"Rescind it, Nirvana" Danika's nostrils flared in frustration and anger as she watched the two figures inside the room.
She stood dumbstruck staring at her stepbrother and handmaiden, naked on his bed and whispering the words she knew all too well.
"I accept you too, Alpha Damon. And I promise to serve and be loyal to you as long as I live"
" Nirvana!!" Danika called out angrily again as she walked into the room.
" Perform a vow rescission, Nirvana. Undo the bond vow now if you want even a shred of forgiveness from me!" She said with a voice laced with pain but still trying to remain calm under a storm.
But neither Nirvana nor Damon who kept caressing her body paused as she came in.
"You're mine now, Nirvana. I will always protect you" Damon muttered.
Danika could not believe what she was seeing or hearing with her own eyes and ears. Why was this night just mapped for bad things to happen to her.
" What do you want, Danika?" Damon asked coldly, not bothering to mask the disdainful look on his face on seeing her.
"Don't you know how to knock before barging into someone else's room unannounced and without permission?" He continued while standing up and picking his clothes from the floor and dressing.
The man at the front of the door bowed his head in the ceremonious soldier way, apologizing.
" I'm sorry Alpha heir. I didn't have the chance to inform you of her arrival"
Danika still suspected him because of his referring of Damon as Alpha heir. Damon wasn't her father's son and everyone in the pack knew that. His new wife had birthed him to her previous late husband before he took her in. So he wasn't referred to as the Alpha heir. She was because she was older than Lyra, her step sister and father's daughter.
But that didn't matter right now. Instead this betrayal she walked up to was all that did.
Her gaze faltered as she watched Nirvana pick her underwear from the floor and slip it beneath the loose red dress without shame.
She was beyond surprised. How could she do this to her?
" Damon... How could you?" She asked while pointing towards the lady in the other end of the bed wearing her clothes. Still unable to believe it.
"With her?.... Of all people?"
That was what hurt her the most. Of all people whom he could betray her with, he decided to pick Nirvana. The handmaid whom she was closest to.
The old lady behind her stared at the young woman in disappointment.. But for Danika, hurt and humiliation were all she felt yet again.
"You promised me Damon. You promised my father!" She said in between sobs, unable to control them as they fell.
She had promised herself not to cry today regardless of whatever might happen at the hands of the Alpha heirs, but the fact that her step brother, Damon who was her last hope would betray her like this as well?
It was too much for her to handle.
Her hands trembled at her sides from fury. She had trained Nirvana. Trusted her and even shared secrets with her. Being her wet nurse's adopted child, she had treated her in whatever nice way she could. So how could she?.
And Damon!! Thoughts of his decision even burned her more.
Damon had sworn to protect her and not gut her with betrayal. She had even given up her position as the Alpha heir to him in exchange for him to claim her during the ceremony.
Her father had assured her that he wouldn't disappoint if she were to give up her birth right to him, so how could he.
You act like everyone is under an obligation to you, Danika," Damon said while pulling on his tunic. "Like some pitiful runt your father dragged in, I should feel honored to be offered a disgrace no one else wanted."
His tone was calm. Too calm. As if nothing in the room nor the betrayal mattered. As if the words he just said didn't come out of his mouth.
Danika backed away slowly, the words catching in her throat.
Pitiful runt? Her father had always seen him as his son despite he not being his biological father. He was even made the head of his forces.
She kept quiet not because she had nothing to say but because too many things needed screaming at once.
And the scream wouldn't come.
It settled instead like ice in her chest. The painful realization that she had been tricked.
Nirvana didn't even flinch. Her gaze which was once meek and obedient before Danika, now held a quiet mockery. Like a predator who knew the trap had already been sprung.
"I'm carrying his child, Danika," Nirvana said sweetly, venom dancing in her voice. "Should I still break the bond for you so you can keep pretending someone wants you?"
She asked mockingly, knowing very well that Danika wouldn't like being the other party that ruined a perfect family to be.
She turned to Damon staring at him to say something. Perhaps a sign or to nod his head in the negative. It had to be false somehow. Anyhow. She didn't care how it was to be, but what she just heard had to be false.
When nothing came from Damon, she recoiled once more in fear.
She laughed. A few days ago Damon had even asked to sleep with her even after she gave up her birth right to him. What if she had accepted and given him her virginity, had he already planned to embarrass her this way?
She turned her back at them and ran as fast as her shaky legs could carry her. Covering her mouth with her hand to muffle her sobs.
Damon left minutes after, not sparing a stare or greeting at the old lady who stood at the door.
The soldiers didn't receive any either.
**
"How could you do this, Nirvana? Danika treated you like a sister!" the old woman stormed into the room, her voice trembling with disbelief as she watched Nirvana clasp her heirloom necklace without a flicker of shame.
Nirvana said nothing. She didn't even look up.
"I'm talking to you!" the woman snapped, grabbing her by the arm and spinning her around. "How could you repay her kindness with this betrayal?!"
Nirvana yanked her arm free, eyes blazing. "Oh, shut up!" she hissed at her.
"Enough with the Danika worship already!"
Her voice rose, each word sharpened by years of swallowed resentment.
"Danika this. Danika that. It's always Danika!"
She laughed bitterly.
"What's so special about her anyway? She's just another Omega, same as me. Only worse. A love child. An abomination who can't even shift."
She took a step forward and her voice continued dripping venom while the old woman could only but watch in dumbstruck awe.
"If she weren't the Alpha's daughter, do you think the rest of the pack would care about her? She's not even that pretty for goddess' sake!"
" Nirvanaaa!!" The old lady shooted, walking up to her and trying to cover her mouth from talking with her palm.
But Nirvana pushed her away.
" I am carrying Damon's child Urmaa, soon I will become the Luna of this pack. You have to treat me with the respect I deserve from now on!"
The old lady landed a harsh slap across her face immediately she said that and Nirvana without thinking returned the slap. She turned and walked out of the room after.
Urmaa stood and watched her as she left, her right hand clutching her cheek as she was not only in disbelief of her betrayal, but the fact that she had called her by her name for the first time, and not mother.
The first soldier stiffened and arched a brow as Nirvana strode past him with smug satisfaction. He then let out a slow sigh, quietly digesting the truth he hadn't bargained on hearing.