*****CHAPTER 40

MAE'S POV
 
I stood there, frozen like a fresh fish straight out of water. I looked down at the broken dishes and spilled food contents all over the floor and looked back at the adulterers again. Luna Scarlet's eyes shifted from ones of fear and shock to ones of hatred and distaste. Her eyes were piercing me so hard and sharply that I could already imagine my head being chopped off and placed on a platter in her hand.
 
In my head, I tried to come up with different reasons why she would cheat on someone like Alcot with his own beta. Did he really have a hideous face like everyone said? Was the rumor right when they said he had never touched Luna or tried to make love to her before? Was that the reason she was turning to another man for sexual pleasures?
 
Whatever the reason, it was unfair. She was betraying him behind his back, and that was unforgivable.
 
"Shit." Beta Jax immediately pulled himself away and quickly did his zipper. "I gotta go."
 
In a few seconds, he was out of the room, but not without sending me a murdering glare and brushing roughly past my shoulder as he walked past me. I stumbled a little, almost losing my balance and falling to the ground as his broad shoulders brushed past my tender ones.
 
"I–I–I am sorry." I stuttered and immediately got down on my knees to pick up the broken pieces of ceramic on the floor. My hands shook as I picked every tiny little piece up, and my whole body felt frenzied. My ears pricked up on instinct as I heard the sound of the Luna's footsteps advancing towards me. I refused to raise my head to face her. I knew I was already in trouble. I was in royal trouble.
 
Luna Scarlet bent down beside me, and I saw her hands pick up some of the broken pieces in a delicate manner. Her hands were so smooth, long, and perfectly manicured. I was so sure she had never held a piece of firewood before or gotten bitten by any bug or insect in her entire life.
 
We picked up the broken ceramics together in deafening silence—one that bore a strong tension that could give you a heart attack. In my head, I was begging her to stop helping me and go back to whatever she was doing before I came. But I knew I could never say that in real life. You don't tell the royals what to do. They make the rules, and they choose whether to follow them or break them.
 
"Tell me, Mae." "What did you see?" Her words came out of her mouth with such calmness and precision. However, I wished she had spoken to me in her usual harsh manner rather than this devilishly silky manner she was speaking to me with.
 
"Uh…I…" Again, I stammered.
 
This was a test, wasn't it? She probably wanted me to say something that would implicate me and land me in deeper trouble. I was wise enough to not fall into her traps.
 
"What is it, Mae?" "Cat's got your tongue now?" She spoke again in a sultry tone, and I shook my head as I replied, watching her hand delicately caress a sharp, broken piece of ceramic. A deadly caress.
 
"Nothing, my luna." I answered. "I didn't see anything."
 
A quiet chuckle escaped her lips as I answered, and for the first time since our conversation, I raised my head to look her in the face. Her eyes were piercing as they stared at me, and the laughter on her face looked like one that belonged to a psychopath.
 
"Good girl." She reached for my hair and stroked it lightly before pulling it back again. Picking another sharp, broken ceramic piece, she played with it for a few seconds before doing the unexpected. My eyes widened in fear and disbelief as she plunged the sharp end of the broken piece into the flesh of her palm, drawing fresh red blood.
 
"My Luna…" I called her name in alarm. What in the world was she trying to do?
 
"Shhh!" She raised the wounded hand to her lips, shutting me up. The blood from her palm fell in droplets onto the floor, but she didn't seem to mind. If anything, she seemed to be enjoying the game quite enough.
 
"You are a clever girl, Mae. "I like that." She pulled her finger from her lips and stared at me in fascination. It was scary, and I wanted nothing more than to escape her creepy presence forever.
 
"Shall we make a promise then?" A pinky promise between two friends: "You're my friend now, aren't you?"
 
"I…I…" I was short of words, but once again, Scarlet jumped in to say something.
 
"Don't you think it is a great privilege to be friends with the Luna of our pack?" Hmm?"
 
I nodded sharply.
 
"Good." She patted me on the cheek as though she were patting an obedient dog. I watched as she pricked her pinky finger with the sharp broken piece again, staining her finger with more blood, before stretching out her hand to me.
 
"Come on. Give me yours."
 
Even though I was scared and worried about what she wanted to do to me too, I couldn't say no. Who dared say no to a member of the Alpha family?
 
Obediently, I let her have my hand, and I sucked in sharp, cold air as she pricked my pinky finger with the same sharp piece she had used to wound herself. Blood oozed from my finger, and Scarlet interlocked her bloody pinky finger with mine in a blood covenant style.
 
"There. Promise sealed." She chuckled cynically again and finally let go of my hand. As soon as she let go of my hand, I packed the tray that held the broken pieces and immediately got on my feet.
 
Luna Scarlet mirrored my action.
 
"He is not a good man, Mae. "Don't feel pity for him." She told me as she rose to her feet. "Feel pity for yourself." "Don't fall in love with a beast who has never felt or given out love in his entire life."
 
I wish I could tell her how wrong she was. I wish to mention the good things this "beast" has done for me. I wish I could tell her that she was the "beast" who had no heart to begin with. But instead, I said with an obedient nod.
 
"Yes, my Luna."
 
"Good." She stretched her lips into a smile again. "You may leave."
 
With another nod and a sigh in my head, I turned on my feet and made to leave, but her words paused me on my feet for a moment again.
 
"And for the plates you broke and the food you wasted, just let Karen know that it was my fault." "I mistakenly dropped it."
 
"Yes, my Luna." Thank you."
 
So much for keeping a promise. I hoped I could keep my mouth shut, just as I promised. I hoped I never shared this secret with Alcot.
 
Else, Scarlet and I would be dead meat.