Chapter 83 Desperate Pleas
[Nyx]
"No! No, Damon, please!" Selene lurched forward on her knees, hands reaching desperately for him. "You don't understand!"
Tears streamed down her face. She grabbed at his hand, clutching it like a lifeline.
"Damon... brother... we grew up together." Her voice cracked, desperate. "You've known me since I was born. You've protected me my whole life."
She pressed his hand to her wet cheek, voice breaking into sobs.
"I know what I did was wrong—I know that! But you have to understand WHY!"
Her grip tightened. "During the avalanche... when everyone was running... Lilith—she PUSHED me, Damon! She pushed me toward the danger zone!"
Selene's voice rose, mixing grief and accusation. "I could have DIED! I thought I was going to die! And then later, when I was safe, when I saw her in that hospital bed..."
She shook her head violently, tears flying. "I was so angry! So hurt! She tried to kill ME first! I just—I just wanted to—"
Her voice dissolved into choking sobs. "I wanted her to feel what I felt! Just for a moment! I wasn't thinking clearly! I was so angry and scared and—"
She looked up at him, eyes desperate and pleading.
"Please, Damon... please... I'm your sister... You've always protected me... We grew up together... Don't abandon me now... I made a terrible mistake, but she hurt me first..."
Her whole body shook with sobs. "I never meant for it to go this far! I swear! Please believe me!"
---
"Enough."
Damon's voice cut through her pleas like a blade. Cold. Hard.
He pulled his hand from her grasp with visible disgust.
"Lilith pushed you." His voice was flat, emotionless. "That's your story?"
Selene nodded frantically. "Yes! Yes, she did! I swear—"
"Then why," Damon's voice dropped to a deadly quiet, "did you say NOTHING when we were searching for her? When we were digging through the snow? When that young man DIED?"
His eyes were ice. "If she pushed you—if she tried to kill you—why didn't you tell me immediately? Why wait until NOW, when you're caught, to suddenly remember this 'assault'?"
Selene's mouth opened. Closed. No words came.
---
I couldn't stay silent anymore.
"Still trying to frame her?" My voice cut through, sharp and cold.
I stepped forward, Lysander's hand steady on my arm but not stopping me.
"You really think we're that stupid, Selene?" I looked down at her, still on her knees. "Lilith pushed you? During the avalanche?"
My voice rose with anger. "We have survivors. Multiple survivors. People who were there, who saw what happened."
I crouched down, meeting her eyes directly.
"We can ask them. One by one. What they saw. Where Lilith was. What she was doing." My voice was ice. "And when Lilith wakes up—and she WILL wake up—we can ask her too."
I paused, letting that sink in.
"So tell me, Selene—what's your plan? Are you going to kill all of them too? Every single witness? Everyone who can contradict your pathetic lies?"
---
Selene's face went from pale to gray. Her lips trembled, eyes widening with pure terror.
"I... I didn't... I wasn't..."
"You weren't WHAT?" I stood back up, voice dripping with contempt. "You weren't planning to murder your way out of this? Because that's what you'd have to do."
I looked at Damon, then back at her.
"There are dozens of people who survived that avalanche. Dozens of witnesses. And you think you can just claim Lilith attacked you first, and everyone will believe you?"
My voice hardened. "Your lies are getting more desperate by the second. And when Lilith wakes up and tells us exactly what happened—when all those survivors tell us what they saw—you'll have nowhere left to hide."
---
Silence fell over the room.
Selene stared at me, mouth working soundlessly, tears streaming but now mixed with raw fear.
Because she knew.
She knew that when Lilith woke up, when the survivors were questioned, the truth would destroy her completely.
And there was no way out.
---
Damon's voice broke the silence, colder than I'd ever heard it:
"You'd better pray Lilith recovers fully." His words were measured, deliberate. "You'd better pray there's no permanent damage. No lasting harm."
His gaze bored into Selene. "Because if anything—ANYTHING—happens to her..."
He paused.
"Even I won't be able to protect you."
Selene's face went chalk white.
"She's not just my fiancée, Selene." Damon's voice was dangerously quiet. "She's the daughter of Moonblade's Alpha. Karl Verdant's child."
He let that sink in.
"If she dies—or if she's permanently harmed—do you think Moonblade will simply accept your story?" A bitter laugh. "Karl Verdant will demand justice. He'll demand your head. And there won't be a damn thing I can do to stop him."
"And neither will I."
My voice cut through, low and deadly.
I stepped forward, every muscle in my body coiled tight with fury.
"You hurt my sister, Selene." I looked directly into her terrified eyes. "You injected her with poison. You tried to KILL her."
My wolf surged forward, and I felt my eyes flash gold.
"So understand this clearly—if Lilith dies, if she suffers permanent damage, if she doesn't wake up..." My voice dropped to a whisper, more menacing than a shout. "Karl Verdant won't be the only one coming for you."
I leaned closer.
"I will hunt you down myself. I don't care what pack you hide in. I don't care what protections you think you have. I will find you."
My hands clenched into fists. "And when I do, I won't give you a quick death. I won't show you the mercy you denied my sister."
Selene shrank back, trembling violently.
"So pray she wakes up, Selene." My voice was ice. "Pray she's whole and healthy. Because if she's not..."
I straightened, looking down at her with pure contempt.
"You'll wish Karl Verdant had gotten to you first."