Chapter 64: Barely…
July 2 2026, 4:32pm.
For a couple of minutes, only silence reigned in the room. It was so thick and so dense, it could be cut through with a knife.
From the moment Elara heard the sound of Flynn’s approaching footsteps, she already knew that she was done for.
She knew that her cover was about to be ripped off and that her illicit affair with her stepbrother would be exposed.
But there was no way in hell that she would let that happen.
In one final desperate attempt to conceal herself, she picked up a bottle of red dye from the corner of Tristan’s closet. She didn’t care to know what he was using it for or that it had a distinct strange smell. All she cared about at the time was making sure he didn’t find her there, and with that thought in mind, she poured the entire liquid down her body from the top of her head down.
The liquid sizzled against her skin with a nauseating rippling sound, filling the tiny space with the stench of burning flesh.
A loud scream almost tore out from the back of her throat due to the agonizing pain searing through her body, but she clamped her lips down and held it in. She fell to the floor with a thud just as the door sprang open and Flynn peeked in.
He froze.
Flynn, who had been expecting to see some bimbo or perhaps exotic drugs and sex toys, was stunned out of his mind when he saw the form of a girl sprawled on the floor with heaps of clothes fallen over her head and body.
The small closet reeked of sex, bodily fluids, heavy perfumes, washed clothes... and chemicals—a lot of them. But there was something else. Something oddly familiar yet nauseating.
Blood.
He spun around to steal a glance at Tristan who at the moment had turned chalk white. His fingers gripped the top of his unzipped jeans, and his eyes stared emptily at Flynn and the open closet door in stunned disbelief.
When he spoke up, his voice didn’t sound like his. It sounded strained. Forced. Like some strange entity had possessed him and was now talking through him. He whispered;
"Flynn... Alpha Flynn?"
"What do you have here?" Flynn chirped back, his tone laced with disgust and frustration and his eyes thinned with suspicion. "A girl? Your plaything?"
Tristan did not immediately respond. Hell, he was still so stunned that his hands shook slightly. His eyes travelled from Flynn’s face to the floor and when he saw how ’concealed’ Elara was, he smiled briskly;
"Something like that. It’s none of your business."
Elara stilled.
Once again, Flynn couldn’t help stealing another glance at the closet and the girl. He was sure that the red liquid over her head was blood and he could even see some glistening between her thighs. The scene inside the closet looked like something straight out of a gory R-rated movie.
It was galling. Disgusting.
He scrunched up his nose when his eyes darted one more time into the space and just as he did, the girl farted, contaminating the air even more. He frowned, noting that she was familiar. However, before he could think about it, Tristan stepped closer, pried his fingers off the door, and hissed;
"Why are you here, Alpha Flynn?"
Now, Tristan sounded somewhat bolder. His fingers had stopped shaking too. He stood in front of the closet like a mother-hen protecting her chicks and crossed his bulky arms over his chest as he stared Flynn down.
Flynn swallowed thickly, momentarily willing his mind to forget about the disgusting image inside of Tristan’s closet. He crossed the room to return to his initial spot at the door, leaned against it, and said softly;
"I need your help."
At the sound, Tristan’s head whipped up quickly. He regarded Flynn with the iciness of a stranger, like he couldn’t immediately ascertain if he was a friend or a foe.
His mind was still zeroed in on Elara. On her uncomfortable state and the blood he’d smelled briefly emanating from the closet.
Before he would respond, Flynn beat him to it and continued. His lips were pressed into a thin line as he hissed; "I want to marry your sister."
At the sound of ’Flynn’s outburst’, Tristan’s body totally went rigid. A loud bang sound echoed somewhere from the closet. Flynn and Tristan turned to look at the closed door then turned away when it didn’t repeat itself.
It took Tristan an awkwardly long moment to find his voice and when he finally did, he slowly stuttered; "M-my sister? E-Elara?"
Flynn shook his head. "No. Not Elara, Nyx’ara."
Again, that bang sound came from the closet and Flynn and Tristan turned to look.
They turned away almost instantly.
Flynn continued; "Elara seems head bent on taking Nyx’ara’s place by the sides of the Sovereign Alphas. She has been going on and on about knowing who Princess Leilani’s real murderer is and I personally think she is the one. However, since she desperately wants to take Nyx’ara’s place and become Sovereign Luna, why not let her?"
"Flynn..." Tristan glowered,
"Why not let them think she’s the real murderer and then she’ll be forced to live with them as their mate... or whatever shit Nyx’ara has been doing for two weeks now."
Anger and disbelief curled deep inside of Tristan’s chest. He couldn’t believe the audacity of this man. His hands balled into fists as he took a step back as if to create as much distance between them as possible and snarled;
"Count me out."
Flynn froze. "This is what Elara wants." He clapped back, "At least, that is what she told me she wanted. She is dying to be with those four beasts... and Tristan, man to man, I’ll tell you for free that she no longer looks at me the way she used to ever since we attended Nyx’ara’s wedding ceremony."
"Nyx’ara’s wedding ceremony!" Tristan repeated, his voice cold and devoid of any emotion.
Flynn blinked up at him in surprise, not quite sure why he was reacting this way. He also could not fathom why his Beta-to-be was being so difficult...
Guess, I wouldn’t make him my beta.
He was snapped out of that thought when Tristan began to speak, so he blinked up at him with the intention of hearing exactly what he wanted to say. However, to his surprise, Tristram was telling him off. He snapped;
"Like you said: Nyx’ara’s wedding ceremony, meaning that she is married to those four beasts and Elara is only throwing a temporary temper tantrum because she thinks they are crazy hot and powerful. The marriage between them and Nyx’ara is only a charade and I’d rather die than expose innocent Elara to something so vile."
Like she was innocent.
Flynn was almost tempted to say that until he thought better of it and turned his face away. His voice was as crisp as paper as he hissed;
"Fine then, suit yourself... but do not forget about the bleeding passed-out girl in your closet."
Whatever reaction he’d hoped that would stir on Tristan’s face was exactly what he got as in the next minute, Tristan’s face flushed white. A muscle on his jaw ticked and he staggered slightly just as his lips trembled when he spoke up.
He drawled; "I haven’t forgotten about her."
"I haven’t either," Flynn retorted, sounding almost threatening, "I will never forget about her but I think I should leave for now."
He then turned and walked out the door, leaving it wide open while Tristan could only stand there wondering if he should go to Elara now or not.
He waited for a few more minutes then shut his main door with a silent click. His heart pounded against his chest as he slowly turned to his closet, his heart racing as he pulled the doors open and froze.
Goddess, the scene was indeed horrible in every sense of the word.
And Elara was in the midst of it all... alive.
Barely.