Chapter 73: Shattered Truths
Kiel
The room was heavy with silence, but not the kind that brought peace. It was the kind that came before an explosion, a pressure building in the walls and behind every breath. I stood frozen, rooted to the spot, staring at the images on the screen like they were foreign objects from another world. A parallel reality.
Another man. Another life.
Except it was me.
My throat clenched. The air seemed to thicken around me as my eyes burned into the screen. The lighting was dim in the photo—intentionally seductive, like it had been crafted that way—but not enough to erase the truth. The shadows only made it worse. They clung to my face, outlining my jaw, my mouth. My hands were unmistakably gripping her hair. My lips pressed against hers.
The screen had my name tagged in bold. The post already saturated with comments. Cruel assumptions. Ruthless betrayal. And worse—disappointment. Not from strangers. But from people who once trusted me. The pack’s website had exploded with the image, and the public was eating it up like wolves to blood.
I felt the bile rise in my throat.
"Are you going to say something?" Varen’s voice cracked through the silence like a whip, sharp and unforgiving.
I didn’t move. I couldn’t.
"I said—are you going to say something, Kiel?" he barked again, louder this time, the edge in his voice like a growl barely contained.
I flinched, muscles jerking at the sound, but my gaze stayed shackled to the screen. My heartbeat pounded against my ribs, furious and desperate, like it was trying to escape my chest. "I... I thought it was fake," I croaked, barely able to hear my own voice.
"What the hell did you just say?" Varen thundered, his footsteps advancing with fury.