Chapter 139: Two Days Back
Chapter 139: Two Days Back
Rebecca’s POV
TWO DAYS AGO!!!
The silence in my quarters was suffocating. For forty-eight hours, I had stared at the same four walls, the ghosts of Kaden’s rage still lingering in the air. My body was healing from the poison, but my mind was fractured. Every time I closed my eyes, I felt his heavy hands locking around my skin, throwing me against the door.
Suddenly, the heavy wooden door clicked open. Stephanie jumped, her hands flying to her chest as a guard stepped into the room. He didn’t lock the door behind him. Instead, he scanned the hallway nervously before stepping directly between Stephanie and me.
Before I could even ask what he was doing, he pulled a black phone from his pocket.
"Alpha Kane is on the line," the guard whispered, his voice cautious. "He needs to speak to you right now. Go into your bathroom and talk to him. Move!"
I stared at the device, my heart hammering against my ribs. Kane?
"Be quick!" the guard hissed, shoving the cold smartphone directly into my palm.
My fingers wrapped around it instinctively. I didn’t say a word. I turned on my heel, hurried into the adjoining bathroom, and clicked the door shut. My hands shook so violently I almost dropped the phone before lifting it to my ear.
"H-hello?" I shakily whispered.
"Listen to me carefully, Rebecca," Kane’s familiar, smooth voice echoed through the receiver. There was a sharp edge of urgency to his tone. "The time to save you has come. In two days, it is the solar eclipse. It is the Night of the Slave."
I frowned, leaning my back against the cold tile wall. "The Night of the Slave? What is that?"
"An ancient pack law Kaden cannot override," Kane explained quickly. "It is the only night where a slave can make a public request that a master legally cannot deny. Two days from now, during the grand feast, I will have my guard bring you down to the pack hall. When the time is right, you will stand before the entire alliance and request to be away from Kaden for one month. You will ask to be transferred to my territory for thirty days."
My breath hitched. My mind immediately started spinning with a terrifying realization. "Thirty days? Kane, no... I wish there was a way to get permanent freedom, but there isn’t. If I leave for just thirty days, what happens when the month is over? Kaden will kill me when I come back! He will treat it as a betrayal!"
It was as if Kane could hear the absolute terror vibrating in my thoughts. He let out a low, reassuring breath through the line.
"Rebecca, I have a plan. Just trust me. I will explain the whole thing to you once you are safely across my borders, but you have to do exactly as I say. For the next two days, I want you to stop doing your hair. Stop eating the full meals. When you walk into that hall, I want you to look completely tattered, neglected, and unkempt. Let the whole alliance see you in that state. Once the time is right on the eclipse night, my men will come get you. Are you in?"
I bit my lower lip, tears of confusion pricking the corners of my eyes. "Why should I trust you, Alpha Kane? How do I know you aren’t just using me to get to your brother?"
"Because I am the only one who can help you prove your innocence," Kane said, his voice dropping into a deadly serious whisper. "I know you didn’t kill Helen. I know you were set up. I can find the real mastermind and clear your name permanently, Rebecca. But I can’t do that while you are locked under Kaden’s roof, hidden away from the world." He sucked a deep breath over the phone and continued. "Rebecca, I don’t expect you to trust me," Kane said quietly. "After everything you’ve suffered in this palace, trusting anyone would be foolish. But ask yourself one question. Has Kaden ever given you a chance to prove your innocence? Has he ever once looked at you as anything other than Helen’s murderer? Think about it."
Before I could say another word, the line went dead. The call ended.
I stood in the quiet bathroom for a long moment, staring at the blank screen before pushing the door open. Stephanie was pacing the floor, her face pale with worry. The moment she saw me, she rushed over.
I quickly handed the phone back to the waiting guard. He slipped it into his uniform, gave a tense nod, and slipped out of the room as quietly as he had arrived.
"Rebecca, what is going on?" Stephanie whispered, her eyes wide as she grabbed my trembling hands. "What did Alpha Kane say to you?"
My knees felt weak, so I dragged myself over to the edge of the bed, pulling my knees to my chest. "He has a plan to get me out of here for a month. He wants me to use an ancient slave law during the eclipse feast to go to his territory."
Stephanie gasped, her hands flying to her mouth. "No... no, Rebecca, please don’t do this! Alpha Kaden will refuse, and he will be so angry with you. You know what his wrath is like!" She dropped to her knees in front of me, her grip tightening on my legs. "Please, rethink this. Alpha Kaden... he has been getting nicer to you in certain ways lately. Have you not noticed?"
I looked away, but Stephanie pressed on, desperate to protect me.
"Think about it, Rebecca! Remember the guard from last week? The one who tried to set you up and trap you in the bathroom? I heard from the palace staff that Alpha Kaden had both of his hands amputated just for putting his fingers on you. And what about your treatment? He personally ordered the pack doctors to bring you the rarest herbs for your womb, and he threatened to execute the entire medical staff if you didn’t make a full recovery!"
She shook her head, tears filling her eyes. "He even stopped coming in here to yell at you. He’s trying, Rebecca. In his own twisted, brutal way, he’s trying to be kind to you now."
I listened to her words, and for a split second, my heart wavered. Stephanie was right. Kaden was changing. The brutal Alpha King who had initially dragged me here in chains was suddenly showing signs of a strange, possessive softness—dealing out horrific punishments to anyone who dared to touch me, and keeping his distance so he wouldn’t hurt me again.
Maybe he was changing.
Maybe every story Stephanie told me was true.
But trying to heal someone after destroying them doesn’t erase the wounds you left behind.
Every time I looked around this room, I remembered his rage. I remembered being thrown against the door like I weighed nothing. I remembered his hands holding me down while my cries and pleas meant nothing to him. I remembered every punishment, every humiliation, and every moment he had stripped away another piece of me.
The bruises on my body were fading, but the ones inside me hadn’t even begun to heal.
Kindness after cruelty didn’t erase the cruelty. It didn’t silence the nightmares. It didn’t make me forget the terror I felt whenever he came near.
A beast who pauses from hurting you is still a beast.
More than anything, Alpha Kane sounded completely sure about proving my innocence. I was tired of being looked at like a murderer. I was tired of being blamed for a crime I didn’t commit. Kane was the only person in this entire kingdom who actually wanted to clear my name, and he possessed almost equal power and status as Kaden to back it up.
I couldn’t miss this chance. Even though it was incredibly risky, and even though walking into that hall meant stepping into a war zone—I had to take the leap.
I slowly lifted my head.
Fear still lived inside me.
Doubt still twisted painfully in my chest.
But beneath both of them was something stronger.
Hope.
The hope that one day I could stand before this kingdom without the word murderer hanging over my head.
I met Stephanie’s tear-filled eyes.
"I’m doing it," I whispered, my voice shaking but determined. "If risking my life is the price of proving my innocence... then I’ll pay it."