Thalira's POV
Before either of them could answer, Cassia was unceremoniously dragged into the cell and shoved to the ground.
As she hit the concrete, she yelped and held her leg.
"Cassia!" the twins shouted in unison rushing over to her side.
A fire, unlike anything I'd ever known, pierced through my chest. My eye was almost swollen shut, but the concern in their voices grounded what was left of my heart into dust.
I'd screamed.
I'd bled.
But a mere cry from her sent them into a panic.
"Khage, Rydian… it hurts," she sniffled.
"Shh, we've got you," Rydian murmured as he lifted her into his arms, while Khage stood between them and his father.
"Do I need to repeat myself," Alpha Khydan growled.
"Father, you don't understand," Khage began. "It was Lira who-"
Who what? What did I ever do other than put my life on the line for visually impaired Alphas who didn't care or deserved it? What?
Before he could finish, I heard it.
Footsteps.
Soft and determined footfalls echoing down the corridor.
A subtle rhythm I'd long been familiar with.
"Khydan, darling," her voice called softly like a balm to my wounds. "I came as quickly as I could. What's the matter, sweetheart? I can feel your rage through the bond."
Luna Rhagena.
I wanted to call out to her. To reach for her like I'd always done. But I couldn't.
My lips and limbs refused to move.
"Ask your sons," Alpha Khydan growled, though not as loudly as before, the bite in his words already tempered by her mere presence.
"Rydian, Khage what…"
No.
I didn't want her to see me like this; her little flame broken and beaten, and almost extinguished.
I tried to voice the words.
To get them to stop her.
But again my body refused, holding me down just as Khage had.
In the next breath, I heard her cracked gasp.
I was too late. There was no walking this back now.
A rogue tear slid down my cheek.
"Oh, Moon Goddess! What have you boys done?!"
The words were barely past her lips before I was wrapped up in a shawl, jasmine and lavendar bombarding my senses.
Her eyes watered as they held mine, her hands trembling as they reached for my face. "Oh, my little flame…"
I flinched as her soft warmth connected with my cheek, her tenderness welcomed but too raw.
Too sudden.
Sprinkled salt on open wound.
Tears slid down her cheeks as she pulled her arms away, her eyes scanning over me.
The lower her gaze traveled, the more she whimpered.
By the time she reached my toes, her shoulders were full on quaking, her hands covering her face as she wailed.
Watching and hearing her distress, my chest caved in, her anguish far superceding everything that the twins had done to me.
I wanted to take this pain from her.
To make it all mine.
"Are you boys happy now?" Alpha Khydan growled taking a menacing step towards his sons, "Look what you have done!"
"Alpha, please wait," Cassia stammered, wringing her hands as she peered around Khage. "This is all m-my fault."
His eyes flashed, his wolf making his presence known as he glared at her. Luna Rhagena was still sobbing, her sobs quieter now as she shook her head. Alpha Khydan glanced at her, the muscle in his jaw clenching, before he turned his murderous stare back on Cassia and the twins.
"Please," Cassia attempted to wiggle out of Rydian's arms and he let her go. "Please don't blame Rydian and Khage."
Throwing herself at his feet, she pressed her forehead to the tip of his boots. "I implore you Alpha, please. Please have mercy."
"Cassia! You are the victim here! You don't have to-" Khage reached for her, but she only shook him off, trembling as she gripped the Alpha's shoe and continued her pitiful sobbing.
"They were only seeking justice for me. Beta Thalira, she… she... I was at fault. I'm just a lowly omega. Alpha, punish me. Not them."
Justice for her?
If I still had the use of my jaw, I would have snorted, though nothing was funny.
It was so evident.
How could they not see it?
Even now, she implied I was at fault for what they'd done to me but she was willing to let bygones be bygones.
Cassia Avalon. Ever fragile and faint.
Playing the role of the wounded and wronged weak shewolf all too well.
And here I was, the big bad beta, always trying to huff and puff and blow her down.
Without missing a beat, Cassia sat back on her hindlegs, head still bowed, tears running down her cheek.
To say none of us expected what happened next was an understatement.
The self inflicted slap against her cheek sent my ears ringing.
"It's all my fault. If I hadn't tattled to the twins..."
The next slap was louder, accompanied by the scent of fresh blood, and I knew the impact had split her lip in two.
"If I had just let those hired rogues ha- have their way and kept quiet… I'm a nobody after all."
The hitch in her voice was brilliant. The quiver of her lips, flawless.
Truly a pitiful masterpiece of Oscar worthy perfection.
If my body wasn't riddled with the evidence of her schemes, even I would have been moved.
But Alpha Khydan didn't even blink.
She rose her hand again, but this time, Khage caught it, using his grip to yank her to his chest.
"Enough." He growled.
"No! Let go! I have to do this!" She wiggled against him, and his jaw ticked. "I have to atone for my sins! For Thalira! She's above me! No matter what she does, it's her right for me to take it!"
Funny how she dropped the honorific off my name so effortlessly.
Covertly assassinating my character while all I could do was lie here beaten and broken, with no other choice but to take it.
"Beta wolves are equally as possessive as Alphas when it comes to what they deem as theirs! I shouldn't even be here."
Her shoulders rounded, making her look even smaller than she was. Lesser.
"I'm the outsider no one wants. It's no wonder Thalira did what she did—"
Slap!