Chapter 728 You’re dirty
Cleopatra’s knees buckled. Her legs gave out, but the warriors held her upright, grips firm and unyielding. Smiles tugged at the corners of their mouths. They trusted their leaders. They trusted Kael. Whatever was happening, whatever judgment was being handed down, they knew it was earned.
“Kael, please don’t do this,” Cleopatra cried, her voice cracking, desperation bleeding through every word. She twisted and thrashed in the warriors’ arms, fighting to free herself. Kael signaled them to let go. The moment they released her, she rushed to his side, movements frantic and clumsy.
She dropped to her knees in front of him, hands reaching for his feet, ready to beg, ready to grovel, ready to do whatever it took to make him stop. But Kael stepped back fast, like her touch would burn him.
He grabbed a bottle of water from Corvine’s hand and poured it over her head in one smooth motion. Water cascaded down her face, soaking her hair, running in rivulets down her neck, plastering her clothes to her skin.
“You’re dirty, Cleo. Talk to me when you’re clean enough.”
“Ouch!” Mocking sounds rippled through the crowd, laughter and jeers mixing together. “Beta Kael is so ruthless.”
“She deserves it. Incest is an abomination,” someone else said, voice sharp with disgust.
Cleopatra’s face burned red with shame, the color spreading from her cheeks to her ears to her neck. She could feel every eye on her, every whisper cutting into her skin like tiny blades. Killian shook his head, a grim smile on his lips.
“You leaders of the Grimroot pack are all as ruthless as the king. Beta Kael, you always looked like the nice one. I never imagined you’d be this cold.”
To Killian, Kael’s actions seemed almost merciful. But his intentions were cruel and calculated. Imagine the shame of telling an Alpha’s daughter she was dirty in front of everyone she’d ever looked down on.
Kael lifted his eyes and found Ravyn in the crowd. Something flickered between them, unspoken and fleeting.
He answered Killian without looking at him. “Alpha Killian, I choose to ignore you because waiting for Daisy to give birth so she can become your Luna is punishment enough.”
Killian’s teeth ground together. His jaw tightened until the muscles in his neck stood out. He couldn’t stand to voice the disgust he felt at the mention of Daisy, not with Ravyn standing right there, not with the knowledge that Daisy was pregnant with his pup. He could only strike back where he knew it would hurt most.
“Well, you’re the one with a cheating mate,” Killian shrugged, tone dismissive and cruel.
Kael smiled, but it wasn’t a warm smile. It was the smile of a man who’d already lost everything and had nothing left to fear. “Alpha Killian, pray I’m not the one the King sends to audit your pack’s finances.”
The words hit like a blade to the throat. All the color drained from Killian’s face. His bravado evaporated in an instant. He stepped back, mouth opening and closing, but no words came out.
Kael’s attention drifted to Bella, his glare sharp and impatient. “What are you waiting for?”
The warriors lifted Cleopatra from the ground and held her in place. Bella stepped forward, hand trembling, and slapped Cleopatra across the face. The sound was weak, barely more than a light contact.
Bella had spent years on the receiving end of violence. She’d never been the one delivering it. Her body didn’t know how to hurt. It only knew how to endure.
“Your slap is too weak, Bella. Want me to teach you how it’s done?” Kael asked, voice calm, almost gentle. But the intent behind the words was unmistakable.
Bella shook her head hard. She’d already taken enough slaps from Cleopatra to last a lifetime. She didn’t need lessons from anyone.
The second slap was merciless. It cracked through the air like a whip and snapped Cleopatra’s head to the side. She pressed a hand to her cheek, tears spilling from her eyes, but Bella didn’t stop. Another slap followed. Then another. And another.
“Yeah!”
The pack members and guests started cheering, their voices rising in a chorus of approval.
Bella poured out all her pent-up rage, all the years of humiliation and abuse, onto the woman who had made her life a living hell. She kept going until Cleopatra sank to the floor, legs folding under her, body crumpling like paper.
“Please, don’t do this. I’m your mistress,” Cleopatra begged, voice broken and pathetic.
“You’re no mistress of mine.” Bella’s voice shook with fury, with pain, with years of swallowed words finally breaking free. “At first you wanted me to set up Beta Kael and that woman Jasmine after the blood moon. When that plan failed, you told me to seduce him. That’s when you stopped being my mistress.”
She slapped her again. And again. The sound echoed across the pack grounds, a steady beat of justice.
“What’s going on?”
The voices cut through the chaos like a blade. Voren and Seraphine stood at the edge of the crowd, phones lowered, expressions changing from confusion to cold fury. The laughter died. The cheers faded. Every eye turned to Kael.
“Beta Kael, start talking,” Voren growled, voice low and dangerous. His gaze swept to Corvine. “Alpha Corvine, should I be disappointed?” He couldn’t believe Kael would stand by and watch his mate get humiliated like this.
“King Voren, please wait for Beta Kael’s explanation. It’s worth it,” Corvine said, voice steady.
Damon walked over to Voren, steps quick and purposeful. He leaned in close and whispered, “King, his mate cheated on him with her father. The Luna of the Western Tribe is in the hospital from the shock, and this cheating bitch dared to accuse Kael of cheating with his maid.”
He paused, letting the words sink in, watching Voren’s expression darken with every syllable. “The maid told us her mistress ordered her to seduce Kael so they could set him up for rejection. She’s the one who almost killed her maid. They even planned to set Jasmine up with Kael, but that failed because Jasmine had already left.”
Voren’s expression slowly hardened into something cold and unforgiving. He looked at Kael again, wondering how the man stayed so calm, so composed, when his world had just crumbled to ash.
“King Voren, please help me,” Cleopatra cried, voice rising above the crowd. The slaps had stopped the moment the king and queen arrived, and she clung to that silence like a lifeline. She had high hopes of being saved from her heartless mate, of finding mercy at the king’s feet.
But Voren’s voice was pure ice when he turned to Bella. “Go on. Don’t stop until I say so.”
Cleopatra went pale. Her face turned white as death, every drop of blood draining from her cheeks. She wished she’d just taken the thirty-two slaps. Now there was no telling when the king would tell Bella to stop.
Seraphine was about to ask what had changed, but Voren explained everything through the mindlink. Instantly her gaze turned cold, eyes hardening with a fury that matched her mate’s.
Cleopatra couldn’t take the slaps. They came faster now, harder, each one landing with a crack that echoed across the pack grounds. She started pleading, voice desperate and broken.
“Kael, I never wanted any of it. Alpha Dean isn’t my biological father. He’s been sexually assaulting me since I was fifteen. He threatened to throw me out of the pack if I ever spoke about it.”
She turned to Bella, eyes wild with desperation. “Ask her.”