Roman’s POV
After I sent Kael away, I finally turned to her, but didn’t offer the water. I placed the glass on the side table and went to the window instead, lifting the curtains so the night sky outside would be unobstructed. Watching the stars seemed to be one of her favorite pastimes—or maybe she had nothing else to do and simply preferred looking at them.
While pulling the curtain strings, I said, "The sky looks better from up here." I caught her reflection in the window glass and noticed her turn her head to look outside. "It’s beautiful," I added, though I knew exactly who I was praising.
I continued setting the curtains while speaking, keeping my tone casual. "You must be worried about your pets, but don’t worry. They’re fine. Even though we’re not home, a guard is looking after them, feeding them on time. Fluffy is used to the guards, so she often stays outside with the others, while Vixen prefers to sleep inside."
Once the curtains were settled, I turned fully to her. "But Vixen needs to move around. Laying down too much isn’t good for her, so I brought some new toys to keep her active. She seems to be enjoying them. If you want, you can even watch how she’s doing through the home cameras."
For the first time, her eyes met mine, attentive and curious. I pulled out my phone. "I’ll get the footage for you," I said, then walked to the table and picked up the glass of water. "It’ll take a moment. Until then, you can drink this."
She didn’t protest and took the glass. Kael, thoughtful as ever, had placed a straw for her since she couldn’t sit up completely yet.
She sipped the water while I fetched the camera feed. Once ready, I took the glass back and handed her the phone.
On the screen, she watched Vixen playing with the toys, a guard nearby to supervise.
"She vomited. Is she alright now?" she asked, concern in her voice.
Vomited? I realized then that bastard Kael had fed her a lie. It hadn’t worked on her, which explained the look on his face, like she had just slapped him. I couldn’t help but smile faintly. Poor Kael.
He had a long way to go.
As a pack leader, he hadn’t protected her or tried to find her innocence back then. Though he—and all of us—had our reasons, and anyone in our place would have acted the same, from her perspective she had every right to hate him for what she endured.
For her suffering, the blame was ours as much as anyone’s.
"She’s alright now," I said, careful not to expose Kael’s lie.
From the other side of the glass wall, I felt the cold glare. Kael, I was sure.
Ignoring him, I settled at the edge of the bed, keeping my attention on her as she watched Vixen on the camera feed.
"I wanted to ask you something," I began, not waiting for permission. "Have you ever been to the RavenClaw pack before coming here?"
"I don’t remember," she replied without even looking at me, as if brushing me off.
I took the mobile from her hand. Her glare landed on me, sharp and frustrated, like a child whose favorite toy had been snatched away.
"I am serious," I said, voice colder this time, expression hard. "Once we’re done, you can keep watching it as long as you want."
"I told you I don’t remember," she repeated, letting out a tired sigh. "I’m not even sure how many packs my grandparents moved me through. And it’s been fucking damn six years."
I tried another approach. "How about the name Asher Valeric?" I asked, watching her reaction closely.
Her face twisted with annoyance, a mixture of disbelief and bitterness. "Is that one of the bastards who paid the traffickers to fuck me?" she asked sharply.
I was taken aback at her extreme words.
She continued. "You should know, they don’t tell names to whores. And even if they did, my mind couldn’t store the names of hundreds of them—the count more than the number of days in six years."
She said it casually, almost detached, but my chest tightened at the thought of what she had endured. I inhaled deeply to steady myself, yet I couldn’t ignore the unrest I felt from the other side of the partition. My brothers weren’t just observing us—they could hear everything.
I calmed myself and said again, "Eira, this is important. I need you to answer me. Alright?"
Silence.
"He is the Alpha of RavenClaw pack," I continued, voice steady, "and we want to know if you know him."
"The only Alphas I ever knew were some five bastards," she replied flatly.
Alrigth! She was referring to us five.
"Are you sure?" I pressed, "See..."
"If you don’t trust my words, then get lost," she snapped, cutting me off. She closed her eyes, unwilling to continue. "You bastards of men, entitled to believe whatever the hell you think. Bloody fuckers. Why even bother ask?"
Damn! Her anger was something else.
Just then, Lucian stormed out, his anger sharp. "We saw the video of you sucking off Keiren and his friends. Surely we five assholes weren’t the only ones you knew."
Her eyes flew open. This time there was no stubbornness, only hurt. But she masked it, forcing out a bitter laugh. "Thanks for reminding me. I almost forgot that precious memory. I will make sure to cherish it this day forward."
Lucian’s anger flared, about to erupt, but Kael’s hand on his shoulder stopped him. Thank god he did. We knew better than anyone how destructive Lucian’s wrath could be.
The other two brothers stepped out as well. The air around filled with tension.
But this was a reminder. Something I still needed to ask. I turned back to her.
"Eira, we know you aren’t the traitor of our pack," I said, watching her reaction. Surprise and shock flickered across her face.
"We know you weren’t the one feeding our enemies information," I clarified. "We’re trying to find the truth. You need to help us."
A long, heavy silence passed. Then she scoffed, sharp and pained, trying to hide the hurt beneath it. "You’ve got it wrong again. I didn’t just kill Alice. I fucked Keiren and passed him all the information. If I could go back, I’d do it the same way."
Her gaze locked on me now, dark and furious, every ounce of hatred pouring from it. "Do you know why? Because I hate you all. I hate everything. I just wanted to destroy. I wonder how the five of you even survived. Why didn’t you die too? It would have been better if our enemies had killed you."
All of us stared at her in a disbelief for a while. I knew it was her anger and hatred speaking, and she had every right to feel that way.
"Our enemies?" I said calmly, "That means you considered yourself one of us and them as enemies?"
She looked away, not wanting to say more as if I just caught her true feelings when she said the words ’our enemies.’