Cassian opened his mouth, yet no words came out.
I was finished playing along with Cassian’s performance.
Since everyone was already here, I decided to lay every last truth out all at once.
“Jax.”
I turned toward him.
He stiffened all over.
“You and I fought constantly as kids, and I never held it against you. I considered you my friend. Friends fight. And I know you have feelings for Chloe.”
“But you were always the one rubbing salt in my wounds. Well, you got what you wanted. I lost my baby. I was sexually assaulted. Are you satisfied now?”
Jax’s lips trembled.
Tears welled up in his eyes.
“I… I didn’t know any of it was real…”
“There’s so much you never bothered to learn.” I gave him a faint, cold smile. “Because you never wanted to know.”
Then I turned toward Tristan.
“Tristan.”
His shoulders jerked.
He took one step toward me, then shrank back like a lost child.
“Mom protected Chloe. Later, I followed her example and protected Chloe for years. I shared my friends with her. I shared my whole life with her. And back then, you accused me of choosing an outsider over family.”
I paused.
“Are you happy now? The sister you accused of always picking outsiders has finally walked out of your life.”
“Astrid, stop…”
Tristan’s voice shook.
A single tear slid down his cheek.
“I messed up. I truly messed up.”
Only one person was left.
“Chloe.”
The air in the living room seemed to solidify.
Chloe cowered behind Cassian, biting her lip, her eyes glistening with fake tears as she looked over at me.
“Astrid, I know you blame me… but I truly didn’t know you were crying out for help. Those were the rules of the game.”
“Rules?”
I cut her off.
“You first suggested the Invisibility Game because you didn’t want me to steal the spotlight at the mating ball.”
“That game almost killed me when I had appendicitis. You took my dresses. You stole everyone’s attention away from me. And now because of it, I was sexually assaulted and I lost my baby.”
“Isn’t Cassian what you wanted more than anything? Fine. He’s all yours now.”
I stood up and looked down at her.
“So what exactly do you have to feel wronged about, Chloe?”
Her face went white.
Her lips trembled, and then she burst into loud sobs.
“I never meant for any of this to happen! I truly didn’t!”
Cassian suddenly cupped the back of Chloe’s head and forced her to bow toward me.
“I brought her here to apologize. I swear there will never be another Invisibility Game. I will keep my distance from her. All I need is you…”
“What do you need from me?” I said calmly, gesturing down toward my stomach. “Forgiveness? Sure. Give my baby back. Make the sexual assault never happen. Then I’ll forgive you.”
Cassian looked deeply wounded.
He hung his head.
Valerius spoke up then.
“Enough. Leave. Or I won’t hesitate to use my royal privileges. Cassian, watch your standing. An Alpha is supposed to protect his pack. Have you done that?”
Word of everything that had unfolded between us had quietly spread all across Frostfang Harbor, leaked by
some janitor.
Everyone knew the pack’s future Luna had been sexually assaulted by rogues, and their Alpha had been less
than one hundred feet away.
No one blamed the victim, but many pack members gave Cassian a new nickname–the Invisible Alpha.
Dozens of pack members were putting in requests to transfer to other packs.
Cassian’s approval rating had plummeted to rock bottom.
It might not be long before he was no longer Alpha at all.
“Astrid, I know you’re still angry,” Cassian said hoarsely. “But I won’t give up. I’ll give you time.”
Then he hurried out with the other three.
When the door clicked shut behind them, I felt absolutely nothing.
After they left, Valerius sat down beside me and handed me a fresh mug of warm water.
“You okay?”
“I’m fine.”
I held the mug and stared down at the surface of the water.
“At least I know things can’t possibly get any worse than this.”