Soren frowned. "That is untrue―"

"Oh, no no no no no," I said with a cold, mocking laugh, shaking my head. "You don’t get to say how I have been living my life for the last few years. You didn’t live that life yourself."

At my words, Soren’s eyebrows knitted themselves even further. I could see his lips parting; he wanted to argue against it, of course he did. However, I didn’t give him the chance to.

I continued, "I was basically a rat. I had to blend into the walls and hide away from everyone because everyone thinks I’m a criminal!"

The back of my eyes burned. I tried my hardest not to let the tears fall, but I was unable to keep them in. Eventually, they slid down my cheeks.

"You don’t know what that’s like!" I exclaimed, my voice cracking a little at the end. "You never will! You — and Rowan and Cassian — you’re the Alpha’s beloved sons! But I... I am blamed for something I cannot control, and for a crime that has been pushed onto me!"

Soren looked absolutely torn, but I was past the point of caring. He had done his fair share in contributing to the pitfalls of my life. He had no right to tear away at the one thing that was giving me hope to live in this unfair world.

Soren pursed his lips. "I am just saying that Lucien might not be the person that you think he is. You’ve not known him for long."

"I’ve known him long enough to know his feelings for me are true, and that’s more than I can say for you," I hissed at him, focusing my efforts on trying to prevent my tears from falling. Soren had a lot of nerve trying to ruin Lucien’s reputation when his own reputation was in the gutter. "At least Lucien wasn’t a two-faced bastard stringing me along."

"Just because he is your fated mate doesn’t mean that he is perfect," Soren retorted, refusing to acknowledge my last sentence like the coward he was. He seemed to be fighting with himself, and finally, he bit the bullet and said, "If anything’s proof of that, then consider us. Rowan, Cassian, and I are your fated mates, too. You evidently don’t think we’re faultless."

I harshly glared at him. "I don’t think you’re faultless because you have proven yourself to be a terrible person to me. It’s despicable how you’re trying to smear Lucian’s name when he can’t even defend himself. What did he even do to you three for all of you to hate him so much? He’s your brother! Your actual quadruplet!"

Maybe I was just projecting myself into Lucien’s shoes. Because just like him, I had a brother. I spent many years wishing that Cedar loved me like he did Willow, especially when we were both his sisters. If I looked any more different than them, perhaps I would’ve even thought that we weren’t actually related to each other, and that was why he didn’t give a damn about me compared to Willow.

However, that couldn’t be further from the truth. My eye color was different from their forest green ones, but even so, everything else about us looked like we were carved from the same mold, from bone structure to hair color. I was undeniably their younger sister.

So if we were actual biological siblings, I didn’t see a reason why Cedar could be so biased. He had more years spent with Willow, sure, but what about the years we spent together before I was kidnapped? Did those years not matter in the grand scheme of things?

"He is a parasite," Soren said, frowning. "You don’t understand."

"Then make me understand!" I snapped. "What did Lucien ever do to you? Did he take your nutrients in the womb? Kick you too hard in the crib? Tell me, why do you hate him so much?"

’Why do you hate me so much?’ I screamed in my head. However, I didn’t have the courage to voice it out loud right now, not when I needed answers regarding Lucien first.

Soren gritted his teeth. "That doesn’t matter," he said. "What matters is that he isn’t as innocent as you think."

I laughed coldly, shaking my head. "So after all that, you can tell me nothing. No concrete reason for your prejudice. So you guys simply bullied him, like you did me."

My standards for the triplets were low, but somehow, they could still find ways to surprise me. I felt myself vibrate with barely repressed anger.

"All you’re doing now is wasting my time by speaking in riddles and walking in circles. You just want to ruin Lucien’s reputation in my eyes because you know all three of you cannot be compared to him. He has more honor and sense in him than all of you put together."

Gathering all my strength, I pushed him away. Soren stumbled back, staggering a little before he eventually regained his balance. His eyes widened with surprise, as if shocked that I had the strength to push him off of me.

I could hardly blame him. In his eyes, I was supposed to be a measly, weak, wolfless girl.

Suddenly, a set of footsteps came from outside. I turned around just in time to see the door burst open, Cassian walking through. His eyes landed on me, then moved to Soren, before returning to me once more. Finally, he gritted his teeth.

"I don’t know how you got out, but you’re going right back into your room," Cassian said with a growl.

"I didn’t realize you became my father," I spat out.

Cassian’s eyes narrowed, but he didn’t reply. Instead, he charged forward and grabbed my wrist. The amount of force he used caused me to gasp in pain.

"Hey!" I yelled, but Cassian merely treated me as nothing more than an annoying fly buzzing by his ear.

"Cassian," Soren said warningly, but Cassian ignored him as well. He only had one goal in mind, and that was to lock me back in my room.

He dragged me down the corridors, and eventually, we returned to the same room that we started out from. Cassian roughly threw me in, and I landed on the bed in a heap.

"Stay put," he said, carefully enunciating each word as though I were a two-year-old child still learning how to speak.

"Wait!" I said, but Cassian didn’t wait around to hear what else I had to say. He slammed the door shut before I could even jump back on my feet.

This time, not only did I hear multiple locks click into place on the door, but I could also catch the sound of furniture dragging across the floor. Since I had managed to escape once, he probably decided that they needed other means to make sure I couldn’t escape silently without anyone noticing. Even if I had an accomplice, moving the furniture would definitely raise an alarm.

"I don’t know how you managed to escape the first time, but make no mistake, that will not happen again," he said from the other side of the door, his voice muffled by the thick wooden panel between us. "Make one more wrong move, and I will make sure you have no reason to escape."

"The only way I won’t escape is if you three grew some brains," I seethed.

Cassian didn’t take my bait. I could hear his footsteps leading away from the door. I groaned, pounding my fist against the door once in frustration. It was a futile endeavor that only hurt my hands. I decided to peer out the window, hoping I could see someone― anyone who could possibly aid in my escape.

Anyone who was not Jessie.

I couldn’t risk her returning here and risking her life for me. Hopefully, she had managed to make her way back to the pack safe and sound, without bumping into any rogues on the way.

I bit my lip in worry, keeping my eyes peeled.

My room didn’t have a clock, so I lost track of the time I spent watching the world outside from my tiny window. The slow movement of the sun was my only gauge.

Eventually, even the sun had set, and the moon was slowly rising into the sky.

Cassian personally came by once to give me some food. It was a simple piece of brioche and some soup, but I was surprised that he even bothered to come by at all. He handed me the food as though it were the last thing he wanted to do before leaving wordlessly.

He had not returned since.

Just as I was about to reluctantly give up and force myself to get some rest, I saw the bushes nearby rustle wildly.

I quickly sat up, my eyes hopeful as I inched as close to the bars on my window as possible.

That was the most movement I had seen in hours. All of the guards here seemed to somehow know to steer clear of my line of sight, which meant that whoever this was, they weren’t related to the Alphas at all.

I peered out as far as I could, holding my breath.

A wolf emerged from the bushes, staggering and stumbling on its feet.