Chapter 75

• HAERA It was too much... It was like I had been pushed into an ocean that flowed strongly and I was overpowered by it. The current was stronger than I could swim through...I was drowning. It was overwhelming. Should I call it a revelation or a discovery? Should I say I had been blessed or was it a curse? As if that wasn't enough, I felt a sticky liquid splattered on my bare legs. It didn't faze me at first but the whimper and mourning howl from Ulric that followed made me look down at my legs to see what the liquid was. The sickening smell of it already told me what it was but still, my eyes fell to my legs. "He killed her. It's her blood, Haera." I could perceive it...I could tell but I couldn't bring myself to react. The odor was suffocating yet it pleased me although I could still hear Ulric cry in the background. I knew he wasn't crying because he would miss Gennora. It was simply a result of the pain all werewolves feel after the death of their mate. My eyes followed the tiny droplets of blood that had stained the floor to the pointy tip of a silver sword that seemed to be the source. I skipped the lifeless body on the floor as my eyes took in the blood-stained sword. I could barely see the shiny silver sword as it was fully covered with her blood. I traced the sword upward with my eyes and when I saw the holder, I didn't see an inch of remorse in him nor did he smell like he regretted what he did. Alpha Zachary's fist clenched and unclenched around the grip handle of the sword as he examined the victim of the cold-blooded murder he committed. His hands, robe, and face were covered in his victim's blood but yet he didn't blink his eyelashes. "He really killed her! Alpha Zachary killed Gennora!" Dezra stated the obvious and I let my eyes fall on Gennora's motionless bloody body. Gennora's neck had been slashed open by my mate. The woman that had been the engineer of my nightmare neck was the gushing out blood, splattering it everywhere. Her body was in a twisted position but she couldn't help herself. I mean, she was the high and mighty Gennora. Gennora's eyes were on me and despite being dead, they looked like they were taunting me as they used to. My attention was stolen from Gennora's body by the high pitched scream of princess Ilvira- "She isn't a Princess. She stole that too." Dezra corrected me. It was too much. I had tried to participate in the whole drama but I was drowning and this time, I felt someone's cold fingers wrapping around my ankle, pulling me further into the water. Might be Gennora's hands... "It's ridiculous! I'm the Alpha's daughter... I'm your Princess daddy. Mom-" "Take her back to the cage!" Alpha Zachary ordered ferociously while the dethroned princess cried out her protest, calling out to Alpha Jarvold and Luna Elena. "No....you can't treat me like this. You marked me, Alpha Zachary. I'm bound to you and surely there's no way you can change that." Her desperation to get out of the situation wasn't recognized by Alpha Zachary, not even Ilvira's struggle. "You ruined that when you fucked my fucking brother! Take her out of my sight!" My destined mate shouted, forcing Ilvira to jump away from him. The guards took Ilvira away without paying attention to her futile protest while some other guards cleaned up the remains of the mighty Gennora. It was too much.... I needed an escape. I craved air. I wanted to breathe freely without the gaze of these people. "Come to think of it, you should be the one named Ilvira. I can't believe she stole that too. I was right all along....she was a petty thief." Even my wolf was too loud and I wanted to escape her voice. I didn't know I zoned out, thinking about all that happened in my past years. The favoritism from Gennora towards Ilvira made more sense now. The love Gennora bestowed unto Ilvira wasn't mere loyalty...it was motherly love and I didn't get to enjoy any of it but Ilvira had two mothers to shower her with affection. She lived the life that was destined to be mine. She had my parents, lived in where was supposed to be my home....my room. She had eaten the food meant for me. Ilvira even mated with my mate while I rot away in her shadows. It was way too much for me to handle. Balfour's death too! How could they have killed him when he was all I had? Truly, they were related by blood. I should cry. I had to express the pain I was feeling but it wasn't that simple. Crying in front of these people might come off the wrong way. They might think I was crying because of Gennora's death or because of the life I had been denied despite it being my birthright. But those weren't the reason for my unshed tears. The tears were building up because of the combination of those reasons and many more from my past. I would cry for Gennora's death because I knew I yearned to kill her myself but I didn't...I couldn't and now, it was too late to watch life depart her body. It was too late to- I never would have gathered enough courage to kill her or anyone at that. I was swaying on my feet due to the intensity of my emotions. My eyes were clouded and I felt dizzy. I craved peace so much at that moment yet I heard someone calling for my attention. "Haera..." Was that even supposed to be my name? I could have been Ilvira just like my wolf had said earlier. Ilvira sounded good just like the perfect princess that I had known all my life and Haera sounded like me....plain ugly me that I had also known since I could remember. Ilvira.... If I could go back and change things, I would have told my birth mother not to give me that name. It disgusted me. Haera was me and I wouldn't want to change that. "Haera..." It was his voice. That voice was meant to make me feel better whenever no matter the situation but I experienced the opposite of that when Alpha Zachary called me again. "Breath Haera. Look at me." Alpha Zachary was closer to me now. I watch him act as if he understood me, counseling me to not pull into a shell when I had people that I needed to talk to. "Leave me alone." My voice was cold and my words were sharp. I looked him in the eyes, conveying the irritation that I had been feeling for him ever since the drama began to unfold. I just wanted to be alone and away from him and those taunting eyes that held pity for me. "Hae-" My destined mate mumbled but I shove him off to leave the hall to inhale fresh air outside