Why is he hugging me? I thought he hated me. I thought he wanted nothing to do with me. He avoided me like a plague. Why…why is he doing this?
“I’m not fine.”
My flashback of how my life turned worse when I met my mates. The abuse and torture they inflicted on me still traumatizes me to this day and thought of me being all alone in this world terrified the hell out of me.
“My grandfather is dead because of you.” I broke into tears and hugged him back. “I’m lost, Kellan. Don’t know what to do anymore. Feel like I have failed my grandfather. I shouldn’t have come back. I should have stayed where my grandfather left me. Now, it feels like I’ve failed him. My best friends are in danger because of me.”
I couldn’t stand anymore and fell on my knees. “I don’t want this type of life. Don’t want multiple mates. Don’t want any of you. I just want all of you to leave me the hell alone. Aiden is gone.” I kept sobbing. “My parents and my grandfather are also gone. What do you expect me to do? Aiden is the only one I have. I don’t know what my life would have been like if it weren’t for Aiden. He left me because of that bastard.” I yelled. “I couldn’t see Aiden for the last time. Sihwa took all that for me.”
Kellan, who kept standing in front of me, didn’t say a word.
“He killed the people I cherished the most.” I slammed my fist on the ground.
“Wendy, get up.”
“He wiped them out.” I went on.
“Wendy, I said get up. I’m serious. Right now.” His voice seemed composed and dangerously deep. I stopped crying and sniffed Sihwa’s scent behind me. I got up and faced him. His black robe was a little loose on his chest.
His purple eye glimmered for a second.
The strands of his black hair scattered on his face. He seemed a little pale to the bone. He stood face to face with me, barefooted.
“You said I took everything away from you.” His eyes fixed on me without blinking.
“Sihwa.” Kellan uttered. “She doesn’t know what she’s saying. Please, let her go-”
“Are you telling me what to do?” His purple eyes widened. I felt a tug at my heart. I have never seen Sihwa like this before.
“No, alpha.” Kellan stepped forward and bowed before him. “I have so much respect for you to dishonour your command. What I’m trying to say is, Wendy knows nothing of what she’s saying. Please forgive her.”
“Kellan, do you need some belt on your bare back on this scorching afternoon?” He took a step.
“Forgive me, alpha.”
Sihwa’s eyes landed on me again. He walked past me majestically without a word and stopped to look in my direction with his eyes wide open.
I flinched when his gaze fell on me. Why was he looking at me? What did he see in my face? Why was he staring at me like that?
He leaned closer to me and cupped my face in his hands with his eyes still wide open. What happened to his eyes? Why was the vein of red around his eyes?
“Sihwa.” Kellan called out to him and held him when Sihwa nearly collapsed from behind.
“What happened to him?” I asked, seeing Sihwa, unconscious in Kellan’s arms.
“He is not well. He behaves like this when he is mentally unstable.” Kellan answered and carried him in his arms.
Mentally unstable.
Chris said something similar to me? But why should Sihwa get mentally unstable?
A maid came up to me and directed me to the dining table to have my breakfast. I hesitated a little before going ahead.
I sat down alone on the chair and ate the food on the table, but the scene of Sihwa, in a distressed state, disturbed me.
And Kellan bowed before him, too. I understand he is the alpha of the clan. However, there is this extreme fear they feel for him more than what subjects of the clan should feel for their leader.
What does it mean? Why did he say those words to Kellan if he wants a belt on his back? I don’t get it. Why is everyone terrified of Sihwa?
Don’t the alphas have their own decision?
“Please Alpha.” I heard a woman’s loud cry at the estate. I was about to finish my meal when I stood up.
“Don’t do this, Alpha Sihwa.” She cried out with the other maids outside, I think. “Please, Alpha.”
I rushed out of the dining table and saw Sihwa lashing a long stick on someone’s back. The skin on his back was almost off his shoulders and blood splatters at each stroke.
He kept flogging him without hesitation. Hard and fast with a bang, I felt a crawl on my skin.
Sihwa sweated profusely and flogged this alpha continuously until he screamed out and jerked out of its position.
Sihwa held the cane in the air with his hair on his face, waiting for this alpha to stay in its place again.
“Please Alpha.” The alpha begged continuously, and when he lifted his head, his expression confirmed who I thought he was. “Please…father.”
I don’t know how it happened. I don’t know how I did it. Without thinking, I ran over to him and hugged him. I gasped when I touched how his body was burning up. The scars on his back, torn apart. His face panted heavily on my left shoulder, with tears dripping from his eyes.
His body got swollen and burnt my body. I didn’t want to move an inch. I didn’t know how I started crying on this poor boy’s shoulder.
“Hey!” I whispered. “Are you okay?” I asked.
No response.
“Hey! Shiva, answer me.” I lightly tapped his head, but he wasn’t responding. I pushed him a little and gently laid his head on the ground to lay on his side and not his back.
I turned to Sihwa, who stood in front of me with the stick still in his hand. His looks seemed robotic.
“Isn’t he your son?” I mumbled with a tremble on my lips. “I don’t get you. Why are you hurting him?”
Sihwa took a step closer to me with his hand down as he stared down at me. Why was he sweating profusely when the weather was still warm?
“Why are you flogging him to his death? What the hell is wrong with you? What do you think you are doing?”
I don’t care what he does to me. Whatever happens today, I’m taking it as my fate to die.
Sihwa dropped the stick on the ground and came closer to me and cupped my face. His stare gave me the creeps and warmth at the same time.
“Stay out of my business. If you don’t want me to send you to where your Aiden is and rip apart your organs in shades.” His deep breath and smooth voice overwhelmed me. “He is my son. Not your son, Wendy. So, stay out of this and stop interfering in my matters. Unless you want to end up like him.” He pointed at him.