Chapter Forty-Nine--Their Cries Fall On Deaf Ears

Chapter Forty-Nine--Their Cries Fall On Deaf Ears
I lowered to my haunches, grabbed her hair at the roots, and whispered in her ear, “You’re an idiot. Have you figured that out yet?”

“Please, please don’t hurt me. It was all Bianca’s idea.”

Untruth smelled like bile. My nose wrinkled.

“I hate it when people lie to me. It makes me do crazy things, know what I mean?” I purred. She shuddered in my grasp. “Don’t forget I was there that night, or did you think I forgot during the change? Sadie, you enjoyed ripping through my flesh, digging into my insides. Bitch, you fed off me.”

Kalvyn prowled behind me, and punched a tree.

“That isn’t the actions of a cat being forced to do anything.” I paused. “Furthermore, I think you wanted to do it, for the same reason Bianca asked you to. Do you want to know how I know that?”

She shook her head.

Too bad. “Inside of you, is a fount of jealousy that clings to your skin like sickness, much deeper and acute than Bianca’s.” I thought about that for a moment. She wasn’t looking at me anymore. I followed the path of her gaze toward Kalvyn. I lowered my voice to a threadbare whisper for all the good it did. “You wanted Kalvyn for yourself.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She found the blades of grass under bare feet utterly fascinating.

“You will tell me the truth, or I’ll rip out your tongue.” Yeah, following up with that threat was a little too much for me. But, it sounded good in my head.

Let me take over, Katrina. Take this burden from your conscious.

No, I can’t allow that. If I’m the Alpha now, I have to get used to this stuff, right? I’ve never been the type of person to do anything half assed.

You’ve never done anything like this. Please, I want to protect you. I can do what needs to be done. You’ve experienced me harnessing your emotions. This is just a step more. I will do nothing you can’t ultimately live with. You can control my actions.

She had a point, and I hated the sentiment. I’d chicken out, pull back when I needed to push forward, regardless of how entitled I felt. Fine.

My cat surged through me.

“Speak the truth now.”

Sadie went limp in my grip. “Bianca betrayed me.”

“How? Tell me everything.”

Her jaw slackened, her eyes dulled. “I thought we were friends, forged by our horrible upbringing. At one time we were. When we came to Kalvyn, I was the one who wanted him. But I held back, tried to get to know him, while Bianca strutted around the others like a peacock. I confided in her one night, and she laughed in my face. The next day she started to flirt with him, as if it had just occurred to her to do so. She pranced around him, teasing him, filling his every moment. When no one watched, she taunted me, told me I’d never measure up to her. I’d known the many faces of Bianca, including the manipulative one that she extended to our old Alpha. But, never the woman who would toss away her only friend. I told myself he wasn’t that stupid to fall for her tricks.” She stole a quick glance at Kalvyn. So did my cat. He was pale. “Then, I found them…” She swallowed.

A stab of unease shattered my stomach for this deed. My cat backed off, no, more like recoiled. The pain, the suffering.

“What happened?”

“Bianca pulled Kalvyn into the forest, and I followed. I had no idea what I’d thought to do. I found them screwing against a tree, deep in the forest, and the hatred I experienced wasn’t something I’d dealt with. Not since I escaped my first Alpha.” She bit her lip. “I think if it were up to her, she would’ve hid their relationship from me until she secured her position. Allowed me to think it was nothing more than flirting. But Kalvyn Colbane isn’t the type to conceal his actions. She had him tied around her little finger, all the while tormenting me, throwing my inadequacies in my face.”

Kalvyn made a sound, half a gasp, half a groan. I glared at Bianca, but her clear conscious shone all over her face.

Sadie was playing me.

She’s only telling you part of the truth.

“Then I showed up,” I said slowly. “I took him from both of you.”

Bait.

Sadie’s lip vibrated in a silent snarl. “You stole him from me!”

Catch.

“He was meant for me,” I said dully. Her features deformed. “You will not shift.”

Her body convulsed, caught mid-change, a gross representation of her two forms. Her shoulders dislocated, and stayed that way. Her spine bent at an unnatural angle, stuck until I said otherwise. Shifting went both ways.

Her breath heaved, pain contorting her.

“No, you stole Kalvyn’s will!” She shook her restraints behind her back. “He has no choice. If you hadn’t come, the decision was still his. But because of some fucked up entity who plays with people’s emotions, he doesn’t anymore! Your appearance made all of us, yes, every single one in this clan realize that at any time, we can lose ourselves. None of us have any say. Damn it, I love him! Do you? Bianca never did. All she wanted was power to keep her fucking security.” She choked on the words, formed from her misshapen mouth. “I could’ve given him everything he ever wanted. Safety, loyalty, children. You’re just a half breed freak. Can you even continue his line? They wouldn’t be pure. They wouldn’t be Royal. I am a pure jaguar.” She hissed, struggled harder. The spiked collar ripped through her skin, dangerously close to her jugular. “If you had just died, that still would’ve happened!”

She spat in my face. Kalvyn leapt, but I waved him back as I wiped my face.

“I don’t understand what he could see in you. Chubby, elfish and short, everything a cat detests. Do you honestly think he would’ve ever given you a second look, if you hadn’t been forced onto his fate?”