Chapter 251
Sarah's POV
I stood outside Cassian's car, my perfectly manicured nails digging into my palms as I listened to his voice drift through the cracked window. That fucking name. Again.
"Elowen."
My stomach twisted into knots. Six months. Six goddamn months since that little bitch had supposedly left, and he was still talking about her. Still using that soft, concerned tone that made my insides burn with jealousy.
"Is she okay? The babies—"
I bit down on my glossed lower lip hard enough to taste copper beneath the strawberry flavor. The babies. Her babies. The ones she'd stolen from me—from the life I was supposed to have with Cassian and Casper.
Our babies, my wolf Ivy snarled in my mind. They should be carrying OUR children, not that weak Beta slut's.
I pressed closer to the car, my red waves cascading over my shoulder as I strained to hear more. The tight leather mini-skirt I'd worn—specifically to catch Cassian's attention—rode up my thighs, but I didn't care. I needed to know what he was saying.
"Try sweet potatoes," Cassian said, his voice cracking slightly. "With mayonnaise. She loves them that way."
My hands clenched into fists. He remembered her favorite foods. He remembered every fucking detail about her while I had to practically throw myself at him just to get a passing glance.
Ivy growled low in my chest. He's OURS. We won the claim. We're the ones sleeping in their bed now.
But that was the problem, wasn't it? Even when Cassian touched me—which was rare—his eyes were somewhere else. Someone else. And Casper... God, Casper wouldn't even look at me anymore. He'd practically moved into that vampire bar, drowning himself in wolfsbane-laced drinks just to forget her.
"She's doing well," the male voice on the phone said—Kade, one of those pretentious Alpha brothers who'd swooped in to "rescue" Elowen. "Physically, at least. The babies are healthy."
Something inside me snapped.
She wasn't supposed to be doing well. She was supposed to be broken, destroyed by the betrayal of her precious mates choosing me over her. She was supposed to be alone and suffering, not surrounded by three sexy Alpha brothers who clearly wanted to fuck her.
Not fair, Ivy whimpered, then snarled. We deserve him. We deserve BOTH of them. Not her. Never her.
My breathing quickened, my chest heaving beneath the low-cut top that left little to the imagination. I'd dressed like this for Cassian, hoping—praying—he'd finally see me the way he used to see her. The way he still saw her, apparently.
"And... emotionally?" Cassian asked, and I could hear the barely restrained desperation in his voice.
That did it.
Before I could think, before I could stop myself, I reached through the window and snatched the phone right out of his hand.
"What the fuck do you think you're—" Cassian started, but I'd already hit the speaker button.
"You've got some nerve," I spat into the phone, my voice sharp enough to cut glass. "Inviting MY mate to go see you. Who the hell do you think you are?"
There was a pause, then that infuriatingly calm voice responded. "Hello, Sarah. Charming as ever, I see."
My face flushed hot with rage. That condescending tone—like I was some annoying child throwing a tantrum. These Lycan princes and their superior bullshit attitudes made me want to scream.
"Don't you fucking patronize me," I snarled. "Keep your filthy whore and those bastard children away from MY mate. You hear me? He doesn't want anything to do with—"
"Sarah!" Cassian's voice cracked like a whip, and suddenly he was out of the car, his ice-blue eyes blazing with something that made my stomach drop.
Not desire. Not possessiveness.
Fury.
But I was too far gone to stop now. My mouth kept moving, vomiting out all the jealousy and insecurity I'd been swallowing for months.
"She's nothing!" I screamed into the phone, backing away from Cassian but keeping my grip tight. "A nobody. A rejected, pathetic nobody who's not fit to lick our boots. She doesn't deserve—"
Cassian lunged for the phone, but I was quicker, dancing backward in my stilettos.
"She doesn't deserve to give birth to YOUR children," I continued, my voice rising to a shriek. "Tell her to go find their real fathers, because we all know—"
"Give me the phone, Sarah." Cassian's voice had dropped to a lethal quiet that should have terrified me.
But I was riding high on adrenaline and spite, my wolf Ivy egging me on with vicious pleasure.
I turned to Cassian, trying to make my eyes wide and innocent. "Baby, you agree with me, right? You chose ME. You and Casper chose—"
His jaw clenched so hard I could see the muscle jumping beneath his skin. He took a slow, deliberate breath, his eyes never leaving mine. The look in them made my knees weak—but not in the good way.
Then Kade's voice, dripping with mockery, cut through the speaker. "You know, Cassian, if you want to muzzle your little pet, I can help with that. Hell, I'd be doing you a favor if I just cut out her tongue altogether."
My mouth fell open in shock. The casual cruelty, the dismissiveness—like I was some annoying dog yapping at his heels.
I waited for Cassian to defend me. To tell Kade that I was his mate, his chosen one, and that he wouldn't tolerate such disrespect.
He said nothing.
The silence stretched, heavy and condemning, until it felt like it was crushing my chest.
He's not going to defend us, Ivy whimpered, her earlier confidence crumbling. He doesn't care.
"Cassian?" My voice came out smaller than I intended, almost pleading. "You're going to let him talk to me like that?"
Still nothing. Just those cold, cold eyes staring at me like I was a stranger. Like I was the enemy.
Panic clawed at my throat. "I didn't lie," I said desperately. "Everything I said is true. She IS trash. She—"
"Cassian," I tried again, my voice breaking. Tears pricked at my eyes, smudging my carefully applied mascara. "You don't love her anymore. Right? You can't. You... you love me."
It wasn't a statement. It was a question. A desperate, pathetic question that I already knew the answer to.
Cassian shook his head slowly, and the look in his eyes—God, the look in his eyes was worse than hatred. It was disappointment. Disgust.
We fucked up, Ivy moaned. We fucked up so bad.
"There goes our new dress," she added miserably.
I let out a pitiful sound, somewhere between a laugh and a sob. "I saw the perfect dress at the boutique," I whispered, my bottom lip trembling. "Red. With the open back. I thought... I thought you'd like it."
Cassian's expression didn't change.
I pouted, trying one last time to salvage this disaster, to remind him that I could be cute and desirable if he'd just look at me properly.
But his eyes had already moved past me, dismissing me entirely.
Kade's voice came through the speaker again, laced with dark amusement. "Sounds like you let her off her leash, Cassian. My condolences."
Something inside me—some last shred of dignity—rebelled against being talked about like I wasn't even there.
"I'm not a dog," I snapped, childish petulance bleeding into my tone. "You must have me confused with someone else."
Like that whore Elowen, I wanted to add. The one who spread her legs for two brothers and now has her claws in three Alphas.
But the words died on my tongue when I caught Cassian's expression.
"Kade didn't defend her," Ivy pointed out, a flicker of hope sparking in her voice. "Did you notice? He didn't correct you."
My lips curved into a small, victorious smile. Maybe... maybe things weren't as perfect in Elowen's little paradise as everyone thought.
"See?" I said, addressing both Cassian and the phone. "Even THEY'RE getting tired of her drama. All her lies and manipulation. They just have to keep pretending she's some precious princess because—"
"That's... debatable, Sarah," Kade interrupted, his voice maddeningly calm. "At least from what I've heard."
The hope guttered out like a candle in a storm.