Chapter 126: Easing up.

July 28 2026, 2:14pm.

There were times that Nyx’ara usually forgot how socially awkward these men were, and truthfully, she had almost forgotten about it all until this moment when they were all looking at her as if half expecting her to sprout a second head… or perhaps indulge in this stupid game— whatever it was.

She rolled her eyes at the four men who crowded her door but refused to take a step inside and shrugged: “What does it look like?”

And goddess, at the sound of her voice, all four brothers froze in place, well besides Rhys who had seen or heard whatever it was that was new to the remaining three.

Ever since her ‘accident’— suicide attempt, all three brothers had done well to stay away from her. They had travelled for meetings believing that the less she saw them, the less pushed she would be to try to take her life one more time.

But they were wrong.

Their reason had also made it impossible for them to notice the almost drastic changes occurring in Nyx’ara, especially these past few days, starting from her better speech, fairer skin… down to the fact that she could now hear without being screamed at.

Her dark strands had also spread to more than one-tenth of her head, and her eyes now held a light that had never existed in them before.

She stepped forward tentatively, her eyes dragging from the phone to Azriel’s shocked face… then to Kieran. She drawled;

“Why are you staring at me like that?”

There was a strange glee in the brothers’ eyes that Nyx’ara had never seen before—something about the smiles on their faces that made her heart hammer wildly against her ribcage.

She tilted her head slightly forward to look at them— then at the phone still clutched in Azriel’s hands— and then a wild thought suddenly crossed her mind. She hissed;

“I am interested in divorcing you, and since Seraphina and I have decided to be co-wives, then I think I should choose to remain with Alpha Rhys while you three go with her.”

Draven’s face darkened. He did not know what it was that made his heart tighten in his chest. All he knew was that the thought of being with Seraphina, then losing Nyx’ara did not sit right with him.

He wore his irritation like a mask as he stepped forward, backing Nyx’ara into a corner before he drawled;

“Funny.”

“Funny?” She tilted her head to the side, the corners of her lips lifting slightly into a half smile. “What exactly is funny, my lord?”

“Nothing is funnier than the fact that you now talk better, yet the first thing you chose to do is to be sarcastic around me.”

“I am always sarcastic around you,” Nyx’ara clapped back, “I was only too afraid to speak my mind because I was guilty…”

“Guilty?” Now that was Azriel, and the way his voice washed over her sent goosebumps running along her spine.

Her eyes lifted to his for a fraction of a second, and then she flashed him a smile as he continued. “What were you guilty of? Existing?”

“Guilty of knowing the truth yet I made you believe otherwise. I was also afraid that one or all of you could wake up one morning and decide that you wanted to have my head…”

“And you no longer think that way?” One of the brothers asked but she didn’t lift her head to see who it was. Instead, she shook her head and lowered her eyes. Something felt tighter in her chest as she murmured;

“No. I know you wouldn’t kill me. If you wanted to, my head would’ve been at the pyke by now… rotten and mangled after being left to rot for weeks on end.”

The very gory image she painted in their heads made them frown but they did not say otherwise because it was true.

If they actually wanted to kill her from the start then she would have been dead by now. So maybe… just maybe, somewhere deep inside their hearts they always knew the truth.

These thoughts were the things plaguing all brothers besides Kieran. Kieran, who was surprised that she was suddenly speaking right. Kieran, who could not understand the sudden physical changes in her. Kieran, who felt as though he was the only one who could sense her wolf…

… and he never used to sense it.

“Did you become a different person after the fall?” He blurted out, successfully asking the one thing that everyone has been itching to ask—

Including Nyx’ara herself.

And at the sound of his voice, her heart did a flip in her chest, her face stained a bright shade of red and her eyes narrower only slightly as they bore literal holes into his flesh.

“I have been wondering about that as well,” she finally answered, “Doctor Jemima told me that she would send my test results to me as soon as they’re out and that I can finally find the answers to all the questions I have. Maybe you should exercise the same amount of patience, and then we will learn the truth together.”

“You’ve grown sassy,” Kieran noted, not responding to anything she said earlier. “I don’t know if I like it or love it.”

He turned away as if to try and walk off, but as soon as he took his first step, he turned back around, shoved Rhys’s phone into his hand and let his eyes rest on Nyx’ara as he asked;

“So what are you interested in?”

“But she just told you, didn’t sh—” Rhys started to respond but was interrupted when Azriel clapped his hand over his shoulder and seethed;

“Shh brother, we all know that is a lie. There is no way Nyx’ara in her senses will pick you over me. You’re the big grumpy mister… so let’s stop acting like our favourite color is 5, and get us into whatever you both are planning.”

His blatant response made a grin crack across Rhys’s face. Nyx’ara lowered her head to hide the smile now spreading across her cheeks as well.

She still was not sure she could trust this lot but they had been nothing but kind to her.

This thought is the reason she did not steal a glance at Rhys even though he was watching her intensely— yet tenderly— and then she muttered;

“I want to help you find your sister’s murderer. I want to get back at the person who tried to set me up… and I want to know why they did it.”

“Are you intentionally skipping the part where you want to get revenge out?” Rhys asked and at the sound of his voice, her face brightened.

She shook her head. “Tomato, tohmato. It’s the same thing to me.”

“Not the same when you have three years worth of scores to settle with them.” Draven finally drawled;

For the first time in ages, she found herself smiling at him— genuinely. Then she shook her head. “Not three years. It’s been over six years.” She answered, shocking all four brothers.

They were stunned beyond their minds, shocked that she had endured being mistreated for that long but they said nothing.

If anything, they liked that she was already… slowly… coming out of her shell around them, and they wanted to see how strong she could become.

July 30 2026, 9:15pm.

Nyx’ara adjusted her dress for the nth time tonight, her eyes trained on nothing but the small booklet stuck between her cold fingers.

She had an exam tomorrow afternoon, yet here she was, dressed in a shiny black dress that was as scandalous as it was beautiful. It was a sequined dress with tiny diamonds scattered here and there. Its neckline was plunged so deep that even her navel was exposed.

But it did not stop there!

The dress had a slit on the right leg that was high enough that even mountain Everest appeared like a big joke and on her lips was a red lipstick so bold that she could be worshipped as the red moon if the people of this pack were serious enough to do a double take.

Her eyes scanned across the room from the corner where she stood as Rhys’s voice echoed in her mind:

“We do not want Seraphina. We never have and never will, but to make this more believable, you have to act weak, we have to pretend to hate you and you need to let us walk up there with Seraphina.”

“Why does it seem like you’re asking for my permission?” She had asked, her eyes glinting with curiosity, and Rhys had been on the verge of responding with something snarky when Kieran beat him to it by taking her hand and saying;

“We’ve seen you try to kill yourself the first time you misunderstood us…”

“I was just fed up—”

“Well, we don’t want to get fed up today as well, do we?” He continued, ignoring her. But she had not missed the slight smile that had tugged at the corners of his lips.

So she had given them the permission they wanted and today was the day to see what difference their so-called plan would make.