Leilani.
"Leilani is leaving. I overheard her talking to someone on the phone."
"And do you now eavesdrop on my conversations too, besides making my life miserable?" I snapped, something like anger twisting in my guts.
For years, I hoped that they would talk to me. Many nights, I prayed to the moon goddess that they would one day look at me. But they never did because they were so blinded by their love for Chalice that they lost all sense of reasoning.
And now this?
They were acting like I had betrayed them by wanting something better for myself? For leaving?
I shook my head. "It's none of your business."
I saw Zevran freeze before Kael closed the distance between us, his fingers wrapping around my neck as he glared down at me in irritation. "You won't talk to us like that. Do you understand?"
My eyes instantly watered and my throat clamped shut as his hand closed around my windpipe, cutting the flow of air down to my lungs.
And from his vantage, I saw nothing but hatred in his eyes.
A deep rooted hatred that chilled my bones.
"You hate me." I simply rasped out, but he didn't respond, as if to confirm my words. "But I never did anything to you."
"You don't have to do anything to us for us to hate you," now, it was Caelum who snapped from behind Kael, "…we see how hateful you are toward your twin sister, and we'd rather die than mate with a wolfless hateful bitch such as you."
That stung.
It stung so hard.
"You think I'm the hateful one?" I laughed incredulously, "then wait until you see how bitchy your Chalice can be when no one's watching!"
Zevran scoffed. "Says the wench who tried to kill her twin sister twice, and then successfully murdered her grandmother!"
Oh, that was the height of it!
I blinked back my tears and bit down on Kael's hand, causing him to let out a choked gasp before letting go of me so fast that I stumbled and hit my head against the cupboard behind me.
The pain shot through my skull like a million needles and I cried out, holding the back of my head as tears blurred my vision.
"She's not going anywhere." Caelum finally said so surely, one would think he was telling something as certain as the weather. "She only said that to get your attention, and she did."
Oh, you stupid idiots!
"Get out." I groaned, feeling the warm liquid begin to trickle down my skull and my vision go blurry. "Get out of my room now!"
Someone else rushed into my room at the sound of my screaming and I didn't need to look up to know that it was Chalice. She cast me a dark look once before looking up at the triplets, and with the sweetest most annoying voice I've ever heard on her, she drawled;
"Y'all, let Leilani be. She's still feeling so bad about grandma's death. Don't disturb her!"
Her feigned care, the way their expressions shifted at once as soon as she entered… and the way my heart squeezed in pain when Kael brought her hand to his lips with the same hand he'd used to choke me moments ago brought fresh tears to my eyes.
I growled; "GET OUT!"
But my voice was droned out by the chaos happening outside. Screams and cries flitted into the room as people rushed about in panic.
"Rogues!" Someone screamed from outside, "the pack's under attack! There are rogues everywhere!
Everywhere descended into chaos within a second, and one minute, the triplets were sneering down at me, and the next, they were shifting into their large wolves, protecting Chalice like she was the moon goddess herself.
Fighting ensued here and there, and while the triplets were actively engaged in it, some warriors came over to escort Chalice and I to safety— especially Chalice.
They pulled us into a fortified chamber where other young children and women were wrapped around each other but just as the doors were about to roll shut, four giant wolves leapt into the room, baring their disgusting teeth as their eyes latched on Chalice and I.
"Those are the Beta's daughters!" One of them growled, and in fright, I tried to run away, only to let out an agonized scream when a large wolf jammed its teeth into my shoulder blade.
My blood spurted out of the open cut, tricking down my arm but before I could respond, I was aggressively thrown to the floor and a silver blade shoved onto my neck.
I noticed from my peripheral that Chalice was in as much predicament as I was, and for some reason, that gave me a little bit of satisfaction.
"They both mean a lot to the Alpha triplets, we should kill them both!" Someone suddenly said, snapping me out of my thoughts and I looked up to meet one of the most ugly males I've ever seen in my life.
His lips curled into a snarl when he saw me watching and I shuddered. "I don't mean anything to the triplets. They love my sister."
"We love Leilani!" A voice suddenly said from the doorway and I stiffened when Kael came into view.
For a moment, my heart leapt in my chest. A blush crept up my cheek. Oh goddess, I even felt a kind of giddiness in my stomach until I realized what this was.
They were putting me in harm's way just to protect Chalice.
My smile froze. I screeched; "LIAR!"
"Leilani is our mate." Caelum drawled, standing all in his naked glory. "She's the one who means the world to us."
My head was spinning, my body was trembling. No they cannot do this to me. They should not do this to me.
The filthy man holding me hostage pressed the knife deeper into my neck and I winced when it bit into my flesh, drawing blood. "Please."
But no one moved. Not even my family standing to the side, their worried gazes all on Chalice.
They looked too scared to move, afraid that even the slightest movement would mean the blade pressing into Chalice's neck. I stiffened, my heart racing in my chest.
"Leilani is already a murderer. If she's killed, it'll be justice." My mom snickered, and every eye turned to her, most nodding in agreement while a few were just as stunned as I was. "Kill her. Let Chalice go!"
As if to buttress her point, the man pressed the knife even deeper into my neck until I cried out in anguish. But just as the blade was about to sink in, a loud bone chilling howl from the door had everyone's eyes locking towards the sound.
And then came chaos.
I vaguely noticed when a large black wolf leapt into the room, not missing a beat as it sunk it fangs into the man holding me. Several other wolves joined in too and by the end of ten minutes, the floor was littered with blood and charred meat.
Chalice was safe.
My family and mates were safe.
The wolf which saved me was safe.
But I wasn't.
I was bloody, beaten up. With dried blood behind my head from where Kael, Caelum and Zevran had injured me earlier. Blood on my shoulders from the rogues and a semi deep slit on my neck.
"Leilani!" A worried voice called out, sounding almost scared, sounding too familiar. But I knew it didn't belong to my family nor my mates; so who was it?
I blinked up in an attempt to clear my fuzzy vision, but I couldn't see anything. I was too weak. I'd lost too much blood, and my heart was aching… aching from the betrayal. From the hurt.
From the pain.