Chapter 5

• Nysera.
• "Did you just ask me why you should apologize?" Alpha Reed roared through the entire room.
• I didn't flinched, just as how I had always done when his words had affected me that much. Blade froze to where he was standing, Rana loup, her eyes dried, with no tears as she had claimed to be crying.
• It was only Luna Ysolde whose expression I couldn't read. Her eyes stared back into mine, perhaps trying to look for the soft girl that I had always been.
• The one that had always swallowed what they threw at me.
• "I said why should I apologize?" I gritted. Shouldn't they be apologizing to me? For the maltreatment and all?
• Every time in the past, when I was ordered to apologize for what I had never done, I would rush to do it. I was scared of not getting the love I deserved from them.
• I never got it regardless because it never stopped them from doing what they had always wished.
• Whenever Rana ran to them, throwing a lie at them, they believed it, beat me up while they demanded I apologize.
• I would apologize, all over again until I couldn't hear my own voice.
• I was angry at myself, for being weak, for letting myself to be pushed around. "Since you can talk back to me, I have to teach you a lesson so that you will always know your place."
• He raised his hands, ready to strike but it never landed. His temper softened when he saw Rana standing right in front of me. "Don't, dad." She cried. Her voice was sharp, followed by hiccups.
• How easily was it for her to cry? She could easily get the tears rolling down her cheeks in seconds.
• She broke down, falling on the floor. I doubt she could even breath. "Rana, you have to get up." Blade called out.
• Of course, she was his beloved.
• "I have to stop father from hitting her. I don't want to be the reason why he would hit her." She sobbed hard, her body shaking violently.
• Oh, please. Enough with the show.
• Alpha Reed's expression twisted, as he helped his daughter up. His real daughter, unlike me, the fake when it was the other way around.
• "Rana is right. Things don't have to get ugly. We can talk it out as a family." Luna Ysolde proposed. "As much as I hate seeing Rana crying, Nysera is also our daughter and we can do it another way."
• "Are you this heartless, Nysera?" Blade asked.
• I smacked my lips together, putting all my emotions at bay. I couldn't let them see that I was also angry at myself. "Well, now that you have asked, I should give you an answer."
• "I have always been this way. I was just stupid to show it to you." I ended.
• "I know that you are angry, Nysera. I took your place which I should have never done. I am sorry, but don't take it out on them. They are only looking out for me."
• I let out a low hiss. "I don't care about any place, we both know it. I have lived all my life as a rogue, in the borders and I was never worried about having a family."
• A big fat lie. I had always looked forward to meeting my family, hoping that their love would take me to places.
• Alpha Reed opened his mouth to talk when a guard rushed into the living room, falling on top the floor. "I am sorry to interrupt your conversation, but Beta Sam is here and he requests to see the Alpha and the Luna immediately." The guard informed.
• "Let him in."
• The young man rushed back, while Alpha Reed let out his anger. "Rana, wipe your tears please. We will finish off when the Beta leaves."
• "Whatever." I mumbled.
• I offered myself a seat, something that I would have never done. Upon hearing the arrival of Beta Sam, I would have rushed back into my room, locking the door until he was gone.
• Beta Sam, someone that I had only caught glimpse of a few times when he was here. He was the messenger of the Alpha king who hated to associate with people, or so I had heard.
• Perhaps, if I could let them know of the type of man Alpha Reed was, it could make sense. "That will only make you seem weak, Nysera! We have to fight this ourselves." Raven reminded.
• The door was pushed open, and Beta Sam walked inside , sharp-eyed, rigid-spined, a man carved from obedience and fear. Two guards shadowed him like extensions of his will.
• Beta Sam paused just past the threshold. His nostrils flared, a single slow inhale cutting through the thick, hot air. His expression barely shifted , but enough to confirm he had caught something unusual.
• His head tilted, the way a predator reconsiders its surroundings.
• Behind those controlled movements lingered the constant, chilling truth. He was the Beta of the Alpha King, the feared one, the rumored monster in a crown and anything that alerted Beta Sam would not go unnoticed by him.
• Sam took another step, another careful sniff, eyes narrowing as the unknown scent threaded through the room.
• Blade stiffened beside me while Luna Ysolde stopped whispering. Even Rana's smile faltered. "Would your two daughters be joining our meeting today?" His voice cut through our minds.
• Alpha Reed coughed out. "Rana dear, head to your room." He told her with a shaky voice. While all I got was a glare, one that passed the message.
• I had no reason to stay there with them, so I never dragged it out and stood up. I met with the gaze of Beta Sam for the second time, sharper this time, searching.
• And the heat in the air seemed to thicken into something else entirely. It was anticipation and fear.
• Could he have sensed me?