Page 135 of Caged Between the Beta & Alpha
I want Dad’s trial to be soon. I know it’s been delayed, but let’s not postpone it anymore.
Are you sure you’re ready?
I want to put this all behind me. I need this,I said quietly.
Very well. Your father’s will be tomorrow, and Liam’s, we will set it for two days after Haru’s.I knew Liam would eventually be trialled, too... but so soon?
Okay,I said, quietly cutting the link.
I knew what I wanted to do before then, what I needed to do.
Visit Liam.
Quickly, I switchedroutes, heading towards the pack headquarters before I changed my mind. I stopped at the entrance and looked at the guards.
“I wish to speak to Liam,” I said quietly, not missing the way they looked at my mark. My stomach churned, and I realised that what someone wore with pride had become something awful for me. Something to be leered and gawked at like a spectacle in a zoo. I moved my hair forward, covering it.
They opened the door, allowing me inside. Another guard escorted me through the halls, unlocking the next door and leading me to the cells. My heart thudded when we slowed down.
“Do you wish to talk from outside, miss, or inside?”
I don’t know…
“Outside is fine,” I said quietly, my stomach twisting.
I can’t do this… I can’t…
Breathe…
I stopped when I saw him sitting in one of the cells on the bed. His eyes were closed, his back against the wall. He looked as handsome as ever, dressed in a plain white tee and grey sweatpants. His hair was falling in his eyes, and my chest squeezed. The memory of him biting into my neck sent a shudder down my spine. Was it the sane Liam or the dark Liam sitting there?
As if sensing me watching him, his eyes snapped open, and I stared at him, my heart racing. I balled my fists in an attempt to stop shaking. I waited as the guards opened up a small narrow square window in the impenetrable glass walls of the room. I could hear his heart thundering through the opening. His eyes locked with mine, and I realised I felt scared, sick, tense, broken, and anguished.
The very realisation made me step back. I saw the guilt in his eyes before he looked away.
I came here. But what am I here to say?I couldn’t do it… I thought I could…I…
He stood up and walked over to the window. His eyes, which were filled with a thousand emotions, met mine.
“I…” I couldn’t speak.
“Nothing I say can undo what I did, what I let my anger do. I shouldn’t have lost it… but I did, and look at the consequences,” he said quietly.
Not once did his gaze go to my neck, and through the bond, I could feel his anguish and his pain. I knew that dark Liam was in there… ready to take over at any moment.
With sudden clarity, I realised what I needed to do. Even if it hurt him a little, I needed to tell him the truth. My heart skipped a beat, and I looked at him, needing to get my thoughts out there.
“A woman wears the mark of her mate with pride and happiness. We want the world to know we are claimed and happy… I have dreamt of you marking me countless times… but never had I ever thought it would be like this,” I said quietly, trying to control the sadness in my voice. It hurt telling him that, knowing that right then, it wasn’t the dark Liam I was talking to but the Liam who held no account of what he did. It didn’t make this pain go away, though.
“I didn’t either. I can’t use the curse as an excuse… that’s like saying I got drunk and assaulted someone but since I don’t remember… I’m not at fault.”
I get that. This wasn’t just going to go away. It was going to take time.
“I let my anger and jealousy take over and jumped to assumptions the moment I saw that picture,” Liam said quietly. Picture?
“What picture?”
“It doesn’t matter, it was just something that was posted under my door. I don’t deserve you, and I can’t take back what I have done… but I can set you free.”
