Chapter 257
Bella
The sharp pain that shot through my chest. It was the kind of pain that comes from understanding something so horrible, so fundamentally wrong, that my body rejected the knowledge even as my mind processed it.
Iron-rich foods. Blood supplements. Those strange herbal teas Liam always insisted I drink.
Selina's words hung in the air like poison, each syllable designed to destroy whatever was left of my world. "You're nothing but my mobile blood bank," she repeated, her voice dripping with malicious satisfaction. "Your heart, your kidneys, all that precious blood flowing through your veins - it's all meant for me. We have compatible wolf bloodlines, you see."
I felt my hands trembling as the pieces clicked into place. The mysterious dizzy spells. The way Liam would look at me sometimes, like he was calculating something. The gentle way he'd asked me about having pups, his eyes holding secrets I couldn't read.
"Liam only marked you to keep you close," Selina continued, circling me like a predator savoring the kill. "He needs you to breed, to create more sources for when I need transplants. Did you really think someone like him could love you?"
The laugh that escaped her was high and brittle, echoing off the walls of the room. And something inside me was shifting, awakening. The pain in my chest was transforming into something else entirely.
Anger.
I stood slowly, feeling power I'd never known I possessed flowing through my veins. My vision sharpened, and I could smell everything - Selina's desperation, her fear masked by cruel triumph, the metallic scent of her blood where she'd bitten her own lip.
"You know what's interesting, Selina?" I said, my voice steady as I reached for her perfectly styled hair. My fingers tangled in the silky strands, and I felt her freeze as my presence filled the room. "Liam's shares, his cash, all his assets - half of everything is already in my name."
Her eyes widened, pupils dilating with shock.
"Freya helped me prepare for this exact scenario," I continued, tightening my grip just enough to make her wince. "See, I may not have known about your little blood bank fantasy, but I knew enough to protect myself."
"You're lying," she whispered, but I could smell the fear on her now.
"Even if your sick little story were true," I said, leaning close enough that she could feel my breath on her face, "I'm not helpless. I can break this mark whenever I choose. Don't forget - I'm Freya Welch's friend."
A golden flash flickered through my eyes. I could feel my wolf stirring, protective and fierce.
"Security!" I called out, my voice carrying the unmistakable authority. Two wolf guards appeared instantly at the door.
I commanded, "Remove this Beta from the premises. Now."
"You can't—" Selina started, but her protests died as the guards moved forward.
Then the door burst open, and Liam strode in with his half-brother Frost.
I walked closer to Liam, my chin raised in defiance despite the trembling in my hands.
Selina, desperate and unhinged, wasn't finished. "You promised me!" she screamed at Liam, her own eyes flashing with unstable wolf light. "When my condition got worse, you promised me her organs! Bella is supposed to be my resource!"
The sound that came from Liam's throat was barely human - a low, dangerous growl that made every wolf in the room step back instinctively. "As the Alpha of the Wilson pack and Bella's mate," he said, his voice carrying absolute authority, "I will never harm my marked mate, nor will I allow anyone else to harm her. Not even you, Selina."
Selina collapsed onto the floor, her body shaking with what looked like seizures, but her voice never stopped. "You promised to take care of my illness! Her heart, her blood- they belong to me!"
I looked down at her, feeling something that might have been pity if it weren't overwhelmed by disgust. "She needs professional help," I said quietly. "The bloodline sickness has driven her completely insane."
"She's my mate," Frost protested, though he looked uncomfortable. "She's just... desperate."
Liam's laugh was harsh and cold. "Then choose. The wolf psychiatric facility, or the Council dungeons. Those are her only options."
Frost's shoulders sagged in defeat. "Fine. I'll arrange for the psychiatric facility."
As the guards lifted Selina's still-convulsing form, she managed one last shriek: "Mobile blood bank! That's all you are!"
The room fell silent after they left.
Liam turned to me, his golden eyes fading back to their normal color, his expression desperate and guilty. "Bella, I can explain—"
"Don't." I held up my hand, taking several steps backward until I felt the wall against my back. My own hand moved instinctively to the mark on my neck, fingers tracing the spot where his teeth had claimed me. "Don't say anything right now."
The air between us crackled with tension. Part of me wanted to run, to get as far away from him as possible. But another part was - I wanted answers.
The documents Selina had brought lay scattered on the floor between us, each page a testament to lies I'd been too blind to see.
I bent down and picked up the papers, flipping through them one by one. The more I read, the more a bitter laugh bubbled up from somewhere deep inside me - a laugh at my own stupidity, my own willingness to believe in something that was never real.
My voice echoed in the silent room, trembling with pain I couldn't hide anymore. "You took me in when I was eighteen because I reminded you of her, didn't you? I was never Bella to you. I was just her shadow, a replacement to fill the hole she left behind."
My fingers clenched into fists, nails digging so deep into my palms I should have felt pain. But there was nothing - just the cold numbness spreading through my chest.
"Not just a replacement," I continued, each word dragging itself up from the depths of my shattered heart. "You kept me around because we have the same bloodline. I was a walking blood bank, wasn't I?"
The tears were there, burning behind my eyes, blurring my vision. But I wouldn't let them fall. I couldn't. If I cried now, it would mean he'd won. It would mean I was as weak as he'd always believed I was.
"You said you loved me," I whispered, my voice raw with emotion. "But your love is filthy. It's ugly and twisted and wrong. This isn't love, Liam. This is exploitation. This is control disguised as affection."
The mark on my neck burned like fire, as if my body was finally rejecting the lie I'd been living.
"I was never your mate," I said, my voice growing stronger with each word. "I was your backup plan. Your thing to be used when she needed fixing."