Rise of the Rejected Luna - Chapter 207

Chapter 207: _Superstition.
 

Three days had passed since Elder Gita revealed the truth about Negan.

Three days of silence and trying to move forward. The shackles of the betrayal refused to break, setting us free.

Phoebe and I bore the heavy weight of the betrayal with no one else except ourselves. I couldn’t bring myself to tell Sir Alan and the others.

I kept thinking of what their reactions would be. Would they laugh behind my back? Or feel pity for me? Or blame me for not seeing the betrayal miles away?

The last question would probably be what Sir Elijah would think of. I had hated him for willing to give Negan up without a protest.

Telling him Negan was a betrayer now would look like he had been right all along.

I felt that they at least needed to know but I didn’t want them to mock me, to see me as an incapable Alpha who was betrayed by his Beta twice.

I was torn between telling them and keeping them in the dark so I asked Phoebe for what to do.

Phoebe had hardly spoken about it or sometimes, she barely answers me.

At first, I thought she was handling it well, masking her sorrows perfectly.

She kept herself busy with the warriors, making sure our defenses were strong in case of another threat.

I saw her training with Lycan Davos a few times and surprisingly, she had bonded with my mom too.

But I saw it, the way her smile never reached her eyes anymore. The way she zoned out when we spoke and how she had developed eye bags.

I understood. Because I felt the same way too.

Negan was my best friend, my brother, the one person I trusted the most after Phoebe and he had been plotting my downfall and death all these while.

It made me think hard. Had any of it been real? Had he ever cared?

He had been a good beta, the best anyone could ever ask for. He played his role as a beta perfectly.

Too perfect and selflessly.

Phoebe and I stood together by the balcony in my suite, we watched the maids scurry in and out and the guards chat playfully among each other.

She wanted to spend more time in the training grounds but, I had convinced her to stay with me, just the two of us. She leaned against me, her head resting on my shoulder, but she was distant. She hadn’t spoken much since this morning.

“I miss him.” She finally broke the silence, her voice barely above a whisper.

I sighed, placing a soft kiss on her hair as I gently rubbed my hand through her hair. “Me too.” I said in response.

“He was the first friend I made here, even when the pack rejected me. When your mother and Elsa treated me like I was a ragdoll, when you were distant. He was there.”

She spoke in one breath, her chest rising and falling heavily.

It was the first time she spoke openly about how she felt since we learnt about Negan. She was finally letting out her bottled emotions.

“I know and I’m sorry, darling.” I spoke quietly, my chest tightening. Her words stabbed me like a sword. I had been cruel to her when she first arrived and I deeply regret it.

It made me feel worse than I already did.

If I had treated her right back then, she wouldn’t have been attached to Negan and when this happened, she would have been comforting me instead.

Phoebe raised her head, looking up at me. “How do we move on from this?”

It was a question I also needed an answer to. So instead of speaking, I lifted her chin with my index finger and slowly brought my lips to hers, kissing her.

She didn’t resist, but she also didn’t respond to it the way she used to.

She was still hurting. I was too, but I was more hurt because of how distant she was.

I pulled away, there was no use forcing things.

“Get some rest, I need to clear my head.” I murmured. She nodded, watching me as I left.

Stepping into the sunset, the cold evening breeze greeted me as I walked out of the mansion.

One of the guards drove me from the mansion and I instructed him to drop me off just by the pack lands.

The pack lands was where the commoners of the pack stayed. It was a community on its own that divided the rich and the poor.

I walked as people greeted me like I was a celebrity. People were still celebrating our victory over the hunters.

Some whispered as I had never walked through the pack lands, but their reactions seeing me showed how happy they were.

I walked past the houses, nodding at those who greeted me as I took in the sight of my people.

Then, I heard two men talking.

“They say every pack the hunters visit is doomed to fall within weeks.”

I stopped in my tracks, looking in directions of the guys.

They sat outside, one smoking a cigar by the corner as they spoke in hushed voices. They hadn’t seen me yet.

One scoffed, “The hunters are gone and we won. We’re fine.”

The other one shook his head as if his friend knew nothing, “That’s what they all say at first. I heard from a traveler that a pack he knows defeated the hunters last year. A month later, their Alpha was found dead in his bed, and the pack collapsed within days.”

A chill ran down my spine.

Superstitions and a big lie. That’s what this had to be.

Still, my instincts were screaming at me that this was important. I didn’t know but my mind wouldn’t stop bugging about what I’d heard.

Ordinarily, I should have laughed at that conversation or maybe throw it somewhere out of my head.

Or maybe, I could have corrected them.

I turned away, walking back to the mansion. This was something I couldn’t ignore.

Phoebe was sitting on the bed when I returned. She looked up as I walked in, her brows raised in unison.

“What is it?” She asked, her tone laced with worry.

I hesitated for a moment, then sat beside her.

“There’s a rumor, I heard. That every pack the hunters attacked is doomed to fall, even if they win.”

Her body tensed, “That’s ridiculous, I don’t think that’s true.” She tried to sound calm, but I could tell that the words had made her worry.

I nodded in agreement. “That’s what I thought too, but something feels off, Phoebe. I can’t explain it, those words sounded like a warning.” My forehead creased in confusion as I rubbed my palm over my face.

Phoebe was silent for a moment, lost in thoughts. Then, she said, “Let’s see Elder Gita. She might know something.”

Yes, Elder Gita.

She said we had a lot to discuss but I haven’t seen her in three days.

I glanced at Phoebe,she was disturbed. She had the same feeling I did.

Something bigger was coming.