Rejected Luna: Untamed Desire Of The Lycan Alpha

Chapter 193: The Truth About the Poisoning

"Why?" Inez heard Selene question. She, too, turned to look at Tracy, waiting for her to answer.

Tracy turned the piece of clothing inside out and showed the ripped threads that were falling apart. "See this? They are an inch away from tearing. Not to mention, the fabric is not good enough. Even if you mend them, the thread will pierce through the fabric, and it might tear from some other place, as it is too thin and old."

She paused and then said to Selene, "Where did you get this dress? Is it an old dress of yours?"

Though she asked that question, from the knowing glint in her eyes, Inez knew that the woman had long noticed what she did. The dresses were too old, which meant that Nyx had lied to Selene, for she had said that these dresses were from last season and she had not worn them much.

Selene’s eyes widened in surprise before the light in them dimmed a little more. A tight smile etched on her lips, and Selene nodded, "Yeah. It’s an old dress of mine."

It went without saying that the entire ride was rather quiet. Even Jules sensed that something was amiss, so she simply waved Inez back as they parted their ways and returned to the territory. Inez helped Selene back to her lodge, as the woman didn’t want Laxus to be around.

Inez had a sick suspicion that it was because of a certain chocolate and jealousy mixed, but she couldn’t tell that to the morbidly confused lycan who was still glaring at the front door.

"I thought she was my friend."

Selene suddenly spoke, and Inez, who was putting the bags down on the table, stiffened. She hoped it was not what she thought it was, but her hopes were doomed to be dashed because the next second, Selene burst into tears.

"Don’t cry," Inez spoke up with a start as she turned around on her feet and hurried to Selene’s side. She reached out and patted the woman uncomfortably on the back before saying to her, "There is no need to cry."

Selene’s chest heaved with suppressed sobs. "I knew that there was something wrong with how she treated me, but I always — always—turned a blind eye to everything because she was the only one who had been kind to me after I was poisoned. The only one who reached out and talked to me when I locked myself in my room."

Panic flashed across Inez’s face. She had no idea how to deal with this sudden turn of events. What was she supposed to do? She didn’t know. The last time she cried, what did Scarlet do? Oh, she called her a little bitch and asked her to suck it up.

She couldn’t do that to Selene.

"Breathe," she said when Inez saw that Selene had started to sob harder. "Calm down. It’s not your fault. None of this is your fault. There is no need to blame yourself for something that was completely out of your control."

"I know.... I know that this is not my fault, but why did she have to—why did she do this to me? Is it fun? Giving fake sympathy to a little cripple? I don’t think so...no."

"I don’t think that it was because of that—maybe she was trying to do something else by getting close to you. Maybe she wanted Killian to notice her or something else—"

Selene burst into full-on tears. "Oh, so I am not even worth giving fake sympathy to and can only be used as a stepping stone."

"Shit," muttered Inez when she saw that the woman had started to cry even harder. "I think I said something wrong. It backfired."

**

Inez didn’t know how long she had waited for Selene to calm down. She awkwardly patted the woman on the back for the entire time while she sobbed. Once she stopped crying, Inez heaved a sigh of relief and went to the kitchen, from where she brought a damp hot towel.

She placed it in Selene’s hand and said to her, "Here, wipe your face. It will help."

"Thanks." The woman let out a throaty sniffle and then wiped her face with the warm towel. As she placed the towel on her eyes, Selene said to Inez, "It was embarrassing. Wasn’t it?"

"You are allowed to cry if things become too hard," Inez said as she sat down on the couch. The sound of the leather crinkling under her echoed in the silent room. "And there is nothing embarrassing about feeling upset because someone betrayed your trust. At least you don’t have to feel that way in front of me."

Selen pulled the towel from her eyes and sighed heavily. "It’s not that I never saw it coming. I did." She scowled as if remembering something that happened in the past. "I am not an idiot who cannot see through things. I can see through them with apparent ease. I am a lycan."

"I know when people lie to me..." She bit the cushion of her lower lip. Hard but not hard enough to draw blood. "It’s just that—"

"You wanted to believe that she was being a true friend to you," suggested Inez, and Selene smiled. noveldrama

"I just needed someone to tell me that nothing has changed. Even when my pride had shattered into bits and everything had turned into dust, I was still the same Selene Sokolov. Maybe I was a fool to believe it all."

**

Inez stepped out of the lodge. She had spent a good ten minutes healing Selene as the woman had become a bit too agitated. Once she was sure that Selene was stable enough to spend the night on her own, she stepped out of the lodge. Her expression was blanker than the canvas that was sitting inside Selene’s bedroom, which she had never touched.

A gift she had been told was given to her by the pack mates to do something when she was alone and bored. But as a shifter, she liked running among her packmates, rushing past the forest and relishing the scent of nature.

"You seem to be lost?"