Chapter 727 Slap her back. Thirty-two times

Bella was excited. Her heart raced with a joy she hadn’t felt in years, maybe ever. After going through the Grimroot pack ritual, she was no longer bound to Cleopatra.

No more responding to that woman’s every whim, enduring her cruelty, or watching her commit one sin after another. She was a member of the Grimroot pack now. Free.

She stood outside the shaman’s cave, waiting for the allocation and registration process to finish, her fingers fidgeting with the hem of her shirt. The air smelled different here, cleaner, untouched by the rot of the Western Tribe. She allowed herself a small smile, the first real one she’d managed in months.

Then something yanked her off her feet. The force dragged her across the ground like she weighed nothing. She tumbled through the dirt, the world spinning, and before she could get her bearings, a slap cracked across her face hard enough to send her sprawling.

Cleopatra’s voice rang out across the pack grounds, shrill and venomous, carrying to every ear that could hear. “Everyone, this bitch tried to seduce my mate. What do you think we should do to her?”

The commotion drew a crowd. Pack members turned. Conversations died. Guests from other packs lingered at the edges, watching with curious eyes.

Bella hadn’t been introduced to the pack yet, so no one stepped forward to defend her. Oriana had gone to her room to care for her mate, leaving orders for Faye to handle the rest.

Faye had gone looking for Kael to get the code for the pack members’ suite when everything exploded.

Bella clutched her burning cheek, tears spilling down her face. Her skin stung, hot and already swelling under her fingers. “I didn’t do that. You told me to go and sedu—”

She never finished. Another slap landed harder than the first, snapping her head to the side. Cleopatra bends over her, straddling her body, knees digging into the dirt on either side of Bella’s trembling form.

“You fucking useless maid. What makes you think you even qualify to look at my mate?”

The slaps kept coming. One after another. Bella’s face swelled. Her lip split. Blood mixed with her tears. She tried to shield herself, but Cleopatra grabbed her wrists, pinned them down, and kept hitting her with her free hand.

No one intervened. The members of the Western Tribe were used to Cleopatra’s abuse. They’d lived with it for years, and none of them dared step in. The other pack members didn’t care enough to stop it.

Some watched with detached curiosity. Others pulled out their phones and started recording, treating the whole thing like entertainment.

Cleopatra’s hand rose for another strike when a low, threatening growl ripped across the pack grounds, rattling the walls. “Enough. Get off her.”

Cleopatra’s fist freeze midair. Her head snapped toward the voice. Kael stood there, eyes blazing with cold fury, jaw locked, hands curled into fists at his sides.

Behind him, warriors moved on his command, seizing Cleopatra and hauling her off Bella’s broken body. She thrashed against them, nails clawing at their arms, but they held firm.

“Beta Kael,” Killian’s voice slid through the crowd, dripping with mockery. “Isn’t it interesting how quick you are to take the side of your mate’s maid?”

Kael turned. A smile curved his lips that never reached his eyes. “Alpha Killian, I see why the Moon Goddess denied you a mate. I’m sure it’s because your mate is Daisy, and since she’s pregnant, she can’t be mate to you now.”

The words hit like a blade. Despite the agony twisting in Kael’s chest, the crowd erupted in laughter. Killian’s face flushed crimson. His hand lifted to strike, but Damon stepped between them, a solid wall of steel.

“Alpha Killian, do you really dare attack the beta of the Grimroot pack in his own home?”

Killian forced a smile, teeth grinding. He stepped back, the retreat a silent admission of defeat. “The Grimroot pack has already lost face. Its beta cheated on his mate with her maid.”

“No!” Bella cried, pushing herself up from the ground. Her voice cracked, raw with pain and desperation. “Cleo is the—”

Cleopatra broke free from the warriors with a sudden burst of strength and launched herself at Bella, hand raised to silence her for good. Damon’s roar stopped her cold.

“She is a member of the Grimroot pack now. Do you dare touch her?”

Cleopatra froze. Her arm hung in the air, trembling. “A member of… how? When?”

Bella knew too much. She was the only one who knew about the affair, the only one Cleopatra had used to cover her tracks whenever Cassandra got close to the truth. Now that weapon had turned against her.

“She’s an adult,” Kael said, his voice stripped of any warmth. “Old enough to choose which pack she wants to work for.”

Cleopatra’s face twisted, eyes wild with panic and rage. “Kael, you fucked her, didn’t you? I saw her coming out of the leaders’ quarters. Who else could’ve given her the code when that side was off-limits to guests?”

“Impossible. Beta Kael would never do something like that,” one of the warriors holding her said firmly.

“He’s handled a lot of she-wolves and is completely trustworthy,” another she-wolf added, nodding.

Damon’s expression darkened at the accusation, but Kael only smiled. It was a terrible smile, bitter, cold, the smile of a man who had nothing left to lose. He’d wanted to handle this privately, to spare himself the spectacle. But Cleopatra loved a public show. If she wanted an audience, he’d give her one.

“I thought the shame of being caught cheating on your mate with your own father would be enough embarrassment,” he said. “But from what I’m seeing, you have no shame at all.”

The words landed like a thunderclap. The crowd went dead silent. Then the whispers started, spreading like wildfire.

“What? She was sleeping with her father?”

Everyone stared. Cleopatra’s face drained of color. Her eyes darted wildly, searching for an escape that wasn’t there. She never imagined Kael would bring it into the open. Never imagined he would expose her so completely.

Corvine pushed through the crowd, drawn by the noise and the tension crackling in the air. His eyes swept the scene and landed on Kael. “What did you just say?”

Kael smiled, though it was hollow. “Alpha, I’ll explain everything. But what you heard is the truth.” His attention drifted to Bella, his expression softening with something that looked like pity. “How many times did she hit you?”

Bella sobbed, her body shaking. If she hadn’t been bold enough to defy her mistress, Kael would never have had solid proof. He was grateful to Damon for honoring Bella’s wish to join the Grimroot pack.

“I lost count,” she cried, her voice breaking.

One of the omegas spoke up, quiet but clear. “I counted thirteen.”

“It was sixteen,” a Grimroot pack member said, holding up his phone. The screen showed the recording in high definition.

Kael’s frown deepened. He turned to Bella, his voice cold and steady. “Slap her back. Thirty-two times.”