Chapter 21

Claudia's POV

I was in a hurry to talk to Isaac about my parents when I ran into Fiona's best friend Ellie on the road. I was going to avoid her but she was ready to let her friend stop and surround me and block my way.

"Don't run, I'm not in the mood to beat you up today." Ellie looked at her pink nails and gave me a dismissive look. "I came to tell you that Isaac had been attacked. Right now he's resting in Fiona's room, so you'd better go and check."

This doesn't make sense. Why would Isaac be resting in Fiona's room after being attacked? And how could Fiona possibly let me visit Isaac? But if I didn't go with her, she would probably force me to go.

Ellie saw that I did not have any intention of going. She was a little anxious. "Isaac was seriously injured. It was Fiona who saved him and took him to her room. But Isaac only clamored to see you." Ellie said in a sincere tone. I began to hesitate in my heart. What if Isaac really needed me now? And, even if this was another one of Fiona's pranks, what could I do? I'd gotten used to it.

I followed Ellie to Fiona's room. She let me enter the room alone, saying it was because Isaac only wanted to see me. I eagerly ran upstairs with the idea of comforting Isaac. But when I opened the door, the scene in front of me almost took my breath away.

I saw Fiona with only a piece of fabric on her body, excitedly straddling Isaac. Seeing my arrival, Isaac hugged Fiona smoothly. My brain emitted a high-frequency chirp, but I could not make a sound. I watched as Fiona kissed my mate, and he didn't reject her.

Why? Why Fiona? Isaac didn't even have the slightest intention of hiding it. He just continued his movements as if he didn't see me. Why did he do this in front of me? Was I so unimportant in his heart? Desperation slowly chilled my heart.

I wanted to escape from this nightmare immediately, but my feet were no longer under my control. I also wanted to turn my eyes away, but my neck was as stiff as a piece of wood. I could only watch Isaac hold Fiona and then f*cked her.

"What? You're not leaving yet, do you want to join us?" Isaac looked at me, and he smiled like a demon. "If you're jealous, I can come find you tonight."

I was going to freak out, I wanted to scream. But I just bit my lip until I tasted blood. I struggled to get myself to find my breathing rhythm. It turned out I was just a dispensable bedmate to Isaac, and the thought of that stopped the tears from flowing out of my eyes. I shifted my heavy feet, the massive shock making me black out and barely able to stand. I stumbled and fled the house.

On the run back to the basement, I bumped into quite a few people. They were screaming and cursing something I couldn't hear at all. I tried to forget the scene I had just seen, but it was as clear as if it was etched into my brain. Memories of Isaac hugging me overlapped with the image of him and Fiona. I vomited with nothing, it was so disgusting. My stomach started to throb with pain, but it was like my soul was being drained and I was numb.

Isaac's POV

I tried to push Fiona away when I realized she had drugged me, but the next second, I saw the "surprise" she had prepared for me.

Claudia pushed the door as Fiona was trying to straddle me. At that point, it was like I was being pushed over a cliff by the hand of fate. So I made the decision, to protect Claudia from my mother, to keep her secret. I wrapped my arms around Fiona.

Claudia covered her mouth with her hands, looking in disbelief. I no longer dared to look at her, but at Fiona who was on top of me, and she cried out in excitement at having her wish fulfilled, "Oh Isaac, f*ck me." She wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me.

I fought back the discomfort I felt in my heart, all to protect Claudia. I thrust into Fiona and she let out a sweet moan in my ear. It was all I could do, it didn't matter if Claudia hated me and treated me like the biggest asshole in the world. I just needed her to be safe.

To completely shatter Claudia's hopes for us, I continued my movements beneath me. "What? You're not leaving yet, do you want to join us?" I kept saying to myself 'What you do is right. Then, Luna won't kill Claudia. Claudia can stay with me forever, where I can see her.'

Claudia's eyes were overflowing with tears and I could feel my mate's heartache. Her hand holding on to the door frame had turned her knuckles white from too much force. She bit her lips and there was blood spilling from her lips. I took in her grief and it stung me hard. But I had made my decision and there was no way to turn back. Leaving the doorway, Claudia took a few unsteady steps back and then ran off without looking back.

I pushed Fiona away from me after Claudia left and everything that had happened lately made me sick. Especially having hurt my mate so much. The rage made me want to shift and tear apart everything in sight.

"What's wrong with you? Let's go on." Fiona rubbed her naked body against mine.

"You think drugging me is going to work?" She enraged me so much that I grabbed her neck and pinned her against the wall. "I hate that people threaten me. If you tell anyone about Claudia's secret, I will kill you."

Fiona could only nod vigorously and beg me to release her, and she slid woefully to the floor when I let go. I wasn't someone she could threaten, and hopefully this time she'd known it very well.

I didn't need a link from my mate to feel Claudia's pain, because I felt the same feeling. Her sad expression floated before my eyes, tormenting my heart. I slammed into the wall to vent, punch after punch. Until the joints of my fingers were bloody and fleshy. But that didn't even ease the pain inside me. I laughed at myself in my mind. Family and mate, now I had nothing. All I could do was lean against the wall and spit on my own incompetence.

