Alpha's Ruin: He Betrayed Me, I'll Make Him Kneel

Chapter 2: I’m Leaving

A stunned wave of gasps rippled through the hall.

"You can’t be serious, Rhea." Kaleb let out a disbelieving scoff, looking her over once. "You won’t survive beyond these walls."

Rhea straightened slowly despite the tremor in her legs. Pain throbbed through her side, but she refused to let herself fold beneath it. "Let me worry about that," she replied firmly.

Kat stepped forward, the soft fabric of her ceremonial gown whispering against the floor. "You won’t be respected out there, sister," she said gently, almost kindly. "Just stay here. At least you’ll be cared for."

Rhea turned toward her slowly, her jaw tightening hard enough to ache. "So now you suddenly care about me?" she asked bitterly.

Kat parted her lips to answer, but Rhea cut her off before she could speak.

"I would rather die among rogues than stay surrounded by people I can’t trust," she said, her voice trembling with fury and heartbreak. "At least rogues stab you from the front instead of burying you before you’re even dead."

Kaleb dragged a hand across his forehead with visible irritation. "Still stubborn," he muttered coldly. "Even now, when you’re nothing."

Rhea said nothing. Staying upright already felt impossible, and she refused to waste what little she had left arguing with him anymore.

Then a thought struck her suddenly. "I’m leaving," she said quickly. "Just bring me my son so I can go."

Silence fell instantly across the hall. No one moved. No one spoke.

Rhea frowned faintly, the uneasy stillness prickled against her skin. Her gaze shifted to Kaleb first, but he avoided looking directly at her. Beside him, Kat remained strangely quiet. Even the servants lowered their heads toward the floor.

Something cold curled inside Rhea’s stomach. Slowly, she turned toward Kaleb again.

"Why aren’t you saying anything?" she asked, her pulse beginning to hammer painfully in her ears. "Where’s Eli?"

"He’s no longer with us." Kaleb finally answered. The words landed strangely flat, stripped of all emotion.

Rhea blinked at him in confusion. "What do you mean?" she whispered. "I don’t understand." Fear began creeping into her chest now, sharp and suffocating. "Where did he go?" she asked quickly. "Bring him back."

Kaleb’s expression never changed. "He died during the war," he said evenly.

For a second, Rhea heard nothing at all.

She staggered backward as dizziness crashed through her body. Her heart dropped, hard, and for a second she couldn’t breathe.

"No." Her head shook before she could stop it. Tears flooded her burning eyes almost instantly. "No, no."

Eli hated sleeping alone during storms. The thought slammed into her without warning, cruel and unbearable. Had he been frightened when he died?

Her voice cracked apart as panic overtook her. "Why didn’t you protect him?" she demanded, staring at Kaleb in horror. "You’re his father!"

Her breathing turned ragged. "Tell me who killed him," she said furiously. "Give me their name!" freeωebnovēl.c૦m

"There’s no point," Kaleb replied coldly. "He’s gone now." Then, after the briefest pause, he added. "And maybe it’s for the best."

Rhea froze. The words hollowed her out completely. "For the best?" she repeated faintly.

Slowly, she turned toward Kat, dread crawling through every inch of her body now. "Kat." Her voice trembled violently. "What happened to my son?"

Kat glanced briefly toward Kaleb. He gave a small shake of his head, a silent warning for her not to speak, but she ignored it. Lifting her chin slightly, she looked back at Rhea. ƒrēewebnovel.com

"You were dying," she said calmly. "The last thing we wanted was for Eli to suffer watching his mother waste away, so—"

Rhea’s eyes widened in horror before Kat could finish. "You—" Her throat locked. "You killed my son?"

For a second, the entire hall seemed to stop breathing with her.

Suddenly, the sharp sound of running footsteps echoed through the hall, and a little boy burst through the crowd.

"Father!" He called as he ran straight toward Kaleb, small arms wrapping tightly around his leg.

Rhea froze. Then relief hit so hard her knees nearly buckled. A shaky breath tore from her chest as tears flooded her eyes. For one dizzy, impossible second, the hall around her disappeared.

Eli is alive. The breath she’d been holding rushed out of her. Thank the Moon. For one dizzy second, grief and relief collided so violently inside her that she thought she might collapse.

Her lips trembled into a broken smile as she reached toward him instinctively. "Eli." Her voice cracked softly. "Come here, darling."

The little boy turned, and Rhea’s hand stopped midair.

Something felt wrong.

The shape of his face. The color of his eyes. Eli should be older. The hope inside her faltered violently.

The child frowned slightly before looking up at Kat. "Mother," he asked innocently, "who is she?"

Rhea felt the blood drain from her face. No. Her gaze stayed on the boy, searching desperately now. The dark curls. The round cheeks. The tiny scar near his chin that Eli should have had was gone.

This wasn’t her son.

Her breathing turned uneven. Slowly, almost mechanically, she looked at Kaleb. "No." The word barely made it past her lips.

Kaleb swallowed once. For the first time that night, something uncertain flickered across his face. "He’s my son," he admitted quietly.

Every sound in the hall seemed to disappear.

"Mine and Kat’s."

Rhea stared at him, her mind refusing to understand. Then the truth hit.

This was not just betrayal, not just another woman. While she lay alone in that bed, they had built this.

A broken sound escaped her throat before she could stop it. "So you killed him?" she whispered.

Kaleb’s jaw tightened.

Hot tears blurred her vision completely now. "He was your son too," she whispered.

Kaleb looked away, and that hurt more than if he hadn’t.

Her fist pressed against her chest like she could physically hold herself together. The tears streamed down freely now. "Why didn’t you just kill me instead?"

Kaleb’s expression hardened again almost immediately, burying whatever guilt had briefly surfaced. "You’re already as good as dead, Rhea," he said coldly. "Ironfang needs a Luna who can stand beside its Alpha."

His gaze shifted toward Kat, standing beside him. "You can’t anymore."

The finality in his tone shattered something deep inside her.

"So go back to your room," Kaleb continued, almost impatient now. "And we can all pretend none of this happened."

A hollow laugh nearly escaped Rhea at the cruelty of those words. "In your wildest dreams," she shot back. Her voice trembled violently beneath the tears choking her throat, but the fury burning beneath them kept her standing. "I won’t stay another second in this place."

Her gaze swept across the hall, over every silent face watching her break apart. "I bled for every person in this room." Her voice shook harder now. "And not one of you said a word for me when it mattered?"

"What’s the use of a weak Luna?" someone in the crowd scoffed mockingly.

The sound cut through her like another blade. Rhea’s heart felt as though it was splintering piece by piece, but she forced herself to stand taller despite the weakness threatening to drag her down.

"You call me weak now?" Her laugh broke painfully. "After everything I carried for this pack? Half the victories this pack celebrates were mine."

Kaleb scoffed.

Her breathing turned ragged, but she kept going. "Once I walk out those doors, I’ll find a healer. I’ll survive this."

Her eyes locked onto Kaleb’s. "And as for you? One day, you’re going to regret this moment."

The air in the hall seemed to tighten around her words.

Rhea looked at him one last time. Her voice almost failed her then because part of her still loved him, and she hated herself for it.

"I loved you enough to die for you once," she whispered, her eyes burning. "Now you’ll know what my wrath feels like."

She paused. "I swear it on my son."