Elara stood beside Kaidon, her delicate features calm and collected, her gaze filled with something I couldn't quite place—pity? Satisfaction? I didn’t know. But her presence twisted the knife in my chest even deeper. Kaidon stood beside her, tall and cold, his eyes trained on me but void of any emotion.
As the second lash came down, I couldn’t hold back the cry that escaped my throat. The pain was unbearable, but the worst pain came from Kaidon’s complete indifference. How could he watch this and feel nothing?
"You shouldn’t have touched it, Luna," Ronan whispered quietly as he prepared for the next strike. "This is what he wants. Just get through it."
The third lash landed, and my vision blurred. My knees hit the dirt beneath me, and I gasped for breath, the air feeling thick and heavy. I could hear murmurs from the pack, whispers of pity and disdain.
I had spent years trying to earn my place in the Blackwood Pack, trying to make Kaidon see me, love me, but it was all for nothing. I was just a placeholder, the woman who filled the gap while Elara was gone.
The whip came down again, and this time, the world seemed to spin. I collapsed completely, my body trembling as I lay in the dirt. Somewhere in the distance, I could hear Kaidon's voice, cold and unfeeling, "Enough."
Ronan stopped. He knelt beside me, gently pulling me up to my feet. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, his voice barely audible.
But sorry couldn’t fix this. Sorry couldn’t change the fact that my own mate had ordered this punishment. That he valued Elara and a simple pearl more than he ever valued me.
"Take her inside," Kaidon ordered, his voice cutting through the haze of pain. "She can rest. I don’t want her dying on my watch."
The crowd began to disperse as Ronan carefully led me back toward the pack house. My vision was still blurred with tears, and my body screamed with pain from the lashes. But none of it compared to the ache in my heart.
As we neared the house, I heard Kaidon’s voice again. “Ronan, make sure the pearl gets to Elara. She cried herself to sleep last night.”
My blood ran cold. Even now, all that mattered to him was Elara. Not the fact that I had just been flogged, not the fact that I was his mate.
When we reached the house, Ronan guided me to my room. His jaw was tight, but he didn't say anything. Once I was seated on the bed, he finally spoke, "Luna, you don’t have to stay here."