Chapter 30: Disloyalty.
June 16 2026, 5:10pm.
Nyx’ara lay down on her chest with her eyes closed while Jemima treated her wounds with utmost care. But even with her eyes closed, she could still feel the ever-overwhelming presence of the quad Alphas in the room pressing down on her lungs.
She could still feel the heavy weight of their eyes drilling holes into her back and could hear the rumbling sounds in their chests whenever she winced from the pain.
She did not know how long she lay there being cared for with a gentility that stunned and worried her at the same time, but by the time Doctor Jemima was done, she felt like a whole new person.
Her back no longer throbbed with the dull ache she had borne for three years. Her shoulders no longer felt stiff from being stuck in place because she’d been unable to move freely for so long.
When tears slipped down her face this time, dripping onto the pillow, it was not borne out of pain but relief.
She sighed. "Th-thank you."
For a moment, Jemima did not respond. She did not even move and could only stare down at the battered girl in front of her with pity.
Jemima was 26 but had been a doctor for 4 years, and in those 4 years, she had never seen a case like this. She had never seen anyone so broken... so hurt. She had never witnessed a girl who had been so badly wounded and so tortured that the only way to save her skin could be granted now was a skin graft.
She watched the girl’s face until she was sure she was already fast asleep and then turned to the Alphas.
"How did this happen?" She asked, her voice shaking as she glared up at her cousins. "I thought we had a rule in this pack... and that is girls are not to be beaten? In fact, no civilian is to be hurt, especially not to this extent!"
"That wasn’t done by us!" Azriel shot back, his eyes never leaving the gory sight which was Nyx’ara’s back not even once. "We didn’t even know she had that. We didn’t know she was in pain and when we asked her upon noticing the stench of blood coming from her this morning, she lied she was on her period!"
The way he said the word: ’that’ sounded like he could not bear the sight of seeing Nyx’ara like that and in so much pain. It felt as though it was him who had his entire back covered with layers and layers of whip marks, some looking brand new while the other darker and slightly twisted ones seemed about several years old.
His eyes flickered to the charred skin and he shuddered. "They do not seem recent, at least not all of them."
So what kind of life must she have been living before now?
Who would even hurt someone in this manner?
Pushing that thought away, he thanked Jemima for coming as fast as she could and for treating Nyx’ara. However, the doctor was just about to walk away when she suddenly stopped, turned to the Alphas, and muttered;
"Also... there’s something a little strange I found out about her during her bloodwork. I do not know if I am in the right place to say it to you, but seeing as she is your prisoner and soon-to-be bride, I guess, you need to know anyway."
Kieran gulped and for the umpteenth time that evening, his heart jumped in his chest.
"What is it?"
He turned to Rhys upon the realization that they had spoken at the same time, but quickly discarding that thought process, he turned back to Jemima and cocked his eyebrows.
"Tell us."
"She is being poisoned."
Draven froze. "She was poisoned?"
"No," Jemima hissed, "notice how I didn’t say she was poisoned but ’being poisoned’? It is because she has been consuming the said poison in very small quantities for a while now and it has been eating away at her liver. I thought the moon-draught elixir has been banned from all packs... but I guess whoever has been giving it to her has been slick with it."
The news hit the brothers like a ton of bricks, slamming their breaths right out of their lungs. Azriel took a step back, and for the first time since forever, he couldn’t help but see Nyx’ara as something a little more than just a murderer.
He saw her as a broken girl.
A girl with a broken past just like him and his siblings.
And he hated himself for finding excuses for her.
If he thought that news was terrible, then you can imagine his shock when Jemima continued:
"I also noticed that her vision isn’t the best. She stutters too. I would need to check if she has any auditory problems and do a thorough evaluation of her brain to see if she’s suffering from trauma or just blunt force."
Rhys gasped. "It’s that bad?"
"Yes. It is." Jemima answered coldly, "I also fear that she may have a tumour too. I can smell it but we need a full examination to be sure."
No one spoke after that. Silence stretched between them; and by the time Jemima walked out of the room and clicked the door shut behind her, the Alphas were left with more than enough burden than they would like to admit.
The silence stretched on for what seemed like forever; But after a while, it was suddenly broken when Kieran mumbled;
"Who may have done this to her?"
At that, Draven finally lifted his head from her battered back. He dragged in a lungful of air, hissed through his lips, and shook his head.
"No idea, but we will get to the bottom of this,"
"We will."
"Why should we?" Rhys cut in, his voice sharp, "Why should we bother ourselves with worrying for a girl who killed our sister?!"
"Who said we worry or care?" Azriel cut in angrily, even though deep down, he wasn’t sure that he did not care about her. "We just need to know!"
"Have you forgotten that this is not her first rodeo? That Leilani wasn’t the first person she’s hurt?" Rhys clapped back, his chest tightening with each passing second. "Three years ago, she pushed her sister, Elara, down that same rooftop, and you wonder why she bears marks?!"
"Rhys..."
"Well, I am not surprised she has some scars. If anything, I would have been surprised if she didn’t."
Silence stretched once more between them, and after a while, they all decided to leave.
However, just as they were about to walk out the door, they noticed something they hadn’t noticed since they walked into the room.
Coco.
She was curled up at the foot of the bed with her furry head resting at the top of her paws. Her eyes were fastened on Nyx’ara, never looking away even when she noticed them watching.
If animals could feel emotions then Kieran could swear that it was sadness he saw in those beautiful blue eyes.
He was taken aback.
He snarled; "For an animal who should put loyalty above everything else, you sure love and protect your rightful owner’s murderer a lot."