Two weeks later…
“Are you sure about this? Don’t you think you should listen to me, Damien?” Kai says to him, as he sighs briefly. They’re both in the garden. For the past two weeks, he has tried to get Cassie to confess and give out the antidote, but she kept saying that she was innocent. As much as he wants to believe her, he has been finding it difficult to do. He keeps seeing reasons why she would be guilty of what she was accused of.
“Yes, I’m sure of it,” He replies to Kai dismissively, crossing his arms on his chest, and sighing briefly.
“What if you end up regretting this? What if she’s really innocent of this whole shit? What if she…”
“And what if she’s guilty? She was the only one that does serve me, and I never bothered to ask her to taste the food. And when I changed maids for a while, I made sure that the maid tastes the food right in my presence before letting her off. What would you think if you were in my shoes, Kai? I don’t want to do this, but I’m dying inside,” He says frustratingly, running his fingers through his hair for some time.
“I understand, but I just hope you won’t end up hurting yourself. I’ll be on my way now,” And with that, Kai turns around and walks away from the garden, leaving him there alone.
He sighs for the umpteenth time, as he shuts his eyes for a few seconds. Is he really sure he wants to do this? Will he not regret it later?
“Are you OK?” Hearing Dean’s voice, he slowly opens his eyes to see him standing beside him.
“Dean… When did you get here?” He asks.
“Just now. You don’t look happy, is everything alright?” Dean asks curiously and worriedly. He has never seen his brother like this, so it’s ok to be worried about him, right?
“I’m fine. Just trying to figure out something,” He lies to Dean. He couldn’t have told him the truth, right? How will he feel when he finds out that the daughter of the traitor that killed their father years ago has been in his custody, and he didn’t tell him? How will he react when he finds out that he’s in love with the same daughter of the traitor? That’s going to be complicated.
“Alright. If you need anyone to talk to, I’m here for you, OK?” Dean assures him, patting his shoulder, and he nods his head.
Dean walks away afterward…
A few hours later…
Seeing her get whipped, his heart hurts badly. It hurts to see the woman he claimed to love with everything in him get punished in this manner.
Slowly, she raises her gaze to look at Damien who’s sitting on the throne and staring at her. Immediately their eyes meet, his face turns ice and scary, with no emotions on it. The look on his face shows how much he’s enjoying this, but deep inside him, he feels a part of him broken each time a whip lands on her back.
Seeing the man she ever loved with everything in her, watches her get beaten, her heart rips into pieces as tears stream down her cheeks.
‘What did I tell you, Cassie? If you had listened to me, maybe this wouldn’t have happened. I told you alpha Damien would never have anything to do with the seed of a traitor. Too bad that you forgot who you are. You are going to die by his hands, I promise you that’ as if she’s just saying those words to her now, Astrid’s words echo in her head again, and she clenches her fists. Her two hands are tied to the two pillars standing in the large throne room. Almost all the werewolves of the Blue Moon pack are present to see the traitor that hurt the alpha, get punished.
Seeing that his sadness will soon show on his face, Damien turns his face away, trying so hard to not let his emotions take the best of him.
“Go ahead and kill me if that’s what you want! I didn’t do it!” She cries out in pain when the thirtieth whip lands on her back, slicing through her skin. Her cloth is now stained with blood, her hair is messy. Her leg wobbles on the floor, and they almost cannot carry her up again.
“You still dare to lie even after proven that you’re guilty?”
“You must pay for this!”
“Traitor! You deserve to die!” She keeps hearing voices in her head, and she scoffs painfully. Maybe this is her fate, maybe this is how she’s destined to die. It was all her fault that she let her vulnerable heart fall in love with this man. Maybe it wouldn’t have hurt this badly if she was not in love with him, maybe she would’ve seen this as her father punishing her if she didn’t let her emotions get the best of her. What’s the point of holding on? What’s the point of not giving up now?
“Hang in there, Cassie. You have to pull through this, no matter what happens. You can’t give up, we need you… I need you with us, Milo needs you,” Hearing Zoey’s voice in her head, she slowly raises her gaze and looks around the place with her half-closed eyes, until she spots her in the crowd. She has tears in her eyes, she looks pained.
“Can I hold on? Can I stay alive with this punishment?” She asks herself as a drop of tears slid down her cheeks.
‘I promise to wait for you. I’ll wait for you, no matter how long it takes you to come back’ recalling the promise she had made to the woman (madam Leila) that ever treated her like her own child, her heart shatters into pieces. It seems like she’s going to have to disappoint her, she can’t hold this anymore. She has to give up, even if she doesn’t want to.
“Ah!” She screams at the top of her voice and collapses on her knees while having her hands still hanging on the chain used to tie her.
“Mate!” Dean who has been watching the whole drama unmoved suddenly feels a sharp pain in his heart as his wolf growls inside him in anger. What the heck just happened?