and alone. The moment I swiveled away from Alpha Zachary I came face to face with Luna Elena's puffy face. Luna Elena shook her head vigorously as if she was trying to convince me from making a bad decision. I took my time to study her features and I wondered how that woman was my biological mother. Ho- "My dear child! I'm sorry for everything, my child.." She pulled me into her arms, giving a free invitation to the tears I had been holding since I found out the truth. I wept uncontrollably into her clothes as she apologized for the crimes she didn't commit. I didn't know how to address her after all this was a woman I had bowed to earlier today at the palace gate. Luna Elena had been someone I respected so much. Someone who had never held my hand was holding my whole body in her arms as I wailed like a child. "Don't think too much, Haera. We are her pup." Dezra advised but I blocked her out instantly. I had the right to my feelings just like I had the right to think for as long as I wanted. I didn't want to be told what to do, not even by my wolf who was probably dealing with the same emotions as I. "How could I not sense my child? The bond between a mom and her pup was meant to be the strongest yet I didn't recognize you." Luna Elena began to cry along with me after her statement. It was weird but I didn't like the sound of her crying. It was as if our natural bond that had been severed by what Gennora did was mending itself as we cried. "You are all dismissed." I heard my destined mate's voice faintly amidst my loud sobs. I could finally breathe when the rest of the court was dismissed...when I perceived that it was just me, my biological parent, and my destined mate that was in the throne room. I could finally feel myself fighting against the strong current that had once swallowed me. Luna Elena hasn't released me from her comforting embrace when another pair of arms engulfed both of us in a different type of comforting embrace. A fatherly kind of comforting hug... Alpha Jarvold's natural scents provided a form of security that I had never experienced before. He was assuring me that he was there now to protect me for the rest of my days. My regular instinct was to bow to him in respect just like I was used to but my natural instinct was far stronger than it at that moment and I looked at his face carefully for the first time. "Alpha Jar-" "It's Daddy to you henceforth." My biological father corrected with the same affectionate voice I had always heard him use with Ilvira over the years. "And I'm your mother. Nothing can explain the joy and pain in my heart after this huge revelation." It was odd to address both of them as something other than their title, still, it was thrilling. I had just been elevated from the position of an assistant chef to being an Alpha daughter which made me an Alpha blood. As it should be. Alpha Zachary had been right all along. My newly found parent smiled down at me like I was the most precious thing they ever owned. "I wish Dina and those maids can witness this reunion." Dezra yapped in a sing-song tone which almost had me laughing. She must have sensed that my guard was down before speaking in my head again. "Can I call you Papa instead? And call you Momma?" My amber eyes shifted from Alpha Jarvold to Luna Elena to see if they would agree with me. I chose to call them that because I wanted to live the childhood I was denied and I didn't want to address them the same way Ilvira used to. I had to make having a daughter different for my parents. I had to. "Feel free to call us whatever you want." Luna El- I meant to say, my momma replied while my Papa nodded to show that he agreed with his mate. I was on the highest cloud, trust me. My parents hugged me again before excusing themselves reluctantly because they wanted to give me and my destined mate a chance to talk. "Come to the chambers allocated to us afterward." Alpha- oh damn. This was harder than it seemed. My papa added before they completely walked out of my sight. I was uncomfortable with being in the same room as Alpha Zachary but I couldn't leave because I had to hear him out as well as converse with him. "Since when have you been investigating?" I questioned, turning to face him once again. He wasn't sitting on his throne anymore and he had managed to clean most of Gennora's blood off his skin but there were still more than a few stains left. He strode towards me before responding. "A few weeks ago perhaps." Alpha Zachary's response didn't carry the weight I was expecting. I wanted him to show me how sorry he was for creating such furor in both our lives. He sensed my displeasure and quickly added his excuse. "You have to understand that I was going crazy too. I wanted to claim you several times but I had to stop myself. It was confusing to be perceiving the same intoxicating scents from two different women." Now that his bond with Ilvira wasn't as strong as it was, the mate bond was stronger. The desire to hug Alpha Zachary was scary and that wasn't what I had to do at that moment. "But you chose to believe in the perfect Princess instead of me, the ugly chef from nowhere? All you had to do was believe me. You saw me before her. You saw the color of my eyes, Zachary. You could have believed me and spared me from the day-to-day torture that I had to be dragged through." I refused to cry or stutter as I voiced out my disappointments in him. It was the first time I called him by his name but I was mad at him for the hell I was made to live in while he enjoyed being in the embrace of another woman. "I had to be logical, Haera. It was absurd to believe that I was mated to someone who wasn't of Alpha blood. It was hilarious eve-" "I was hilarious? What about now that my status has changed in a twinkle of an eye. Do you believe me now?" I was trying so damn hard not to yell out my frustration. How dare he reject me because I was a maid? How dare he throw away our fate to be mated to a fake princess? "You are making this sound bad. I uncovered the truth to be with you, Haera. I want you beside me forever." My mate murmured dejectedly as he tried to hold me but I shifted out of his reach. I despised him and that made me inform him of my abrupt decision irrespective of Dezra's objection. "You had the right to choose and your choice wasn't me. Therefore, I don't want to be your mate. Not now, not ever."