Chapter 76: 77: Rude Awakenings

ARIEL

The rage is taking over my senses and I’m going to let it.

I don’t care anymore.

My body crashes into Natalia’s.

My sister shrieks as I wrestle her down to the ground and keep her pinned there with my body weight.

She writhes underneath me, desperate to get away.

But I won’t let her.

~She’s gone too far.~

~She’s hurt me too much.~

I pull my hand back, preparing to deliver the beating of the century, when I feel Alex grab hold of me from behind.

He drags me off of Natalia, my butt sliding along the slick wooden floor as I kick furiously.

“Let me go,” I shout at him, but he just tightens his grip. “Don’t get involved. This is between me and my sister.”

“What is the problem exactly?” Natalia says. “Besides the fact that you’re acting like a fucking psycho.”

“Don’t play dumb, Natalia. How could you betray me like this?” I ask. “After everything I’ve done for you?”

“Hah!” She snorts. “What have you done for me?”

“When you wanted to see Xavier, I took you to him. And then when you changed your mind and wanted to get him out of here, I arranged for him to be moved!”

I inch toward her, slowly, methodically, as flashes of red start to cloud my vision.

“But you couldn’t let it be on ~my~ terms, could you?” I continue. “You needed to help him escape. You needed to have it ~your~ way.”

As the words come out of my mouth, Natalia’s eyes instantly, almost comically, fill with tears.

“Xavier…Xavier’s gone?”

One fat tear spills dramatically onto her cheek.

I saw Natalia pull her fake-crying stunt when we were teenagers, more times than I could count.

“The pity card might have always worked on Dianne, but it’s not going to work on me,” I spit.

“Ariel, you’re wrong,” she says, wiping her face with her sleeve. “But you’ve clearly made up your mind. Nothing I say is going to make you believe that I didn’t do it.”

She takes an undaunted step away from the corner that she was cowering in moments before.

I see her eyes flash devilishly over to Alex, still standing silently behind me.

“If Xavier escaped, it’s not my fault,” she says. “It’s not my fault that your mate is so weak, he can’t control what’s going on in his dungeon, much less his kingdom.”

That’s it.

The final straw.

She can insult me all she wants…

But Alex?

He’s off-limits.

I lunge at her, my body shaking, ready to shift again.

But now I feel two sets of hands on me as Dom and Alex pull me back.

Goddess-damnit.

“Alex! You heard what she said, didn’t you?! She freed Xavier and now she’s blaming you!”

He turns me around so that we’re standing face-to-face.

I see a distant, pained look in his eyes that instantly shuts me up.

“She’s right, Ariel,” Alex says softly. “I don’t know who helped Xavier escape, but we need proof before you can start torturing Natalia.”

“But Alex—”

“No, Ariel. If you need to be mad at someone,” he says darkly, “be mad at me. I was the one who excused the guard.”

He hangs his head, releasing his grasp on me.

I peek back at Natalia.

She’s smoothing out her clothes and tangled hair.

“Are you still gonna slap me?” she asks.

I shake my head.

“Looks like the only thing he can control is you,” she says.

I take a deep breath in and exhale slowly through my mouth.

You can’t kill her, Ariel, I remind myself.

She has a son.

But still…

“You’re dead to me,” I say, before turning on my heel and storming away.

ALEX

As I walk down the hall toward my study, I hear Natalia’s words ringing in my head:

He can’t control what’s going on in his dungeon, much less his kingdom.

I wish I could dismiss them, and just lock her up like I did her mate…but I know that she’s right.

With each passing day, it feels like the kingdom is slipping through my fingers.

And now Xavier is loose again.

That fucker.

~I should have killed him when I had the chance, instead of letting him live to humiliate me like this.~

~When we find him…~

~Well…~

~My mercy for that beast has expired, to say the least.~

As I near the door of my study, I see that Vivian is there, waiting for me.

By the grim look on her face, I can see that she has already heard about Xavier’s escape.

Wordlessly, I unlock the door and let her inside.

