The Luna You Betrayed Is No Longer Yours

_Rowena’s POV_

The place where they were holding Virella was on the quieter side of the city, Ezekiel stayed in the car instead of coming with me, he said he would just stay back which I appreciated.

They took me through two sets of doors and down a corridor that was lit too brightly and then a guard stopped outside a door. He unlocked it and I walked in.

Virella was sitting at the table in the middle of the room, she looked different from the bedroom floor of that house. She had looked defeated there but still contained.

Now she looked like someone who had been alone with her thoughts for several days and had not enjoyed the company.

She looked up when I came in, I sat down across from her and said nothing. Since she asked for the meeting, she would do all the talking and I’d just listen.

She opened her mouth, closed it and looked at the table before her. She contemplated and then she said, “I’m sorry.”

I looked at her in shock, my eyes wide slightly.

“For what I did,” she said. “The whole thing. The gym beating, the injections, everything.” She stopped talking, her voice had changed from everything I had heard from it before, all the harsh tone and the performance, everything was stripped off her. “I’m sorry for all of it.”

I sat with that for a moment before asking, “Why?”

She looked up at me. “Because it was wrong,” she said. “I knew it was wrong when I was doing it and I did it anyway and I—” She stopped again, her eyes were wet now, I watched her try to hold it and fail, the tears coming in quietly. “I’m really sorry,” she said again.

There were things I could have said, I had thought about this conversation in various forms during the weeks since everything happened, I had imagined different versions of it, different things I might feel or want or need when I finally sat across from her. But there was nothing anymore.

“You were so certain,” I sighed. “Each time you came to see me, you were this confidence. What happened?”

She looked at me and smiled bitterly. “It didn’t get me anything,” she said. “Any of it. Theodore is facing charges, Reid is in holding and I’m here.” She pressed the back of her hand against her face briefly. “I lost everything I was trying to protect and I hurt people who didn’t deserve it and I’m—” She stopped talking again, refusing to finish the sentence.

“Is this why you asked for me?” I asked. “To apologize?”

She nodded. Without another word, I stood up.

“Virella,” I called out and she looked up with her wet eyes hoping for something she’d never get from me. “I hear you.” I picked up my bag from the back of the chair. “But an apology to me is the least of what you owe. There’s Kaelen, there’s Theodore, who you pulled into something he’s going to spend years paying for.” I looked at her evenly. “Start there.”

She said nothing when I finished and I walked to the door, I didn’t look back when I left.

Ezekiel had the car running when I came out. He looked at my face when I got in and didn’t ask anything, just pulled out of the car park and drove back to the hospital.

We were two streets away before he spoke up, “How was it?” he asked.

“She apologized,” I said.

He was quiet for a moment, his brow creased. “Apologize? To change what? Did it help?”

I thought about it honestly. “I don’t know yet,” I said.

He nodded like that was a reasonable answer and didn’t push it further. We both knew her apology was nothing compared to the damages she made.

My wolf was gone cause of her. An apology couldn’t bring Kyra back.

We drove the rest of the way to the hospital without talking much until we arrived.

I got into the elevator and straight to Alaric’s room. It was dim when I pushed the door open, the lamp on the side table was on low and the rest of the room was so calm and warm.

I stood in the doorway for a moment and looked at him because it wasn’t that dark. I could tell he was asleep.

I walked in slowly, letting the door close behind me without any noise, and stood near the bed to just look at him for a while.

He looked younger while asleep, like Nana had said I looked younger asleep. The tough looking Alapha King was no where to be found. Although the guards were still outside, I felt he let his guard down.

But I was wrong because it seemed to be Phillip told him something, his eyes opened.

He wasn’t startled, he just looked at me and the first thing he did was smile, slow and unhurried, but still half in sleep.

“You came back,” he said.

“I said I would,” I replied and pulled the chair close to sit down.

We talked quietly for a moment, we talked about Virella and how the visit had gone. His voice was slower than usual and his eyes were unsteady.

After a while he said, “There’s something I need to tell you.”

I looked at him expectantly. He told me about Brielle’s mother’s visit. About the welcome party, the family, his respect for Brielle’s father and the next week Friday evening gathering at their house.

He said it all plainly and without gaps, not wanting to miss anything and put me on edge. He was so considerate of my feelings, it warmed my heart in ways I hated to admit.

But something in me said decline.

I didn’t want to have anything to do with Brielle and I needed not attend her welcome party.

But after thinking everything through and giving myself millions of reasons not to, I pushed the thought aside.

“Alright,” I agreed.

He looked at me with a smile. “Yes?”

“Yes,” I nodded. “I’ll go with you.”

He reached across with his good hand and covered mine where it rested on the edge of the bed, I turned my hand over under his and let him hold it.

“Thank you,” he replied warmly.