’t want more trouble.
Catelyn will kill me.
Literally.
The best thing I can do now is leave from here. My shift’s over. I can go home and forget everything I’ve seen. Nobody needs to know. Not the Alpha and not the pack.
Catelyn and Ezra, huh?
It took me a while to grasp that and even more time to accept the truth that might seem unbelievable but is, very well, the truth. I didn’t see them, but I did hear them, and it did sound like they had consummated something.
An affair, rather.
“Rhea!” Ethel calls out my name as she sees me reaching the door at the back of the house. “Here. Take this. It’s your next week’s schedule. I had to cut some more days because of the Alpha’s request.”
Oh no.
My throat constricts. “Alright.”
She smiles. “I promise I will do a favor and ask the Alpha to overlook your transgression against Catelyn soon. Maybe he’ll
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Chapter 35
listen to me.”
“Thank you.”
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She leaves from the hallway, and I glance at the schedule in my hand when she’s gone. I’m only working three times next week, and that is in the evening. None of them are in the morning. I try not to be as disappointed as I am and place the schedule into my coat.
It’s fine. I’ll get used to it. And I always have Gia’s company.
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Just as I’m about to leave, I’m stopped again. This time, it’s not Ethel. I try to contain myself as I see Catelyn coming down the stairs wearing a robe. Her face isn’t the same. She doesn’t have her usual smug expression but seems nervous.
She glances at me briefly before reaching down.
“Where are you going?” she asks, approaching me.
“I’m going home.”
She gazes down at me and glances back toward the stairs as if she’s keeping a lookout for anyone walking down. “Well, there’s something I need from you, so why don’t you come along with me? It won’t take long.”
I hesitate, chewing my lower lip. By now, I should know better than to indulge her demands, but I really don’t want her on my neck again, and she does seem highly eager to want something. So, I shut my mouth and follow her up the stairs.
We reach outside of a door. It isn’t her room or the Alpha’s office. It has to be the living room. She reaches for the door and
inside. opens it. Briefly, she looks at me again and directs me to go
I go into the room, and she follows me in before closing the door.
It takes me a moment to notice the other presence in the room.
Ezra.
He stands by the window, arms crossed over his chest. When we lock eyes, I can tell something’s gotten to him, something that bothers him deeply.
“I thought I smelled a runt.”
My heart thumps. Did they know?
“Rhea,” I snap my head at Catelyn, who takes my name. She walks toward the fireplace that is near the couches. “Did you come to my room?”
I watch her as she picks up a poker and stokes the firewood. The flames jump and crackle, rising higher. She pushes them together and waits for my response.
My pulse races, and I shake my head. “No. I didn’t.”
“Don’t lie to me.”
“I–I was just dropping the drink you requested.”
She faces me slowly. “You were in my room?”
“Yes,” My voice trembles, and I stop, licking my lips. “Only for a couple of seconds. And I left as soon as I was done. I didn’t see anything.”
Her eyes lower to the ground before looking up at me again. Then, she closes her eyes as her lips curl up. “What have you
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Chapter 35
heard?”
“Nothing. I didn’t hear anything.”
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Catelyn holds up the poker and rolls it around with her fingers. She suddenly looks at me, and her expression lacks emotion. Nothing is there to confirm if she’s suspicious or not. All she does is she watches me. I hold up my eyes as the seconds drag. My heart races with fear of the unknown.
“Don’t lie to me, Rhea.” That’s all she says.
Ezra moves from the window side. He goes behind the leather couches and comes towards me. I can see him moving from the corner of my eyes. He stops in front of me, his face remaining neutral, and just like Catelyn’s, I cannot read them. Maybe it’s best if I don’t. I don’t need to. I just want to get out of here before something happens.
“I–I didn’t see anything.”
“But you did hear something, didn’t you?” she steps towards me, the poker still in her hand.
I look at her and Ezra back and forth. She arches a brow.
“I-“I breathe deeply, the blood running cold in my veins. What do I do? Tell the truth or not? Will they hurt me? Probably not, right? But then why are they so insistent about this? Do they think I’m going to tell someone? Which is ridiculous because I literally do not care about this.
I wouldn’t tell anyone.
“Just tell me the truth, Rhea, and we all get over this quickly. But if you keep lying to me, I will take measures to deal with the consequences.”
“I” I swallow hard, refusing to tear my gaze away from her. “-heard voices. From the bathroom,”
Catelyn gives a glance at Ezra, and a moment later, I feel his large, heavy hand grabs my arm and drags me to the nearest couch.
“I won’t tell anyone.” My gaze flitters over him for a mere second. “I really won’t. I won’t tell anyone. I promise.”
They don’t seem to believe me. Ezra’s tight grip on my wrist says more than any words could. He shoves my head into the couch as my knees brush against the rough ground beneath me.
“Alright,” Catelyn repeats herself, “You aren’t going to mention anything to anyone. You aren’t going to speak a single word. Do you understand?”
“I understand.”
“Good,” She steps closer to me. I feel her right behind me. “Because if you do tell someone, I’m going to know it. And I will have to take care of it, of you.”
A sharp pain rises to my shoulder and across my neck. As the seconds drag, it intensifies. It’s agony–unbearable. I scream into the leather, trying to move my body, but Ezra’s grip only tightens. Catelyn drags the hot piece of metal across my flesh, burning, scorching it.
She adds, “Not only that, I will make sure you are banished from the pack, or even worse, I could kill you if even a little word comes out of your mouth about anything in regards to him or me,”
I scream.
The pain is so horrible that I scream and writhe in place, but nothing I do lessens it. I want to escape. I want him to let go. I don’t want to endure this anymore.
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She pulls the poker away, and Ezra releases me from his grip. I quickly try to scamper to the side and away from the couch
Catelyn drops the poker to the ground with a loud clatter as the sound reverberates in the room
My pulse hammers at my eardrums.
‘Get out.”
I hear her words, scramble to my feet, and reach for the doorknob, I clutch onto it tightly as i catch the breaths I’ve lost.
My hands shaking, my skin tingling, my heart drumming in my chest. I gap, panic rising up my body and up my throat as 1 race downstairs.
The back of my neck is burned. It aches.