When we’re sitting across from each other at my desk, I finally find it in me to swallow and speak the most honest words I can think of.

“I don’t know what to do,” I say, my voice trembling.

“I’m so sorry,” she says.

“It’s not your fault,” I respond, sinking my head into my hands.

~I~ rejected her president’s offer for military intervention.

~I~ told the guard to leave his post.

And ~I~ kept Xavier alive all this time, instead of giving him the punishment he deserved.

~If it’s anyone’s fault, it’s mine.~

VIVIAN

“It’s not your fault,” he says to me, and I have to swallow down some bile that shoots up into my throat.

~Oh Goddess…if he knew the truth.~

~It’s entirely my fault.~

~They welcomed me into their pack, invited me to their parties, told me their secrets…~

~And this is how I repaid them.~

Half of me wants to come clean right now—to admit to everything.

But the other half is terrified of my father and the brutal punishment he will give me if I ruin his plan.

So instead, I just sit silently, stewing in my own self-hatred.

“Can you do me a favor, Vivian?” Alex asks, and I jump to attention.

“Anything,” I say…and I mean it. I’ll do whatever it takes to wipe that disturbed expression off of his face.

“Will you arrange another call with the president?” he asks. “I am ready to accept his help.”

~What?~

I can’t believe he’s saying this after being so resistant to the idea.

“Are you sure?” I ask him.

“Yes,” he says firmly. “It’s time to assert more power. The Hunters were able to use Xavier to infiltrate my kingdom before. If they find him before we do, we’re in serious trouble.”

I nod meekly in agreement. “I’ll set it up,” I say.

Then I get out of the chair and walk into the hall, too guilt-ridden to look him in the eye for even one second more.

As I make my way toward my bedroom, my breathing grows labored, and panic starts to set in.

There’s nowhere for me to turn.

I’ve betrayed the wolves by setting Xavier free, and I’ve disobeyed my father by not murdering him.

Whatever I do, whoever I try to please, it’s never good enough.

I reach out my hand and press it up against the wall.

I’m breathing so hard and fast now that my head is starting to spin.

I feel like I’m about to pass out.

That’s when I get an alert on my phone that makes my panic even more crippling:

A text from my father.

Dad

I told you to kill him.

Dad

But you couldn’t do that one simple thing.

Dad

Now maybe I should kill you.

Dad

Show you how easy it really is.

Vivian

He’s gone.

Vivian

That’s all that matters.

Vivian

He won’t show his face here again.

Dad

You better hope you’re right…

Dad

For your own sake.

ARIEL

~Shit.~

~I’m late for luna lessons.~

~Again.~

And for once, I’m not dreading it, because I honestly need some advice.

I’d love to know how Maria would handle the whole Natalia situation, since beating the shit out of my sister is apparently off the table.

But as I race toward Maria’s wing of the palace, smoothing out my dress and trying to make myself look presentable, I can instantly tell that something is wrong.

Normally when I arrive, Maria and my mother are waiting for me impatiently, already bickering amongst themselves.

As I approach the room now, it’s absolutely silent.

When I open the door and walk in, I see them sitting closely together, their faces buried in a newspaper.

Maria peers above the paper when she hears my footsteps.

Her expression is cold, stone-like.

“Has the news about Xavier gotten out?” I ask timidly, afraid to break the silence.

“That…,” Maria says. “And other things, too.”

“What do you mean?” I ask.

She folds the paper back up and holds it out for me.

I walk over and take it from her hands.

I gulp hard when I see the photo splashed across the front page.

It’s of me.

Lying on my back, with my legs splayed open on the dance floor.

A stripper grinding on top of me.

~Oh Goddess, no.~

My eyes flick up to the headline sprawled across the top of the page in huge letters:

^PARTY GIRL LUNA GETS LOOSE WHILE KINGDOM IN CRISIS^

“Oh, Ariel,” I hear Dianne sigh. “Look what you’ve done. I told you we never should have gone.”

~She’s right.~

~I’ve fucked up.~

~Big time.~