Chapter 22

Ava

For what felt like an eternity, the room was pitch black. The sounds of the violent struggle between Chris and Olivia filled the space, echoing and bouncing off of the walls. It wasn’t until I finally managed to fumble my way over to the torch and light it that I finally made out what was happening.

Chris had Olivia pinned up against the wall by her wrists, their faces mere inches apart. Both of them had their fangs dropped and their teeth bared. But then, Olivia sneered and tilted her head to the side, exposing the fair skin of her neck.

“Go on, brother,” she hissed. “End me.”

Of course, Chris wouldn’t harm his sister in that way. With one final growl, he released her wrists and stepped back. His fangs receded as he wiped the spittle from his mouth with the back of his hand, and meanwhile, I rushed over to the two Omegas who were still laying on the floor and began to tend to them.

Thankfully, their wounds weren’t fatal—but they were horrific, like something out of a horror film. I couldn’t believe that Olivia, the person who I used to call my friend, the girl who once only seemed to care about gossip and shopping, had inflicted this sort of pain.

The Omega that had been unconscious when I walked in was only just now beginning to stir, with one eye swollen shut and blood dripping from her mouth and nose. Her clothes had been torn in various places with burns and cuts marring her skin, but thankfully none were too deep to cause any lasting damage.

That, at least, was a good sign—although whether she had any internal bleeding from the beatings was still a possibility.

The other Omega, on the other hand, was in far worse shape and had clearly taken the brunt of the brutality. When I made my way to where she was whimpering on the floor, I could make out the severity of her wounds and it made me sick.

Her face and hair had been scorched by the heat of the fire and was now red and bubbling, her hands scalded where the boiling water had splashed onto her during the struggle. That wasn’t even the worst of it, either; she had been completely beaten to a pulp, her body and face covered in dark, swollen bruises and lesions.

And worst of all, a large chunk of her left ear had been cut off. Her entire earlobe was missing, leaving nothing but thick, dark blood oozing down the side of her neck.

“What did you do to her ear?” I hissed, lifting my head to glare at Olivia.

Olivia merely shrugged. “Cut it off. Threw it in the fire.”

I couldn’t contain the gasp and the vile curse that erupted from me then. “You monster!” I snarled as I gathered the whimpering Omega into my arms. “What in the hells is wrong with you?”

“Oh, please. Like you care.” Olivia waved her hand dismissively. “You don’t actually care—”

“Watch your tongue,” Chris growled, taking a menacing step toward the girl who I used to call my friend, but who was now nothing more than a stranger wearing her flesh.

But Olivia didn’t budge. “You know she’s only pretending to care about the slaves in order to manipulate you,” she said, whipping her head around to look at him. “Your time in the human world has softened you, and she knows that. She’s playing on your weaknesses, trying to get a foothold on you.”

“That’s not true,” I interjected. “I’ve always cared about the Omegas, and one day, I hope to see them treated as equals.” I rose from where I had been crouched by the two nearly-unconscious women. “You won’t get away with this, Olivia. You can’t just beat two women within an inch of their lives and expect to walk free.”

“Is that so?” Olivia scoffed, but I could see the momentary fear flicker through her eyes as the door swung open and several guards, along with the five Elders, strode in. She took a hesitant step backwards, but she had nowhere to go; only the wall was behind her.

“What’s all this for?” she asked, gesturing to the others.

“A precaution,” Chris replied as he folded his arms across his chest. “You’ll be guarded in your room tonight so you cannot leave. I’ll decide what to do with you in the morning.”

“Seriously?” Olivia let out a wry chuckle. “All this, over the lives of two worthless Omegas? Over those who are lower than dirt?”

“They’re people, too!” I shouted. “And you nearly killed them. You’ll be punished, Olivia.”

Olivia gestured to Chris and me as she whirled around to face the Elders. “And you’re just allowing this?!” she cried out. “You’re going to let them disrespect me, the rightful Luna, like this? Surely you can’t be in support of their disgusting partnership, especially considering the fact that she has already been mated before!”

The Elders, for once, were silent—although I couldn’t quite tell if it was because they had no desire to engage with Olivia or whether they secretly agreed with her vile words. It was no secret, of course, that our ‘partnership’ went directly against tradition.

Before I could even open my mouth to retort, however, Chris suddenly snapped at the guards, indicating for them to seize Olivia. Two guards stepped forward, each one taking one of Olivia’s arms as she thrashed and cried out.

“This is treason!” she shrieked. “I am the rightful Luna, wife to Ethan! You cannot treat me like this!”

Chris sighed. “Ethan is gone, Olivia,” he said with a calmness that left me taken aback. “He’s been banished, and he’s not here anymore to speak up for you. Perhaps you should watch your tongue unless you’d like to join him in the human world.”

At Chris’s words, Olivia fell silent. For an interminable moment, she just gaped at him, her arms seized by the two guards.

Then, finally, she shut her mouth.

Without speaking, Chris gestured for Olivia to be taken away. The guards deftly whisked her out of the room, and it was only when their footsteps finally receded down the hall that I let out the breath I didn’t realize I had been holding.

“You called for medics?” Chris asked then, turning to face the Elders as I crouched back down to tend to the two Omegas at my feet. The Elders nodded, murmuring worriedly amongst themselves.

As if on cue, the medics arrived minutes later carrying medpacks and two stretchers. The two Omega girls, who I was only now realizing could not have even been older than eighteen, were now both stirring and cradling their wounds.

“You’ll be alright,” I said softly as I helped the medics load them onto the stretchers. “You’ll be taken care of.”

The Omegas both whimpered in response, but before they were whisked away, one of them—the one who had been burned and had lost a portion of her ear—suddenly reached out, her small fingers weakly wrapping around my wrist.

I paused, bending down to lean closer to her. “What is it?” I asked.

The Omega groaned softly under her breath, her voice cracked and gravelly from the torture she had endured. For a long moment, no more than a few hoarse breaths came out and I thought she might not be able to speak at all.

But finally, she managed to pull me closer and whisper three words into my ear. Three words that, at that moment, struck me to my core.

“Thank you, Luna.”