Chapter 31

"But she did not talk to me, father!" I growled in frustration. "She didn't. At least not until the truth came out," I countered.

My father sighed deeply. "But listen to her now, son." He said. "You are her mate, her Alpha. You should lead by example. You should listen even if she refused to speak in the first place. As far as she is willing to talk now, listen."

I was frustrated. He just didn't understand. If he knew what she had done and what she had hidden from me, his views would change immediately. I just could not let him know. He was fragile already and I could not burden him.

I sighed. "Okay, father." I pretended to agree with him. "I guess you are right."

"Don't patronize me, son. I know that you are only pretending to understand what I am saying." He said. "If...

"Raphael!" A scream tore through the words that my father was about to say. I rose from my seat just as I saw Lucianne bursting through the doors, guards at her sides, pulling her back. But despite the sheer strength of my men trying to pull her back, she did not relent. "Raphael, please listen to what I have to say," she begged. "Please." Her eyes were pleading as she looked at me. Raw and red, as though she felt some guilt for what she had done.

"We apologize, Alpha, we don't know how she escaped the room," they said.

"Take her away at once!" I barked. "I don't want to see her face."

Lucianne's face crumpled even more as though I stabbed her in the heart. Then they dragged her way.

"Listen to my daughter-in-law," my father said. "Something tells me that she is not the criminal you are painting her to be."

"I have heard father," I replied. "I will try to listen." I lied.

"And that is all I ask," he said before turning his head to the side, a sign that he was tired and needed to sleep. He had had enough excitement for a day.

I left my father's side and made my way to her room. When I opened the door, she was on the floor, and she looked up at me. Hope was starting to light her eyes. I could not stand it.

***

"Raphael," she said eagerly, getting on her feet. She moved towards me and reached for me, but I recoiled immediately.

"Don't touch me," I said coldly. "Don't you dare?"

She withdrew her hand, standing there looking at me with hope and desperation in her eyes.

"You have to listen to me, Raphael," she croaked. "The silent re—"

I grabbed her hard and rough by the shoulders, slamming her against the wall. I got right in her face. "Who the hell do you think you are?" I demanded. "To say that I have to listen to the words coming out of a snake's mouth?"

"But..."

I slammed my hand against her mouth and held it there. "Is this how you were held? Is this how your mouth was held? Tell me, Lucianne."

She shook her head at me in confusion.

"Is this how your mouth was held? And that was the reason why you did not tell me until your secret was revealed by your opponent. Only for you to attempt to end the life of the person who told?"

She shook her head again, her eyes pleading with me.

"My family trusted once before, Lucianne. I showed you, didn't I?"

She nodded.

"You saw it, didn't you? The blood? The bodies?"

She nodded again, tears slipping past her lips.

"Then how can you deceive me and ask for trust!" My heart was aching. It hurt like crazy, knowing the person that I loved... I shook my head. I had to snap out of it. I didn't love her. I never would. And I would never love again.

She stood there, speechless and utterly heartbroken, her eyes wide with shock and disbelief. It was as though she heard the words that I had uttered inside my head.

"You are a bane to the lives of those that matter. You are nothing but a maggot eating through the happiness of others because of your selfish intentions. You deserve nothing but agony. Death would be a blessing for a person like you." I spat each word and slowly the light of hope in her eyes began to die.

"You're nothing to me now," I continued each word a blade to her heart. "You don't deserve my forgiveness or my trust. You're a liar and a traitor. And you will pay for what you've done."

Her lips trembled, but no words came out. She was completely shattered. Just as she had shattered me.

"Guards!" I bellowed. The door swung open, and the guards entered. "Take her to the dungeons. Lock her up. And make sure she doesn't see the light of day this time. I will figure out what to do with her later."

They grabbed her, dragging her away. Her eyes never left mine, filled with so much torment that it matched my own. But I couldn't afford to care. Not anymore.

"Lucianne..." I watched as Alpha Lucas came running. The great Alpha looked at me. He suddenly looked like he had aged forty years in a single day. "Where are they taking her?" He asked. He looked lost as he watched his daughter get dragged away. He wanted to move to reach her and protect her. But he looked suddenly lost like he could not quite comprehend what was happening.

His family came up to him, his sons, and his daughter-in-law.

I looked up to Alpha Lucas all my life. He had become a second father after everything had happened. It destroyed me that it was his daughter that had done these things. "She is being taken to the dungeons."

Jules gasped, her eyes filling with tears. Lucianne's brothers gritted their teeth but did not react further.

Alpha Lucas suddenly clutched his chest, his face contorting in pain.

"Father!" Jules screamed, rushing to his side.

"Father!" Lucianne's brothers exclaimed, their stoic expressions breaking into panic.

Then Alpha Lucas stumbled, and I instinctively moved forward, but his sons caught him, guiding him to a nearby chair. He looked at me, his eyes filled with both agony and a silent plea. He wanted me to have mercy on his daughter, but he could not give voice to the words.

"Father, stay with us!" Logan pleaded, his voice trembling.

Jules looked up at me, her eyes filled with desperation. "Raphael, please... you have to understand... Lucianne isn't what you think."

But I would not listen, yet I felt a pang of guilt watching the strong, commanding Alpha Lucas reduced to this state. But my anger and hurt were too raw, too overpowering.

"I will send for a healer," I said curtly, stepping back.

As the guards dragged Lucianne away, she looked back one last time, her eyes meeting mine. They were filled with so much torment that it nearly matched my own. But I hardened my heart. I couldn't afford to care. Not anymore. I would not allow history to ever repeat itself.

A healer was summoned immediately, and the room buzzed with a mix of tension and fear. I left them to attend to Alpha Lucas, making my way out of the room. Each step felt heavy, my mind a whirlwind of conflicting emotions.

I had to do this. For my pack, for my family. But as I walked away, the image of Lucianne's broken expression and Alpha Lucas's suffering haunted me. I needed to stay strong, but the price of my resolve was beginning to weigh heavily on my soul. My brain told me I was doing the right thing, but why was my heart screaming at me to stop?