Fated To Three, Betrayed By All… Until She Rose.

Zevran.

"Now, I’ve hit you. Next time, don’t say I did something I didn’t do, because then I’ll really do it." I hate to say this but Leilani’s last words to Chalice at the parking lot still bugged me immensely.

Whenever I closed my eyes, I noticed that she seemed to be the only thing I could think of. She was in my head, in my mind, smiling at me, frowning at me... and to top it off, the image of her blowing at her palm after slapping Chalice’s face seemed to replay itself over and over again in my head.

After she’d left the parking lot, Chalice had turned to me, and for a very split second, her eyes had darkened before she quickly dropped her head, batted her lashes and cried; "She hit me and you let her go?"

My eyes had snagged on her face for a second too long before I quickly shook my head and drawled; "She looked battered too, so obviously, you both hit each other."

Chalice’s face had fallen in surprise when I said that, and I instinctively knew that she’d been expecting me to say something different, like she’d been hoping I would do something else...

—You know, something like punishing Leilani...

And that made me quite flustered. To worsen matters, no matter how many times I tried to dispel these thoughts, it wouldn’t leave my head, so with it nagging at me incessantly, I picked up my phone and called Jim, who was one of our special investigators.

Jim picked up on the first ring, his deep baritone voice drifting through the speaker as he called out; "Ahh Alpha. Good day!"

"Hello Jim,"

"Hello... is there anything you want me to do for you, Alpha?"

I nodded first before realizing that he couldn’t see me so I drawled; "I’ll send you the address of a hospital. Please retrieve the security footage of its parking lot as of yesterday evening/night."

The line went quiet for a moment before he finally asked in a thin voice; "What exactly am I supposed to be looking for? You know, to aid faster progress."

"I don’t know..." I drawled,

"Come on, Alpha. Anything... anything at all. You could describe the person you’re after... the car, since it’s a parking lot... you know, something like that!"

After listening to his words, I sighed, closed my eyes for a moment to think about all the events that surrounded Leilani’s and Chalice’s brawl and then when something worthwhile finally struck me, I almost screamed out in excitement.

"It’s two girls. They got into a fight and I want to... you know, see what happened. One has beautiful silver hair and the other has auburn hair." I rushed out quickly, only stopping moments later to realize the distinctive ways I’d described the two women.

"Okay?"

"The one with silver hair ended up getting into a pink car. And at some point, you’ll see me approach them. Get the footage preferably today and send it to me. Okay?"

"Okay, Alpha!" He answered and with that, I ended the call.

It wasn’t until I had done that and the room had been plunged into silence that I finally managed to calm my raging heart.

And goddess, I knew I should believe Chalice. She was sweet, soft spoken, meek and all, but Leilani... something about Leilani felt more solid. I couldn’t just throw her words into the wind simply because Chalice said so.

Deep in thoughts, I rose to my feet, picked up my car keys and left the house with only one direction in mind: the hospital.

At least there I’d have the opportunity to speak to Kael alone, even if it meant that he couldn’t respond.

—

My chest felt heavy as I looked down at my still unconscious brother who was battling for his life and barely tethering to earth by several wires and ropes. The scene was heartbreaking to watch and I’d spent the past hour talking to him, hoping... and praying that maybe a conversation of any sort would catch his mind.

I’d even forced myself to talk about Chalice countless times, mentioning how she was seemingly worried about him and even lying at some point just to get him to stir...

But nothing happened.

He was as still as a statue, as cold as ice; And to worsen matters, the doctors say that he’s not been responding to stimuli in his legs.

Dejectedly, I sighed and turned away from him. My mind was plagued with a lot of bleak thoughts as I scrolled through my phone absentmindedly.

However, I was soon snapped out of my reverie when a soft knock sounded on the door, and slowly, I looked up half expecting it to be either Chalice or Caelum, but to my surprise, it was...

"Jim?" I asked suspiciously, my eyes narrowing as I watched him slide into the room.

He was dressed in a black leather jacket which he complimented with a pair of black boots and leather pants that had more chains than the chandelier hanging in our living room back at home. I watched him quietly as his eyes darted to Kael’s still form and an emotion akin to sorrow flashed across his face before he turned to me and bowed his head. He greeted; "Alpha,"

My eyes followed his movement and when they landed on Kael one more time; I sighed and said; "I wasn’t expecting you so early. Have you gotten what I asked you for?"

"Yes," he answered, nodding quickly and I could only watch in silence as he then proceeded to fish out his phone from his pocket, whilst tapping on its screen as he drawled; "It wasn’t difficult to get my hands on it at all seeing as the incident happened just yesterday and I have a ’friend’ that works with the security team."

"Oh."

He then handed the phone to me, my heart racing when the scene slowly unfolded before me.

The footage was grainy but I could clearly make out the silhouette of both women in the parking lot. My jaws dropped and I gasped when I saw Leilani walking away from Chalice with her head hung low... and then I couldn’t believe my eyes when I watched the so-called innocent Chalice go after her despite the latter’s attempt at walking away.

To top it all, Chalice had struck her first, not just once but thrice. And Leilani, feeling cornered, had only retaliated before I came into the picture.

My heart literally stopped beating in my chest and I could feel something tight squeezing at my heart as every other event following that unfolded before my very eyes.

And goddess, I felt like a fool.

A complete brainless fool.

I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I couldn’t believe that Chalice could be so mischievous. Fine, I knew that I always had my reservations about her but I never knew she was capable of being this deceitful and cunning.

With great effort, I peeled my eyes away from the phone and shook my head, my voice ice cold as I mused under my breath; "I can’t believe that!"

I ignored the way Jim tilted his head to the side, watching me. Ignored the confusion in his eyes as he glanced between the phone’s screen and my face.

Now, Leilani’s words seemed to make more sense to me, and I could only agree that it had been fully in her rights to slap Chalice.

But she shouldn’t have slapped her once though, five times should’ve been enough! Because she’d been right and I must have been a fool to have not taken her side yesterday!

Turning to Jim, I said to him; "On your way out, you’ll find one of Kael’s bodyguards by the end of the hallway. Ask him to make a call to the house, sending for lady Chalice. Ask him to tell her that I’d like to see her immediately." I barked, feeling nothing when he bowed again and muttered;

"Yes, Alpha."