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

Chalice.

I was still lost in thoughts, thinking about what he’d just said to me when he walked away to go sit on a chair, leaving me where I was still kneeling with tears streaming down my face.

And that hurt.

That hurt because it felt as though he didn’t care one bit about me anymore. Because it felt like he wasn’t bothered if I was kneeling or not.

His eyes roved my face slowly, carefully, as if looking for a reaction or something; And after a moment of tense silence, he finally said; "I want to believe you, Chalice. I want to believe that you had acted out in self defense, but from the footage, it shows that she was trying to walk away from you and you kept following her. You even put your hands on her first—"

Oh, right!

I fought the urge to roll my eyes at him as something akin to contempt began to simmer at the base of my stomach; But pushing it down, I lowered my head in feigned hurt and cried out exasperatedly;

"Yes, I did!" And then lifting my head, I continued, "...but that’s because she was insulting me as she walked away. She even said I had a low IQ and that it was the only thing that made us compatible... our lack of functioning brain cells. And if you think I’m still lying then you should listen to the words she said while walking away! Don’t just look at our actions! So please, for the love of God, turn up the volume!"

I knew that the footage had no sound. In fact, I knew that most footage does not have sounds; But right now, I didn’t care. I just wanted to sound more pitiful. More believable, even though I sounded stupid at the same time. And that worked because his eyes instantly looked troubled. He glanced away quickly.

I could see the confusion etched into his face, and could feel the turmoil going on inside his head. He opened his mouth as if to ask me more questions but before he could utter the words, Kael’s monitor suddenly began to beep loudly, snapping us out of our conversation.

My head shot in his direction quickly, my vision spinning when Zevran suddenly breezed past me to go stand beside the bed, his worried desperate eyes snagging on everything— Kael’s face, the monitors, the wires connecting to his body— before he turned to me with a stormy expression and yelled;

"Fetch the doctor, Chalice!"

For a moment, I was momentarily stunned. It felt like I was glued into place by an invisible force.

It took me a second to snap out of my momentary daze before panic soon set in. Quickly, I rushed to my feet and ran out of the room, running unceremoniously in the direction of the reception as I screamed for a doctor.

A few minutes later, I was running back to Kael’s room with a doctor and two nurses following closely behind us, and upon arrival, they gently shoved Zevran and I aside and dutifully began to check Kael’s vitals.

—And so help me goddess, those ten minutes of heavy silence that descended upon us while they attended to Kael was the most agonizing I’ve felt in a very long time!

Finally, after they were done, they turned to us and the doctor sighed. She said; "He’s fine. His blood pressure just had a momentary drop... but it’s nothing severe and it has been stabilized."

But while she talked, I didn’t miss the way her eyes lingered on Zevran’s body for a moment too long and too intensely. She bit her lips when her eyes met his lips. I frowned.

Desperate to get her to look away from a man that was meant to be mine, I asked; "What does that mean? Does it mean that he will be fine?"

Dr Ava turned to me then with a small smile. She drawled; "He’s been showing great improvements lately. However, I don’t know if he’ll be waking up soon. But right now, he’s fine. You don’t have to worry."

A breath of relief rushed out of my lungs when I heard her say that and without a thought, I smiled brightly, my smile almost falling when I turned to see the slight frown on Zevran’s face.

Oh, what now?

I watched him engage in a conversation with the doctor feeling both bothered and jealous at the same time; But a moment later, Dr Ava finally left.

Surprisingly, as soon as she did, Kael suddenly began to toss gently on the bed.

My widened eyes met Zevran’s for a brief moment before we both rushed to either side of him. I clutched his face while Zevran clutched his hand, and I couldn’t help but feel my heart race at the thought of him finally slipping out of this goddamn coma.

—Because Kael waking up equaled a closer wedding date.

I asked quietly; "Kael? Baby... can you hear me?"

But he didn’t respond. He didn’t even open his eyes as his body thrashed wildly and his face contorted like he was in a lot of pain.

I raised my eyes to meet Zevran’s, who in turn looked like he was in physical pain himself. I asked; "Do you have any idea what’s happening?"

But I was met with silence.

"Zevran!" I yelled, causing him to pin me with a deadly glare.

His cold eyes sent chills running down my spine; But right now, I didn’t care about his moods. I didn’t even care that he may hate me because I was indeed very worried about Kael, knowing fully well that if anything happened to him then my wedding with the Alphas would be affected.

Badly.

And I didn’t want that. So I asked again; "Do you have any idea what’s happening to him?"

Zevran seemed lost in his thoughts for a moment before he finally lifted his eyes to meet mine. Then he sighed; "I think he’s trying to wake up, but he’s in a lot of pain and his wolf is very weak. It’s trying to connect with mine but I can hardly feel him." He said, and at that, a small smile touched my face.

Finally...

However, my smile soon faded when I carefully trailed my finger over Kael’s feverishly hot face. He leaned into me as if drawn to me like a moth to a flame...

...And while that should have been a good thing, it wasn’t.

Because then he moaned lowly, his hoarse voice called out;

"Leilani?"

My face fell and goddess, a cold-like sensation squeezed tightly at my chest. Hate and malice bloomed in my heart and I frowned.

Oh God, he too?