Chapter 24: Miserable

Selene

I was required to remain at the healer’s place and I was beyond grateful. If I returned to my room, Ravenna would have definitely insisted that I work. So I was better off at the healer’s place.

I realized that I was not the only one present. There were other werewolves and most of them were guards. My only guess was that they might have been injured in wars or something. Most of them were asleep and Cassius was just staring at me as I ate. He offered me food and my heart warmed at his every kind gesture.

“Why are you helping me?” that was the question that anyone would ask. Why was he helping me?

“Because you needed the help, Selene.” He told me and I sighed. He was right. I needed the help. It was better to get treatment from the healer. No suspicion would arise if I healed quickly now.

“Thank you. I will do anything to repay you.” I would seriously do anything. Cassius was so nice. So warm and I loved being around him. He was different from the others and was the only Lycan that I did not have an immense hatred for. I hated the others with everything that was in me.

“You don't have to really do anything to repay me. I just have a question for you, what is your relationship with Dain? I heard that a slave who is always going in and out of his room. I know it's you.” Right. My name would be flying around already.

“That..” A small smile formed on my lips.

“I'm his slut.” I said with a straight face. There was no need hiding tv at. “I'm sure you know that I was chosen as his breeder, so I'm basically Dain’s slut. So I go to his room and bend over to get fucked so he can get me pregnant.” I told Cassius and there was no change in his countenance. He looked very calm and only nodded his head as I spoke.

“I see. I thought as much. Then why are you a slave? Your work here is to be a breeder, not a slave.” Right, but Dain decided to turn me into a slave all because I refused to allow him to touch me on the first day that I was brought to his palace.

“I did something that I shouldn't have done and the price that I get to pay for it, is being a slave.” I referred to the collar on my neck. It was not getting off no matter what.

“Well, I think Dain is going to get that off you.” Cassius sighed and I watched as he stood up to his feet. “He would never allow the person carrying his heir to be labeled as a slave.” And that was never going to happen. I was never going to get pregnant for Dain.

“I hope so.” I forced out a smile. “Being a slave is exhausting.” Actually. And I did not get the respect that I deserved. They all disrespected me. Ravenna especially.

“If I have the child, what happens?” I knew how the Lycans worked. They would never allow a human to become their Luna and soon or later, Dain was going to get his Luna. What would be my fate then if I were to actually have the baby?

“You would be gotten rid of after the baby. You know that's the only thing that is needed from you.” And they were not going to get any baby from me and before Dain would start to get suspicious that no child was forthcoming, I would have killed him by them.

“So I'm never going to have a or spend time with my baby.” I was trying to act sad. It would be so suspicious if I acted nonchalantly as I did not care about the fact that my child would be taken from me. Every mothers loved their child. Mon loved my twin and me unconditionally.

“You won't. I think you should have known all these before signing up to do this.” Cassius asked and I frowned. Did he not know how breeders were forcefully selected? And how the other girls would be killed while just one was taken.

“I did not ask to be taken. I was forced here against my will.” Who would even choose this kind of life for themselves? It was miserable. “The Lycans are so cruel to humans. Werewolves don't even regard us as all.” I sighed heavily. Werewolves were literally the lowest food chains. They suffered the Lycan’s cruelty the most.

“That is how it is and how it has been for years,” Cassius replied and o frowned.

Cassius didn’t interrupt. He simply watched me with that unreadable Beta expression, hands folded behind his back, as though he were trying to understand a language he rarely heard.

“The Lycans are cruel to humans,” I continued, breathing out slowly. “And werewolves… they don’t regard us at all.” My gaze dropped to the ground. “We’re at the bottom of everything.”

“That is how it is, and how it has been for years,” Cassius said, not unkindly.

I lifted my eyes at him. “But it isn’t fair.”

He tilted his head slightly. “Fairness is a human word.”

“It shouldn’t be,” I said, barely above a whisper. “Everyone deserves something better than this.”

He stepped closer, slow and calm, not threatening. His eyes briefly traced the torn cloth across my chest, the lashes on my side, and then he focused carefully on my face—as if to show he wasn’t here to shame me.

“I’m not dismissing what you feel,” he said. “I am only telling you what the world has been long before you were taken… and long before I was born.”

“Does it have to stay that way?” I asked quietly. “Is there no way for things to change?”

Cassius considered the question. He didn’t scoff or shut me down. “Change is not impossible,” he admitted, “but it is… complicated.”

I waited.

“The hierarchy keeps balance,” he explained calmly. “Lycans at the top, werewolves below them, humans at the lowest tier. Everyone follows their place. It maintains order, prevents conflict between species.”

I sighed. “But it hurts people.”

“Yes,” he said with surprising honesty. “It does.”

For a moment, he looked almost human himself—burdened, thoughtful.

“Do you think it’s right?” I asked.

Cassius’s gaze softened, just a fraction. “Right or wrong does not always determine what survives. Some systems remain simply because removing them would create more chaos than keeping them.”

“I still don’t think it’s fair,” I murmured. “Even if it’s the way things are.”

He gave a small nod. “You are allowed to feel that way.”

That stunned me more than anything else.

“And you…” He added quietly, “have endured more than most. It is reasonable for you to question what others simply accept.”

I lowered my eyes. “I just want peace.”

He exhaled slowly, almost gently. “Then heal first,” he said. “The rest… we will speak of later.”

Cassius wasn’t cold.

He wasn’t cruel.

Just calm—calmer than any Lycan had a right to be.

And for the first time, I felt heard.