Chapter 5

When I woke again, I was back in the hospital.

My mother sat at the bedside, her eyes swollen red. My father stood on the other side.

Both of them had the look of people who had done something wrong.

"Ivy, I'm sorry. Those two monsters hurt you like that, and we had no idea. We let them walk right in our door..."

"I can't stop thinking about it — it's my fault. I know you held back because of my health. I'm sorry."

My mother's voice broke as she spoke.

My father came over, rubbed her back, and shook his head slowly.

"Cain and Serena are both terrible. Behind your back the whole time. At least we caught it when we did."

He turned to look at me, managing a small smile.

"Don't worry. As long as your mother and I are here, they won't get away with what they've done to you."

I made a small sound of acknowledgment.

That was when voices from outside the door drifted in.

"Did you hear? The woman in 808 ended up in the hospital because of the Alpha's side piece. Pretty useless if you ask me — if it were me, I'd slap that woman's teeth out."

"That side piece isn't someone ordinary. She's connected to all kinds of people. Getting on her bad side isn't worth it."

"Oh, you don't know the half of it. Word is the director of this hospital used to be one of her men. She's got pull."

A second later Serena's voice carried in from the hallway, sharp and smug.

"So what if I'm the other woman? Everything I'm wearing, he bought me."

"We've had three pups together. Unlike that so-called Luna of his — can't produce a single one."

"If I were her, I'd know when to step down."

"What's the point of holding on to the title? Cain doesn't even glance her way."

A thin door couldn't stop that kind of noise.

Serena had dropped every pretense now. The version of her that worked the late nights at the bar had come right out.

My father's face went pale with anger. He yanked the door open and stood there, unable to find words.

My mother's voice shook when she finally spoke.

"Serena. Has our family ever done anything wrong by you?"

"From the moment your Pack fell apart, which Full Moon Feast didn't you spend at our table?"

"You called Ivy your sister. And all along you were going behind her back with her mate."

A flicker of something guilty crossed Serena's face.

She started to argue, but my mother cut her off.

"When you were drinking yourself unconscious at that bar, my daughter carried you home in the middle of the night and cooked you sober-up soup and pressed money into your pocket."

"When everyone else was stepping on you when you were down, when people were sneering at you for having nothing, this family treated you like our own daughter. And what did you do?"

"What did you do to Ivy?"

"If you genuinely fell for Cain, you could have been honest about it. You didn't have to hide it for five years. And you should never have used your own pup to take hers."

My mother was getting more and more worked up.

At the end she was crying when she slapped Serena across the face.

"Get out. Don't come in front of Ivy again."

"Come near her again and we'll call the Pack enforcers."

Serena stood there dazed for a moment. When she came back to herself she charged forward.

My father moved to stop her and she shoved him hard to the side.

She raised her hand to strike my mother.

I was already moving — and then, just before it landed, someone caught Serena's arm.

Serena looked up.

When she saw it was Cain, she shifted instantly.

Like flipping a switch, she put on her usual soft, sweet expression and whined in a small voice.

"Cain, you're finally here. I said the wrong thing and upset Ivy's mother and she hit me. It hurts so much..."

She kept her tone helpless and kept nudging Cain with her eyes, pushing for him to step in.

Any other time, Cain would have gone straight to her side.

This time he stood there like he didn't recognize her at all.

His dark eyes locked on her, and the air around him had gone still.

"Cain?"

Before she finished the word, Cain's hand swung down hard.

He used everything he had.

Serena flew back, hit the hallway railing, and tumbled across the floor.

Even then, Serena couldn't make herself believe it.

She struggled up and looked at him straight on.

"Why did you hit me? What did I do wrong?"

Cain stood in the doorway with the light behind him, the cold in his eyes sharp enough to cut.

"What did you do wrong?"

"Serena, you lied to me. And it cost me everything."

He raised his hand. That stack of documents hit Serena's face.

My parents stared, then turned to look at me.

I said nothing. I just waited quietly.

Cain. Serena. This was only the beginning.

"The one who saved me was never you. You lied to me, Serena."

Cain's voice was steady, each word measured.

The more he said, the whiter Serena's face became.

By the end, the hands holding those documents were trembling faintly.

Yes, she had lied to him.

But she wasn't sorry.