Chapter 159: His ’precious’ wife

The dungeon they were being kept in lay deep beneath the castle, carved from massive slabs of blackstone reinforced with veins of Mooniron.

Thick Mooniron bars sealed each cell, their ancient locks embedded directly into the stone walls. The air was cold, damp, and heavy with the metallic scent of blood, while dim torches cast flickering shadows across the narrow corridors.

The dungeons were capable of making even the strongest Alpha powerless, which made it the perfect cell to keep them all.

Jaime and his mother were kept in one cell, Beatrice and Alpha sat in another, while Selene had her own private cell alone.

Selene sat down in a corner on the bare floor, her eyes rotten with anger. She didn’t come here to die, and she sure as hell wasn’t going to let anyone sentence her to anything for killing a rotblood.

Malachi was out of his goddamn mind. And as much she loved him, she was beginning to hate him a whole lot.

The way he had looked at her like she was vermin in his eyes — after everything she had done for him.

He was a selfish, cold man.

She was supposed to be his Luna!

Everything she did, everything she’s ever done was so she could stand next to him! This was how he repaid her? By throwing her in here because she helped him get rid of the rotbloods that kept messing with his head?!

Jaime was pacing back and forth in his cell. Anytime now, and Malachi would come here, and he’d show them the extent of just how far his wrath goes. Jaime had thought of many ways to break out of this cell, but he had never seen anything like the materials used to build them before.

Touching the walls or the bars for too long weakened his wolf drastically. He’d heard Mooniron was very rare and very effective, and of course, Eclipse Crown was always known to be the very best.

If he can’t escape, then how the hell was he supposed to reach out to Father to help them?! For all he knew, Malachi might have already sent for Father to also he arrested.

But all this for a rotblood?! Jaime scoffed. Beatrice was right when she’d said Malachi had a soft spot for Della.

"That’s it!" Evangeline suddenly snapped, walking up to the cell and staring at the direction of the dungeon’s entrance. "Let me out of here!!" She started to bang and yell, "I am the Luna of IronRidge Pack, for crying out loud, you cannot treat me this way!! I demand to be let out of this cell right now!!"

A second later, Jaime had joined her, "You cannot treat the Heir to IronRidge Pack like this! Guards!! Let us out of here, or I will have your heads!! Don’t you dare underestimate us!!"

Beatrice and Leopold sat in the very last cell, listening to Jaime and Evangeline scream and waste their time and their voice.

Beatrice was sitting by one end of the cell and Leopold was sitting at the other. She had this crazy look of fury in her eyes and they kept twitching continuously every two seconds.

Leopold had been staring at her ever since they were thrown in here, a million thoughts in his head.

Is this the same woman he married?

Has she always been like this?

He expected she would be crying her eyes out by now, melting in his arms and pleading with him to find a way for them to get out of here alive. He maybe...even expected her to be in grief — to be mourning her sister’s death because she’s always been so gentle and soft when it came to that undeserving Rotblood.

But right now...she looked almost happy.

She was happy because she had killed her sister, and that did not do anything to curb his obsession with her. If anything, he was probably more of a sucker for her now than he was before.

The moment he tried scooting closer to her, she shot him a kind of murderous glare that made him almost pee in his pants.

"Beatrice," He called with an achingly soft voice, "I’m really sorry,"

Silence.

"I guess...I’m scared of my brother. He can be reasonable sometimes, but when he strongly believes in something...there is no convincing him otherwise," Leopold sighed, "But you have to understand something, love. No matter what it is you’ve done, you’re still my wife. I still love you, and I promise I won’t let anyone touch you again!"

If only he knew how pissed he was making her, he would have kindly respected the atom of dignity she still had for him and glued his mouth shut.

"You’re the love of my life. The woman I would choose over and over again. I—"

That was it!

"I want a divorce," She said.

Leopold blinked, "What...?!"

"We aren’t real mates anyway and you just proved to me tonight that you would always be in second place. Which means I have no use for you anymore,"

Second...place?

No use for him?

"What the hell are you talking about?!"

Beatrice turned to him and laughed again, "You have the same look as Della on her face," She paused and smirked, "On the night of our wedding,"

She could see it.

That confused, bewildered, disbelieving look when they were trying to convince themselves that all of this wasn’t happening. The loon of denial before shock...and then horror.

"And you know what else both of you had in common?" She drawled, her voice changing into that vicious tone of hers.

Leopold stared.

"The desperate need to be loved by someone because you’ve felt neglected for most of your life. Clinging to little scraps of affection like it’s your lifeline, just because someone gave you a kiss,"

Leopold’s eyes narrowed in deep confusion, and he brought his hands to his ears like HE was the problem and he was hearing completely different things from what she was saying.

But he wasn’t.

"You weren’t the one I wanted to marry, Leopold," She continued, scorn all over her face, "I wanted to be Luna of this pack. I wanted to get closer to the Alpha, and you were supposed to be my stepping stone...I guess I didn’t take into account how frightened you would also be of your brother,"

No.

No.

No.

Leopold shook his head once. He was definitely hearing things. Or maybe, maybe something else had possessed his wife’s body. Or maybe she was saying all this because she was scared.

People act differently when they are scared.

"Beatrice—" He smiled at her, and made another attempt to come close.

Beatrice snarled at him, "Fucking back away from me before I rip my claws deep into your neck!"

Leopold was startled.

The look of shock on his face made Beatrice burst into laughter again — the same cunning cruel laugh she’d made back at the Hall of Ashes as she’d revealed everything she’d done.

"What’s so funny, Beatrice?!" Jaime’s growl rang from his cell.

Beatrice glanced at Leopold, whose face had gone completely pale, and her lips curled into a cruel smile. "My useless husband finally realised what everyone else already knew. His precious wife never loved him. She only married him because being the forgotten little brother of an Alpha wasn’t enough for her. She needed a way into Malachi’s life, and he was desperate enough for affection to mistake manipulation for love."

There was a brief silence, and Jaime and Evangeline burst into heaps of laughter from their own cells.

"Gods," he called from his cell, "You really destroyed the poor bastard."

Beatrice’s smile widened. "He was already pathetic. I merely reminded him."