Chapter 125: Another bloody lie.
Caelum.
Mad and jealous.
Those were the only words capable of explaining just how I felt at the moment.
I hated that Leilani was flaunting her relationship with Frostclaw in our faces like it was suddenly something to be so proud of. I hated that she wouldn’t even look at me without frowning. I hated her indifference towards me, but what I hated the most was how badly it affected me.
How terrible I felt watching her happy in the arms of another man.
My blood boiled in my veins, sizzling with vengeance when my eyes latched on their clasped hands.
’I hate to say this but they look so good together,’ My wolf, Ashen, said from within me, and that in itself was more than enough reasons to see red.
’Shut up!’ I snarled back at him, and in response, he made a sound akin to a huff before retreating to the farthest corner of my mind.
—And I instinctively knew that he was hurt.
He was just as mad as I was, if not more, with the concept of watching our mate with another man.
Snorting, I turned away from Jarek’s retreating figure, only to bump into a red faced Chalice. I frowned instantly.
"What happened to you?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.
Chalice sniffled softly, her red rimmed eyes pooling with tears as she murmured under her breath; "Leilani and Alpha Frostclaw bumped into me on their way out. I think it was intentional because see..." she cried, holding out her dress for me to see a dark stain; "...she said nasty things to me and ruined my dress... and it’s Chanel!"
That wretch!
As soon as she said that, whatever feeling I’d felt earlier towards Leilani quickly dissipated. It morphed into rage and annoyance. I spat; "What did she say?"
"You don’t have to worry about it!" He said quickly— too quickly. "I don’t want you worrying about something as trivial as that."
While that should’ve sounded placating, it didn’t. If anything, it only strengthened my resolve to fight for her. Only reminded me that Leilani would keep tormenting her if we didn’t curb her nonsensical behavior.
’Chalice can fight for herself, can’t she?’ Ashen drawled in my mind. ’She has a wolf and she is strong; so why’s it that her wolfless sister always manages to bully her with ease?’
I pondered over these words for a minute, but before I could come up with something viable, I felt her hands slowly wrap around my neck, pulling me into a hug.
"You’re not trivial." I gritted out in annoyance. "You’ve never been trivial... and you’ll never be."
"I’m so sorry," she purred, making me cock my eyebrows at her, "...but I don’t want you to be mad at her. Just ignore her."
Chalice looked like she was about to say something else but for some reason today, I didn’t want to hear it. I didn’t even want to talk to her or waste my time consoling her.
I strangely felt uncomfortable. Anxious even. So I did the only thing I knew was capable of shutting her up for good— even if it was only for a while.
I kissed her.
—
Two days later, the first news we got from the hospital was one informing us that Kael was awake. Zevran and I had been having breakfast when we learned of this and quickly, we dropped everything we were doing and rushed out of the house.
By the time we arrived at the hospital, I was shocked to find Kael, who I’d seen only a couple of hours ago, sitting down. He looked perfectly fine, save for his overly pale complexion and the bandages around his legs and head.
My heart raced with excitement upon seeing him, and slowly... very slowly, I made my way towards his bed. "Kael..." I began to say but before I could finish, I felt something strike my nose so hard, I almost blacked out.
Bam!
I staggered back whilst clutching my nose, a mixture of confusion and panic twisting my chest as I glared at my sickly-looking brother.
"Kael?"
"Kael, what the fuck are you doing?" Zevran yelled, rushing over to Kael’s side in panic, but just as he got closer to Kael...
Another Bam!
He was also struck, and he staggered backward, whilst clutching his now bleeding nose in his hands. I gasped.
My mouth hung open in surprise, and I could only stare at the angry looking Kael with shock washing over me. "What was that for?" I snarled, barely hiding my bared teeth. "Have you lost your mind?"
Kael tilted his head to the side as he watched me closely, a small dark smile staining his face as he drawled; "What was what for?" He shot back spitefully, then with a face scrunched up in scorn, he seethed; "Which of you made love to Chalice a couple of days ago?"
I froze. It was me. It was fucking me.
Anger and embarrassment rushed through me as Zevran, along with Kael, turned to look at me just then with piercing eyes. I bit my lips and looked away, frowning as I scoffed; "What’s this about?"
"Did you just ask that?!"
"You’ve been out for a couple of days... four days to be precise, and the first thing you do when you wake up is hit us? Because you think we slept with Chalice?! Are you that jealous?"
"No!" Kael growled, despite the way his face contorted in pain whenever he tried to speak. He seethed; "I’m not mad that you slept with her— whichever of you did it— I am mad because you know what that does to Leilani!"
Oh, yeah right! Leilani!
It always has to be about her!
I fought the urge to roll my eyes as I shrugged dismissively, turning away from my brothers as I spat; "Why does everything have to be circled around her?"
"It doesn’t." Now, it was Zevran who spoke. "This is basic human decency, Caelum. What we ask of you isn’t too much, and has never been. Leilani, stubborn as she may be, has been considerate enough to not bed any man because we’re still bonded. And so, we should do the same!"
Goddess, sometimes I hate Zevran.
He was always so cool but I hated him a lot whenever Leilani was concerned.
I rolled my eyes. "Now, you’re just covering up your feelings by coming up with this nonsense. The reason you’re this bothered about her... both of you, is because you love her, and you cannot even deny it!" I snarled, watching the colors drain from their faces before Zevran walked up to me, grabbed me by my collar, and punched me hard in the face.
"That’s for being so stupid." He snarled, but I could only smile through my bloodied mouth. Smile because obviously, my words had gotten under his skin.
Smile because it was jarring now that I was telling the truth.
Kael was the first to snap out of his daze. He looked at me with an emotion so twisted, if I didn’t know better, I would’ve called it contempt and seethed; "I’m not in love with her. If anything, I hate her... but unlike you, I am considerate and do not like that our actions affect her so much."
Another bloody lie.
"I hate her too, you know!" I spat in annoyance, "...and it is why I do not care about being considerate or not! So you both are either dumb or lying to yourselves!"
The silence that settled between us as soon as I said those words was deafening. It made the air thick with tension and Hades, I could even hear their rapid heartbeats from this far.
My face twisted when Zevran finally stepped forward. His eyes darted between Kael and I knowingly... and then he said the unthinkable. The unimaginable.
He drawled; "Since you both hate her so much, and love Chalice. Why don’t we let her be? Why don’t we just reject her?"
He hadn’t even finished saying the words when I screamed; "No!" And it wasn’t until I had said it that I realized Kael had too.
We’d both echoed our disagreement in unison.
And now, it was clear that we were all bloody liars.