Chapter 218

Eira’s POV
When I thought the other two would leave since Lucian was here to take care of Roman, that bloodsucker walked straight toward me and lifted my feet.
“Bastard, what are you doing?” I snapped, sinking my feet back.
“Just making a place for myself to sit,” he replied, sitting on the other end of the couch. He caught my ankles and tugged until my legs stretched into his lap. “You can rest your feet comfortably here.”
“No need.” I was about to pull back again, but he held firm. “How about receiving a foot massage while you rest and I tell you a story from Roman’s past?”
The words made me freeze. A story about Roman? My curiosity betrayed me—I wanted to know.
Rafe smirked. “The title is—’A Pitiful Child and a Witch Mother or maybe a bitch mother. You choose the other half of the title.”
I glanced at the other two, Lucian and Jason. Their expressions told me they had already decided together to tell me about Roman.
Rafe pressed his thumbs against my toes in a slow rhythm. “Don’t be too slow to answer, Caldwell. My patience is limited.”
I let my feet relax in his hands. Alright.”
Lucian was already settled on the bed, and Jason had pulled up a chair.
Suddenly it felt absurdly like a bedtime story session. But I didn’t care. All I wanted was to know Roman’s truth.
Rafe began, as he gently massaged my feet. It felt so good. He could continued massaging for as much long he wanted.
“Roman’s mother, the woman you saw today, Lyla Ashborn, was the daughter of a wealthy Alpha from another pack. Her father had both a son and a daughter, but like most Alphas, he favored his son over his daughter. But his daughter got more attention due to her beauty, and her being a pureblood that every Alpha wanted. Her father didn’t like all the attention on her and wished to suppress it.
“He chose to send her away by marrying her early to someone who didn’t hold much power. Her father arranged a marriage event for her, where he invited various Alphas from all the packs. But they weren’t any wealthy ones.
“Those Alphas had to fight against each other and the last standing one was going to marry Lyla. Roman’s father, being a strong warrior from our pack was invited and of course won that event. Lyla was married to him. She was beautiful and his mate after he marked her, Roman’s father loved her like a true Alpha, and cherished the sacred bond with her.
“But Lyla was ambitious. She wanted to marry a rich Alpha to maintain her status and live the good life she was used to, but she got the opposite. She was never happy with this marriage but had to follow through with it. But she didn’t love the man.
“They had two sons, Roman the firstborn and the second one, Ivan. But Lyla always wanted a daughter, and here as well fate failed her.
“She thought her sons would be nothing but warriors like her husband, but having a daughter, a pureblood one, would lead her to a better life. She could use that daughter to gain the fame she had lost and wealth by offering her daughter to the wealthiest Alpha.
“When Roman was seven and Ivan was four, Lyla was once more expecting a child and this time it was a daughter. Her wish was fulfilled and she was over the moon. I must say, a crazy one. She never loved her sons, but she was preparing everything for the daughter who was yet to be born. But at least she was less hateful towards her husband and two sons.
“When the time for her to deliver the baby was approaching, Roman’s father had to leave urgently to fulfil his duty as a warrior, as there was sudden chaos at the border. He was always committed to his duties to the pack just like any other warrior, and couldn’t return soon.
“When he was away, the accident happened and Lyla lost her daughter even before she could give birth. And not just the daughter, Lyla couldn’t be a mother after that, as the accident had hurt her badly.
“She felt her world had fallen apart and went crazy. She blamed Roman’s father for her loss and hated him more than she already did. Not just him, but she hated her two sons as well.
“After that, her life’s goal was simply to hurt Roman’s father. If not for him, she would have married a rich Alpha and lived a good life. If not for him, she would have had the daughter she wanted and fulfilled her desire for a wealthy life. She blamed him for everything she hated and regretted.
“The best way she found to hurt Roman’s father was to sleep with other Alphas. She used to tell him to his face who she was going to sleep with and leave for her pathetic adventures, leaving her husband and sons back home.
“He loved his mate so much, but the bitch wasn’t worth it. Through the mate bond, Roman’s father knew it anyway and suffered the pain of his mate being fucked by other Alphas. He endured it for long and took care of his sons on his own.
“It continued for months. Roman’s father couldn’t handle that pain and his soul shattered. In the end, he chose to give up on his life. Before he died, he got the promise from Roman that he would protect his mother at all costs, and then tied him in an oath that he would never hurt his mother.
“Even while dying, that pathetic love-sick man only thought about that ungrateful bitch, rather than his innocent sons who were already suffering due to the negligence of their mother.
“Even the death of Roman’s father didn’t change her. Instead, she got worse and released her anger on her sons, most of the time drunk and returning after fucking some bastards. She used to starve her kids, beat them, and treat them like thorns in her life. The kids, never truly having a mother and now losing their father, were as good as orphans.”
“The worse was that bitch started bringing men to their house and fucked in front of her kids. Tʜe source of this ᴄontent ɪs.net
“At a very early age Roman had to turn responsible to take care of his four-year-old brother. He was barely seven, but he was like a father to that kid. He would cook however he could and both of them ate to survive. Slowly, when there was nothing to cook, he would have to rely on getting food if by chance a neighbours offered or somehow got it by doing a small manual task outside.
“The kids starved but the bitch never bothered. Roman was beaten so many times in the attempt to protect his brother from that woman. But one day he could do nothing when his brother was badly hurt by that woman. He cried to his mother to take his brother to the hospital, but she didn’t bother. Instead she busied herself fucking a man in front of him, mocking and cursing him, when her child was dying.
“That night in the rain and storm, Roman carried his brother to the hospital, but it was too late. The kid had died already. Even then that bitch didn’t feel anything. Roman buried his brother on his own. And that bitch was happy she got rid of one and then decided to get rid of Roman as well.
“She sold Roman to the traffickers, where pureblood kids were used for various purposes, slaves, raised as weapons, wicked experiments and everything worse one could imagine…He was
Rafe happened to stop as if the things ahead was difficult to say. For the first time I saw Rafe troubled with words.
What happened with Roman?