I did not know what lies I would tell the alpha king and Beta Isagani this time. It seemed like all lies had already been extracted from my brain. What will I say now? How would we get out of this mess?
Damn.
If we could have made our moves faster earlier, we wouldn't have been caught.
Dawn nudged me. "Let's run away,'' Dawn whispered. ''The mutt is not looking at us. This is our chance, River.''
I gaped at her.
How bold of her to say that. Still, I admire her for that. She was really fearless, just like she said.
Still looking at Beta Valentine's back, I asked, ''Are you nuts? That means we are guilty. Are you scared? I will get us out of this, okay?''
Dawn’s eyes grew frantic.
Something tugged in my mind, and when I opened it, Dawn’s voice flowed. ‘We are guilty, River. The alpha king will punish us. I never wanted to be punished again.’
My expression softened as I saw the fear in her eyes.
I gritted my teeth.
Master Henderson succeeded in breaking her.
‘The worst the alpha king can do is put us in the dungeon, Dawn. I’ve been in a dungeon. A couple of times, and all I can say is you will get comfortable when moments pass.’ Except for the disgusting smell and the mixture of urine and shit combined. Just the thought of it made me want to vomit.
‘We should never get comfortable in the dungeon, River. That’s sick. A lot could happen in that place.’
‘I’m sorry if I said that without considering the hell you encountered. It was stupid of me and insensitive to say that. I know you’re not used to that.’
Dawn had a faraway look in her eyes as if she was reminiscing.
‘Henderson locked me in a cell for a month, barely giving me enough food and water. The other prisoners wanted to violate me. I had no choice but to kill them, or they would kill me in the end. I lost count of the lives I had killed, River. I did not know how I managed to survive those times. The dungeons scare the hell out of me, River. It brought so many negative memories. Memories which I no longer wanted to recall.’
My chest tightened at her statements. That was why she looked like a skeleton when I saw her.
‘I will protect you, Dawn. I promise. If the alpha king punishes us, it will only be me.’
If she gets the bullet for me, I would also do the same.
We stopped in front of the alpha king’s chamber.
The twins were guarding the door. They were talking and chuckling to each other and halted when they spotted us. They instantly gave their courtesy greeting to Beta Valentine, acknowledged his presence, and nodded in our direction.
“Beta Valentine. It is already late. What can we do for you?” Clara and Flare said in unison.
“I came for the alpha king. Is he still awake?” Beta Valentine asked.
The two looked at each other as if they were disputing if they would tell the truth or not.
“May we know why?” they asked again and looked in my direction. They shifted their weight from foot to foot.
“I wanted to ask something.”
Flare cleared her throat, but the bold Clara answered, “I don’t think this is the right time for that, Beta Valentine. You see—”
I folded my hands in front of my chest. “I know it.”
“Will you accept just like that? You are also the alpha king’s mate. You have to fight for your feelings.”
“Why would I?”
“If you love him, you should. You should try. So you will never have any regrets in life.”
“Did you hear them earlier? Something happened behind closed doors. What do you want me to do? Beg them to stop? I won’t stoop that low. I still have some dignity left.” That’s the only thing I have right now—my respect for myself.
She hesitated. “The queen might be pulling a prank on us. That may be a lie. She may be acting when she notices we are outside. That could happen. You have to think of every possibility.”
I knew she was only doing this so I would never betray the kingdom. However, if I continued hurting like this, I might be tempted to. I had already suffered enough.
“Lie? They love each other very much.”
“No. Let me ask the alpha king myself. I will prove that he also loves you. And if he did, fight for your love, okay? Protect this kingdom at all costs. I failed to do that to my pack. And you do not know how much I kept blaming myself for that.”
I opened my mouth to say my rebuttal, but Dawn had already left me, and before I could stop her, Dawn pounded on the door. “Your Majesty! I need to talk to you!”
“What are you doing?” Beta Valentine asked, his eyebrows scowling.
“You want to talk to the alpha king. Now is the time for that. Fuck punishments,” she muttered.
“Stop that, woman. Let them sleep.”
As if they were asleep right now, I muttered with sarcasm.
“Stay away from this, mutt,” Dawn answered. “This has nothing to do with you. Your Majesty! Alpha King Maxxwell, open the door!” she demanded.
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