Chapter 22 The Truth
Kristen's POV
I wake up the next morning and find myself on my bed. Suddenly, images of what happened last night flash through my brain and I can remember everything.
Vomit rises in my throat and as I rush to the bathroom to throw up, I see Alpha Calhoun quietly sleeping on a couch.
Shutting the bathroom door in a rush, I barf as much as I can and it's not even undigested food but water. And then I recall a pack doctor waking me up at night just to give me some drugs to help me rest.
After rinsing my mouth, I wipe it clean with the back of my palm and then leave the toilet. I feel utterly weak and dizzy right now, so maybe I am hallucinating and Calhoun isn't here.
But my thoughts are confirmed wrong when I see him standing upright.
"Kristen..." Hearing his clear and distinct voice brings tears to my eyes. Because if he hadn't shown up, I would've been raped and then murdered.
"Hey, hey...it's okay...no one can hurt you anymore," he leads me to the bed to sit and then goes down on his knees in front of
me.
Something warm builds up in my chest when his protective blue eyes capture mine.
He was extremely violent for my sake. He beat those men until he was covered in their blood, and it gave him this outward appearance of a beast.
How calm he is right now makes it impossible to be afraid of him.
"They groped me like a prostitute, Calhoun. I've never been sexually abused in my entire life." My voice is dry because tears are threatening to come once more.
"And they'll be punished severely for hurting you," Calhoun puts his warm big hand on my cheek.
"They said they would rape me as much as they want and then kill me, because if they let me go scot-free, you would come for them," Chills run down my spine as their voices resound in my head.
Calhoun pulls his hand away from my cheek, tears his gaze from mine just to clench his jaw.
"It's all my fault that I'll be scarred forever, Calhoun. I was trying to avoid you and my mom. And then I stayed out late.."
"I'm so sorry that I put you through this," Regret flashes through his eyes as he brings them back to mine.
There's silence as we lock gazes, something I could've found hot but because I'm still traumatized by last night, nothing is enticing to me anymore. It's just an innocent look of concern from Calhoun.
He's not a man of many words but one can read him through his eyes.
Our position right now is like that of two lovers because Calhoun is kneeling in front of me, if mom shows up like this it won't end well.
As if reading my thoughts, he rises to his feet and holds out his hand to me.
This is confusing. Does he want to take me outside to see the men who tortured me? I'm too weak to even walk right now.
My eyes move from his hand to his face, then from his face back to his hand.
Slowly, I put mine in his.
But then he does the unexpected.
By holding me up and pulling me into a hug.
"Anyone who wants to hurt you will have to hurt me first, they'll have to kill me before they try to unalive you." The way he says this gives out that he's not joking because his voice is dead serious.
Calhoun just indirectly assured me that he'll protect me.
As his mate or his stepdaughter? This question slams through my brain.
Pulling away from him, I push a strand of hair behind my ear.
"Tonight, you will decide how you want those bastards to be punished, if it's death by hanging or drowning." His face contorts in anger.
"No," I interject, "I don't want anyone to be killed for my sake."
"Why? They almost raped and killed you." Calhoun stares at me as if I have gone insane.
"Yet they didn't succeed because you saved me," I point out, "it's true that I'll never forget last night but I don't want to leave with the guilt of three men dying for my sake."
"It will serve as a warning to anyone who intends to do it in the near future," Calhoun puts his hands on my shoulder before staring deep into my eyes.
"Let me kill these men for you."
I don't push his hands away, I just shake my head at him.
"No."
Disappointment takes over his face this time, then he withdraws his hands from my shoulders.
"Very well then," he turns to leave.
"Wait." I stop him before he can advance at the door.
Calhoun stops but he doesn't turn to look at me.
"Why did you ask me to meet you at the council hall for the rejection, and then stood me up?" I ask the question that has been troubling my mind for the past three days.
Calhoun's shoulders rise and fall, I can tell that he's releasing a deep breath.
"Why did you disappear for two days after that?" My hands are hugging my body right now, as I drop this second question.
Calhoun still doesn't respond. He's still glued to his standing spot, nor has he stolen a quick glance at me.
Worse, he takes his leave without even answering any of my questions.
Fumbling with my hands, I sit on the bed.
He doesn't want to reject me and he's not answering any of my questions.
How long does he plan to torture all three of us? Me, my mom, and him.
Quick footsteps heading towards my door shove me out of these thoughts and I'm thinking it's Mom until Calhoun shows up again.
My heart flutters in my chest when he pulls me up through my shoulders.
"You want to know the truth, Kristen?" He inquires in a deep rough voice.
"What truth, Alpha Calhoun?" I'm puzzled right now.
"That I cannot reject you even if I want to." He confesses, stunning the shit out of my senses.
"Why?" I manage to ask after swallowing hard.
"It's not so easy.."
"You're hurting my mom.."
"1
"We were made mates for..."
"Stop with the excuses..."
We keep interrupting each other until he yells!
"I can't be with her anymore. I think about you all the time even when we are together. I can't even touch her."
"What?" I squint at him, trying to process what I just heard.
"It's true. My feelings for her are beginning to fade away. And don't you dare talk about guilt," he snaps, shutting me up immediately.
"I don't even feel guilty about things anymore." Calhoun gives my shoulder a light squeeze before pulling his hands away. "This isn't right, Alpha Calhoun..."
"You will address me as Calhoun without my title." He cuts me short, "For once, think about yourself and what you want."
"I cannot be selfish with my feelings when it has to do with my mom, can't you see? She brought me into this world." I am trying to make him see things through my perspective.
"Yet the moon goddess made us mate." He says and this shuts me up for good.
"We were destined to meet that night, Kristen." Calhoun closes the distance between us but I take a step back from him.
"This isn't about us but my mom who is also your wife, we can't hurt her!"
"Calm down, you're not in the right state to shout. You shouldn't stress your nerves." Calhoun puts his hand on his face and sighs. "And you can't divorce my mom for my sake." I breathe out.
"I don't feel the same way for her anymore. I've tried as much as I can but it's not working." He looks at me with all seriousness.
"That's because you refused to reject me. You've known this woman for eight months yet you want to throw that away because you're mated to me?" My chest is burning right now because I have been shouting more than normal. Without even pausing to tone it down. It's just hard when Calhoun wants to make everything a mess.
"I know you're afraid of your mom, you're scared she'll hate you. But you want to know something, Kristen? I was with her yesterday and I couldn't touch her because it didn't feel right. She kicked me out because things were too awkward between us." He informs me, breathing as hard as I am.
For a moment I pause to have a rethink about this.
Calhoun hasn't touched my mom since their wedding day.
It was me whom he had sex with on their wedding night and even the night before. I can see some truths in his confession right now and even though a part of me is dying to be in his arms, it just doesn't feel right.
"What's going on here?" Mom's quiet voice rings out.
And I flinch in shock when I see her standing at the door with a tray of breakfast for me.
However, Calhoun doesn't seem afraid this time.