Claudia's POV

Every sweet moment that Isaac and I spent together now made me feel heartbroken. I had trusted him so much, I had read his heart, and he had sworn in his heart to protect me for the rest of my life. Was this the gift of the witch? I thought of the badly wounded witch. It was all a lie, right? Or maybe it was because my powers were so weak that I couldn't read what people were really thinking.

I took the picture book out under the floor tiles, only to remember that I had given the ring to Isaac a long time ago. I put my head under the covers and let out a cry. I hadn't cried like that since my parents died. No matter how much people bullied me, how much they humiliated me, I could stand it. Because they were inconsequential people. But the feeling of being betrayed by a loved one brought back the memories of the day when I was six years old. That feeling of being abandoned by the whole world enveloped me once again. I felt sadder and sadder, and the constant sobbing kept me from breathing.

I woke up to the noise outside and realized that I had just passed out from crying. Someone was trying to open the basement door, and a sudden fire of hope flared in my heart. Was it Isaac? Had he come to explain to me the farce I'd just been through? Or had he come to comfort me?

But the man who forced the door wasn't Isaac. I thought I'd seen him somewhere before. Without saying a word, the man took my arm and headed out.

"What are you doing?!" I tried to break free of his hand.

"Luna wants you to meet her." At the sound of "Luna", my heart hung in the air. I recognized the man. He was Luna's personal bodyguard. It didn't make sense for Luna to ask a slave to meet her. Unless ...... She found out about my relationship with Isaac.

I tensed up and struggled harder and harder. "Let go of me, I don't want to go!"

But the man was Luna's personal bodyguard, and he dragged me away with a force I could never resist.

I was pushed down and sat on my knees in front of Luna. Her expression was frozen cold. Isaac was standing right next to Luna. His expression was beyond surprised to see me. He must have just been called by Luna as well.

"What exactly is your relationship with Isaac?" The ice-like queen spoke up, her eyes were sharp like swords.

"Mother, we are not ......" Isaac tried to explain it to Luna.

"Quiet! I didn't ask you." Luna's tone was a stern one that couldn't be denied.

I took a deep breath and said to Luna firmly, "I have nothing to do with him." And it was exactly what I was thinking in my mind right now.

"Don't cajole me, I know exactly what you've done." Luna glanced at Isaac and then at me "If you guys would just stop, I certainly wouldn't ask more questions. But..." She looked at Isaac and said, "You are too nice to a slave."

I kept my head down and my mouth shut, not realizing that Luna had sent someone to watch us for so long.

Then, Luna said to Isaac, "You lied to me about not finding your mate. Now what? Are you still going to hide it from me?"

Isaac gritted his teeth like he was making a decision. "Yes, we are mate." Then he smiled indifferently. "But that's all. For me, she's no different than any other woman I've ever slept with."

The small flame of hope in my heart was completely extinguished. I laughed bitterly in my mind.

That answer pleased Luna, and her expression softened a lot. "Good, since it makes no difference. Then let's dissolve it." Luna said that in a very relaxed tone, but my numb heart ached again.

Isaac was silent. Removing the imprint of his soul, finally he could feel the damn feeling too, I guessed.

To force Isaac, Luna continued, "If you don't want to give up, how about I just kill her." Looking at Isaac's shocked face, Luna smiled in recognition. "I mean what I say."

The hurt I received had made my heart numb and I didn't care about our relationship at all now. This relationship was a drag for Isaac anyway. "I will dissolve it." I looked calmly at Luna.

"Wise choice. There's nothing more important than survival, smart slave." Luna looked at me like she was urging me to hurry up.

I opened my mouth slowly. "In the name of the moon goddess, I Claudia, reject you as my mate."

Immediately, Luna looked at Isaac, who didn't look much pained. This was what I expected, I was so blinded by him before. His tone was also very calm, "In the name of the moon goddess, I, Isaac... accept... your rejection."

The moment it was dissolved, it was like a part of my soul was stripped out. The pain in my heart was like being cut by a knife, making my whole body shake uncontrollably. But I still tried to straighten my body, I didn't want Isaac to see me suffering for him.

Luna insisted on letting her bodyguard take me back to the basement, and I was still too grief-stricken because of the loss of my mate to realize what she intended to do.

When we arrived at the basement, her bodyguard closed the door. I looked at him suspiciously as he delivered the order without emotion. "Luna asked you to leave the pack immediately. Don't ever come back."

"I've dissolved it as she said, and she has to force me like this?"

"It was Luna's mercy. Otherwise, you would have been killed by me right now." Luna's bodyguard was expressionless, just like her.

Yeah, that was a lot of "mercy" for a slave. I was going to leave the pack anyway, so it was okay to do it sooner rather than later. Now there was nothing left for me to hold on to. The bodyguard warned me to leave before dawn, and I assured him I wouldn't stay here one more second.

I sorted out my things, and I actually didn't have anything here at all. The map and the illustrated book under the floor tiles were already my most valuable items.

I wanted to spend my last night in the pack peacefully, but a sharp female voice came and completely shattered my expectations.

"Look who it is! Ah, so it's the daughter of the traitor!"