Fated To Three, Betrayed By All… Until She Rose.-Chapter 49: Apologies.

Leilani.

"Let go." My voice was low. Threatening. It made Zevran pause for a moment, his eyes widening imperceptibly before he slowly, begrudgingly let go of me.

"Leilani..."

"Shut it." I snapped before he could finish whatever vile statement he was about to spew.

I was done with this. With them. Done with being their pawn.

And you know what I hated the most? The fact that they wouldn’t allow me to live my life without these constant interruptions.

The fact that despite everything, despite their ill treatments and degradation for as long as I could remember, they still wouldn’t leave me the fuck alone.

For a very long time, I had craved their attention. I had wanted them to love and care for me even though it was only a fraction of the kind of love they showed to Chalice.

I also wanted them to be jealous whenever they saw me with other people. With other men.

And somehow... that has just happened.

But they were 4 years too late.

I shrugged. "I came here with Alpha Landry, and I’ll leave with him. Also, never refer to me as your mate, Alpha Kael and Zevran. We had an agreement."

Maybe it was the coldness in my voice or something else but Zevran’s eyes widened. Even Kael slowly rose to his feet to come stand beside me.

Like this, the warmth emanating from them almost clouded my senses. It sent tingles running through the roots of my hairs to the tip of my toes. It felt exhilarating. It made me feel wanton.

"I cannot do that, I cannot live with that."

I squeezed my eyes shut, pushing away those feelings and snorted. "If you cannot live with it, then die with it."

Desperation seeped into Zevran’s eyes. He held my arm firmly, his crazed eyes boring into mine as he spoke; "Please, we just need to talk to you!"

"What for?" I snapped so fast that he gasped.

Kael stepped forward, pressing his body against mine, his warm breath fanning my face and temple while his hand rested on the small of my back. "We just want to apologize."

For a moment I was frozen in place. I couldn’t believe my ears. My mouth went dry. My tongue felt heavy. Heat crept up my face and ears and something in me— the neglected teenager in me— shuddered.

"Ever since that day at the boutique, I’ve been meaning to talk to you. I feel like shit and I am embarrassed that I accused you for trying to hurt Chalice without knowing the full story. And for that, I am sorry."

For years, I have wanted to hear him say that, to hear them speak these words. But listening to him now, it felt... baseless.

Insincere.

I shrugged him off. "Do you know how many times that’s happened in the past? Do you know how many times I was scorned for things I didn’t do all because Chalice said so?" My voice shook as I said those words. Tears burned at the corners of my eyes but I blinked them back.

"If I tell you I didn’t kill Grandma Aurora, will you believe me?" I snapped. Now, I could no longer hold my tears; They fell freely, wetting my face, tearing out from somewhere deep inside my soul.

I felt raw. Scraped. And do you know what hurt the most?

When Kael shrugged, looking dismissive. "Now, you’re lying."

That hurt. That hurt like a fucking bitch. My anger flared and pain like no other squeezed at my heart so much I could barely breathe.

Every emotion I once felt dissipated, only to be replaced with rage. I balled my hands into fists to keep myself from striking him hard in the face. And then I spat;

"Then you can shove your apology up your ass."

I then shakily picked up my phone and began to order an uber. Zevran held my arm, his touch gentle. If I didn’t know any better, I would’ve called it affectionate. He muttered;

"Please listen for once, Leilani."

I looked at him through tear filled eyes, but in this moment, at this instant, I felt... nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

"You don’t have the right to ask me to listen to you if you’ll never listen to me." I spat back at him, causing him to go still for a moment before Kael suddenly spoke up.

"You’re being stubborn right now, Leilani."

"Shut up!" Zevran and I snapped in unison and I froze in shock.

My eyes slowly darted up to meet his and I was stunned at the frustration I saw swirling around his orbs. The anger... the pain... the regret.

It was all too late now.

It took Kael longer to shake himself out of his daze. He turned to his brother, his face red with embarrassment as he spat; "What the hell?"

Just then, I got a notification: my uber was here.

I turned to a stunned-looking Alpha Richard. I bowed, feeling a little embarrassed as I whispered; "I’ll have to leave first, Alpha Landry. I’m sorry."

At that, a slow sure smile crept up Kael’s face. I watched him in irritation as he straightened his tie and then picked up my handbag from the table. "You’ve decided to come with us?" He asked hopefully, his expectant gaze irritating me more than I would like to admit.

I flashed him a smile. One that made his own smile fall. I seethed; "No, my uber is here."

His face fell. Zevran rubbed his face in frustration.

To cut them just as much as they had cut me in the past, I turned to Zevran with my chin held high. My back felt like steel from how stiff and straight it was as I drawled; "Haven’t you told your brothers yet?"

Kael frowned. "Tell us what?" He looked suspicious, his eyes thinning into slits as he stared me down.

"Didn’t he tell you that I now have my wolf? And we do not need to go through any stupid ritual to cut off our nonexistent mate bond?" I asked softly, noting the way Kael’s expression went from awed to confused and then to utter panic.

He rushed out; "What do you mean?"

"I mean that we can now simply say the words; ’I reject you’ to each other... and get on our merry way. Do you understand me now?"

He blanched. Zevran was as rigid as a rock. "Invite Caelum here tomorrow night, and let’s all get this over with." I added, and with that, I stepped out of the restaurant, ignoring the strange looks on their faces.

The puzzled one on Richard’s.

And the weird heavy feeling in my chest.

The drive home was quiet just like the world around me, but was occasionally disturbed by my sobs. However, when I arrived at my house and got out of the car, I instantly froze.

Because resting on my porch was the usual bouquet of red roses. And as if to further annoy me, it was larger, way larger than the usual size I’ve been getting for the past few weeks.

There was no note with it as usual. No name. No means of identifying the sender.

My rage got the best of me. I picked it up, but instead of throwing it into the garbage like I usually would, I began to rip it out of the bouquet one after the other. One stem after another.

I was panting by the time I finished ripping it into shreds. Sweat dripped down my skin and forehead; and blood pooled in my hands from the cuts I’d gotten from the roses’ thorns. I slowly, painstakingly continued my journey to my door, but just when I was about to turn the knob, my evening went from absolute worse to worst.

Jarek’s car appeared out of thin air. He stepped out of it with his hands buried deep into his pants pocket. And then he whispered;

"Sweetcakes, I’m sorry."