Fated To Three, Betrayed By All… Until She Rose novel Chapter 17

**Healing Slowly But Surely By R. Joseph**

Leilani.

Caelum’s kiss—my very first—was nothing short of a brutal assault. It felt punishing, an experience that shattered the romantic notions I had once held close, the sweet whispers of young maidens and the sparkly, dreamy kisses depicted in movies and novels.

This kiss was a raw, wicked affair. It was as if he were not kissing me out of desire, but rather out of a dark need to punish me for the pain I had inflicted on my sister.

As our lips collided, tears streamed down my cheeks, a testament to the conflicting emotions swirling within me. His mouth consumed mine with a ferocity that felt torturous, a relentless hunger that left me gasping for breath. In the heat of the moment, Caelum tangled his fingers into my hair, pulling so fiercely that I feared my skull might crack under the pressure. Then, with a sudden shift, he lowered his head, trailing aggressive kisses down my neck and shoulders, intentionally grazing my skin as if marking territory.

A cry of pain escaped my lips, but I was silenced when he clamped his hand over my mouth. “That’s for being a bitch…” he murmured against my lips, pulling back for just a heartbeat to nip at my lower lip, sending a jolt of confusion through me.

“That’s for asking for a rejection, Leilani.”

The words sent a shudder through my body, and despite the undeniable ache I felt for him, my instincts kicked in. I planted both hands firmly against his chest and pushed with all my strength.

But he didn’t move an inch.

“Here, with me… with us… you don’t get to choose. We own you. Your body, your life. You don’t get to end what we have.”

Panic surged through me, matching the frantic energy radiating from him. As I struggled against his grip, his mouth reclaimed mine again and again, the kiss urgent, as if he had been holding back for far too long. Yet beneath that urgency lay something darker, something that sent chills racing down my spine.

His tongue danced with mine, igniting a fire within me that I had never known before. For a fleeting moment, I could almost feel the unspoken emotions pouring into my soul with every heated connection of our mouths. It was intoxicating, and my knees turned to jelly beneath me.

He moaned lowly, and I realized this was not just a kiss; it was a collision of raw need and deep longing. It encapsulated everything we had left unspoken, everything I had been too afraid to voice.

But then a haunting thought pierced through my haze—he had kissed my sister not long ago.

The realization made me shiver, and not in a pleasurable way. As his hands slid up my back, pulling me closer, as if he couldn’t bear the thought of even a sliver of distance between us, I pushed back harder this time.

“Let go…” I spat, but as soon as my lips parted, his tongue surged into my mouth, drinking me in, consuming me in ways I had never imagined possible.

I pushed and pushed, harder and harder, until—

A scream sliced through the air, momentarily deafening me.

The shock of it jolted me away from Caelum, whose expression shifted to one of surprise, as if he had just been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Horror washed over me as I realized he could no longer meet my gaze. The color had drained from his face.

“Leilani!” It was Chalice. Her voice trembled, strained, and when I turned to face her, my breath caught in my throat at the sorrow etched in her eyes. The pain, the betrayal—it was palpable.

“What have you done?”

Caelum was the first to break free from the stunned silence. He shot me a sidelong glance before turning back to Chalice, who had already turned away from him, tears streaming down her cheeks like a river of anguish.

“What are you doing here? I thought you were taken to the hospital?”

“Is that all you can say after I caught you cheating on me with my sister?” she barked, her voice rising as tears cascaded down her face.

So beautifully tragic, so perfectly picturesque.

“I wasn’t…” Caelum began, his face contorting in agony, “I would never!”

“So she seduced you!” Chalice exclaimed, her gaze turning to me, pinning me with the ugliest glare I had ever encountered. I froze, my heart racing.

“I did not… I don’t—”

No one would believe me. Now, it was the Alpha’s word against mine.

“Cat got your tongue?”

“She’s such a whore!”

“Seducing her sister’s fiancé? What despicable thing can she not do?”

Suddenly, the atmosphere shifted, and I glanced up just in time to see Zevran and Kael joining the crowd. They exchanged a quick glance before rushing to Chalice’s side, who began to cry harder upon their arrival.

“What happened?” Zevran asked, his voice cutting through the tension. At the sound of his voice, Chalice looked up, her eyes wide and glistening with tears.

“Leilani tried to seduce Caelum! Earlier today, she told me she could have any of you if she wanted, and now she did it. She’s so hateful, I don’t know what I did to deserve this—”

“I didn’t seduce Caelum!” I growled, my voice rising in desperation. But as soon as I spoke, Kael stormed toward me, his expression furious. Just as he raised his hand to strike me, Zevran intervened, gripping his wrist.

“You can’t,” he whispered urgently.

A moment of silence hung between them before Kael begrudgingly lowered his hand, turning back to Chalice. “What do you want me to do to her?”

‘Do to her’—as if I were not a person, as if they had that much authority over my life.

I lifted my chin, meeting their gazes defiantly before Chalice could respond, and spat, “Reject me. That’s punishment enough, isn’t it? So do it, right here, right now.”