Chapter 0381

Athena

Hearing her beg felt strange. There had been a hint of it at her house. Now, desperation saturated her every word. A complete departure from her first arrogant introduction. Perhaps the truth about her friend shocked her. Or maybe she actually meant it.

'We could just kill her.' Nyx suggested with a dark grin. 'She keeps asking. And she was ready to ruin our life. Fair is fair.'

Seraphina dropped her gaze when I remained silent. "I understand. You're torturing me. Withholding the final blow so I live in constant fear, always waiting." She rocked slowly in her chair. "Fear is a bizarre sensation."

"You get used to it." I muttered the lie. You never truly do.

She considered my words. "Julian told me everything that happened to you. Before Alexander—"

"I told you parts of it too. It changed nothing! Knowing my suffering didn't alter your feelings. It didn't change what you thought I deserved. Or what you believed you deserved. Only now, after losing everything, you claim change." She knew it all yet was prepared to destroy me, a half-sister she never cared to know.

Her eyes flicked up to meet mine. "You are the Alpha."

Nyx snorted in disdain. 'She acts oblivious. That was always her goal.'

"I..." She paused for several heartbeats. "It's a bitter truth to accept. But I've learned I'm not that person anymore. Everything hurts. Everything is different. I am changed, though I know you don't believe it."

"You're right. I don't."

She sighed heavily. "Maybe this was always my fate. Payback for the pain I caused. Punishment for Julian. For you. For everything." A hollow laugh escaped her. "There's always someone worse."

They both had said that. Seraphina and Evelyn. "Who told you that?"

"Levi." she muttered. "The night he took me, or after. He was making a point, outsmarting me. Not that it's difficult anymore." Her brows furrowed. "You can link him, right?"

I stared, weighing how much to reveal.

"Because he's a Lycan?" she pressed. "You link all Lycans. I heard your call for everyone to come. So you must link him and Evelyn if she's truly Lycan."

'Don't tell her. She doesn't need to know.' Nyx warned.

"Unless you can't." Seraphina murmured. "But that's impossible. I heard you. Zachary must have. Brianna linked you. My mother and stepfather heard your call."

"I had a connection to Levi. I check everyone who arrives." I revealed, earning a groan from Nyx. "But it's gone. Evelyn's too. Luc thinks they work with a Witch. A powerful one who severed their connection to me."

"Witches don't work with Lycans. They work with Wolves, never Lycans." Seraphina stated. "Look, I'm useless physically now. But I possess knowledge about Lycans. Knowledge you might lack."

"A Witch worked with our father." I countered.

"Don't..." she began, her eyes locking with mine. A small crinkle formed on her forehead. "You were bound as a child."

"Which required a powerful Witch's help because I already had my Lycan. Think, Seraphina. Levi can strip Wolves and Lycans. He gave Wolves something to mask their scent completely. Evelyn concealed her identity."

'Tread carefully.' Nyx cautioned.

'I am.'

"I never saw Witches in the prison. At least, I don't think so. I wouldn't know how to identify one." She shrugged. "But there were women. 'Nurses,' Levi called them. They weren't. They brought food, water, changed IV bags, escorted us to showers. They never spoke. Always looked entranced. Like automatons."