Number 27

“Over your dead body?” Damien scoffed with a smirk on his lips.

The audience knew very well not to break in on their conversation so they just remained silent, spectating instead.

“You heard right, Damien!”

“From your scent, it’s obvious you haven’t joined in conjugal ties with any other wolf, let alone mate with someone else,” he folded his arms and tilted his neck a little to bring his head down to Lei’s level as he was much more taller. “Why? Are you unable to let go of my thoughts?” with sarcasm swelling in not just his tone, but his smugly attitude, he asked.

Lei scoffed and looked away briefly before returning her stare to him. “A mate? Of course I do have one,” she took a few steps backwards and held Roman by his wrist.

All the time Roman stood behind Lorelei, Damien was too nostalgic to even notice an extra presence in the room. Even when she held Roman by his wrist, Damien still fixated his gaze on the point of contact – between her hand and his wrist – and slowly looked upwards following the trail of his hand to his shoulders, neckline and then to his face to see who Lei held by the hand.

When his eyes met with Damien’s, he of course recognized him immediately as the pathetic and mute rapist who had the effrontery to take a second look at his present Luna – Mona. At first, he could not come to terms with what he saw, but it was reality and there was nothing much he could do. Feelings of disgust grew in him at that point, beholding the overwhelming confidence Lorelei was beaming with, presenting a pathetic loser to him as her mate.

“This thing?” he sneered at Roman.

“I won’t condone your insolence this time, Damien!” Lei warned.

“It’s not about my being insolent, milady. It’s about your very poor foresight in picking a partner for yourself. Or has the trauma you faced succeeded in ridding you of any sense of reasoning?” he provoked her the more.

“What?!”

“You searched through this great land for a mate and deduced it was best to settle for this,” he flexed and extended his wrist, in Roman’s direction jeeringly still staring at Lorelei.

“You’re just pained someone like him became your replacement,” she defended.

“Pained? Someone as lowly and disgusting as he is, can never cause me pain,” he stated explicitly.

“What exactly is your point?” Lorelei was getting impatient with Damien running around the bush without hitting the nail on the head.

“Didn’t he tell you?... Or rather inform you, since he can’t possibly speak of the mundane act he performed back at Star Moon?”

“Star moon?” she turned briefly to look at Roman. “What are you talking about?” she was really puzzled, it seemed she was the only one standing in the middle of nowhere with zero idea of what Damien was talking about. “Can you please put an end to the neverending cliffhangers and go straight to the point?”

“I should not be the one to do that, he should,” he pointed Roman. “I should not be the one spreading his dirty linen outside, telling you of his pathetic lifestyle as a slut!” He added.

“Slut?” she asked slowly.

“Yes, slut!” he affirmed. “He didn’t inform you?”

“Roman?” she turned around slowly to Roman who did nothing but stare. What else could he do when he feigned being dumb?

Back there with the Mona fiasco, he couldn’t speak up in his defense and now again, he was faced with another challenging situation which he so yearned for speak for himself, but news flash, he was supposedly mute. Finding himself in compromising situations soon became a custom that he wondered whether life for a fact, played mind games with him. Scenarios in which he wished he didn’t act mute presented themselves to him periodically.

“Roman?” Lei called out again like she was expecting him to ‘say’ something. He was mute so what is reaction other than ‘silence’ did she anticipate.

“He can’t speak, Lorelei. I’ll tell you in his stead,” he called back her attention impulsively. “This hopeless son of a nobody…” The son of the alpha of the strongest wolf pack being referred to as a ‘worthless son of a nobody’? It was indeed a laughable yet demeaning remark.

“This hopeless son of a nobody dared to chase what lies under my Luna’s skirts away from general eyes,” he finally dropped the bombshell stimulating the distance between Lei’s eyelids over both eyes to widen portraying a thunderstruck reaction.

“What nonsense…are you spewing?” she clenched both palms, as she strived to keep her conflicting emotions in check, preventing herself from giving off a violent outburst.

“If you think I’m for a fact spewing nonsense, why not ask him…,” he gestured towards Roman, “yourself,” he finished his sentence.

“Your lover right here dared to covet what belonged not just to anyone, but to the same King that gave him a roof over his head. Simply put, he tried to rape my woman,” he spelled out.

“Roman?” she called him. “When did this happen?” she asked calmly, still trying her utmost best to maintain her cool.

“I bet he also didn’t inform you that I had him imprisoned and gave him the punishment his disgraceful act incurred.”

“Roman? What’s he saying?” she started losing it gradually. She didn’t necessarily expect him to speak, she hoped he made some form of gesture or sign to dispute the allegations labeled against him.

Her hopes were dashed even before they amounted to anything reasonable, as Roman did nothing but just stare. Technically, Damien spoke the truth to Lorelei but all the same, there were all slanderous allegations labeled against him by Mona ultimately.

“Tell me it’s not true,” she held Roman by the collar and shook him. “Tell me you’re different, Roman. I don’t care what you say right now, just tell me something to refute what he just said. Please tell me you’re different,” she laid her forehead against his chest, with both her forearms on each side as she began to tear up.

Roman’s silence wasn’t helping to alleviate Lei’s distress. Still shedding tears, she retraced her steps, withdrawing from Roman whose urge to hold her closely and just tell her everything felt like a weight on his shoulders. Believing what Damien had said was difficult for her. Although, she had known Roman for some time now, Damien’s shocking revelation shoved reality to her face. She deduced Roman to be a really nice and gentle mute, turned out her deduction was wrong. It must have been a big blow, shattering the big picture she envisaged.

Palming her face to hide her tears, she dashed out ignoring Luna C’s calls.