Chasing the rejected Luna

45: What's happening?

I almost laughed out loud at the irony of it all. There I was still reeling in the feeling of having the upper hand and there he was, weak and pathetic. When did our roles get reversed?

The last time I checked, I was still a slave bound by my duties here. Duties I wasn't given a choice. It felt like I was in a cage of some sort. Where I had no control over what I did or not.

The feeling of being in control was exhilarating. Was this how it felt to be free? It was nothing like I had ever imagined. It felt so out of the world I grew up in. Like I was living someone else's life.

I didn't know how to explain it but it was something I hadn't felt in my entire life. And if I was honest with myself, it was that I loved the feel of it. The feeling of being in control.

I smiled and locked eyes with Ava ”Your brother is about to have his share of his cake," I smirked. I didn't know what was wrong with me. But I felt braver like there was some alcohol in my system.

It gave me the courage I needed to face Ava if ever there will be. But all I saw as her eyes looked at me were intrigue. A ghost of a smile danced across her lips. I didn't know why she didn't feel confused.

Was she not surprised by my ability to control her brother? Or was there something I was also missing again?

"You don't look surprised," I admitted and she nodded her eyes, breaking eye contact with me for her eyes to land at her brother.

"I don't. You're the direct descendants of the moon goddess. I know you are capable of a lot of things," she stopped and looked back at me. "But I never expected you to be capable of compulsion."

I was confused. If she was surprised I was capable of compulsion, that was fine. But at least she was supposed to feel confused about me using it on her brother. He didn't do anything wrong and he was the Alpha. And her blood. But from what I knew about Ava, she cared less about what happened to him.

But I still wasn't sure she would get back at me for what I planned with her brother. After all, I had been skeptical from the start when I got some information out of the man in the cell where I was holding Alpha Ryven that her mother was a witch. Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDrâ/ma.O(r)g!

If she decided to use her powers on me, I knew I would be defeated because I had no idea how to fight using powers. But my plan B was to use Athena as my protector.

"You should be," I said and pointed to Alpha Ryven, "I'm holding him hostage here," I said and she looked at me, waiting for me to continue.

I wasn't able to tell the look in her eyes. I was so bad at reading her. And she had the ability to mask her emotions well. I thought I would feel anger when I talked about my parents' death to Ava but I didn't feel any.

Instead, knowing the culprit would be paying for his sins made my heart beat slowly in my chest.

Ava shrugged, crossing her hands across her chest, the action raising her shirt a bit so her baby bump was quite visible.

"Talk to me. What did the jerk do again? I know he had done a lot of nasty things but I knew you wouldn't do this if it wasn't important to you," she said and I secretly marveled at her accuracy.

I wasn't willing to admit how right she was even if my heart gave a painful squeeze as if it was enclosed in a fist. I looked away from her.

"He killed my parents," I swallowed the lump that had traitorously grown in my throat, making it hard to get words past.

"Him? Or my parents?" Ava asked me, almost sounding like a correction and my eyes went back to her.

I ignored the sounds that came from Alpha Ryven. Apparently, he wanted to say something but one look from me got his mouth to clamp shut.

"I know. But why are you so willing to admit it? Why aren't you…"

"Mad?" Ava completed the sentence for me and it ended in a laugh. "I was against what they did. Your parents didn't deserve that. Because they were weak at that time, my father thought he could get what he wanted."

"What did he want?" I heard myself asking her, and her laughter died down.

"He wanted more power. My mother and I were against it. But Ryven was so willing to follow my father and his evil ways like a loyal dog."

"Was that how your mother died?" I asked her and whatever trance the story put her in snapped. She whipped her head in my direction.

Her eyes bored into mine while the stillness of the room almost made me forget what I was. I was no longer weak. But the emotions her eyes carried were too much to see. Above all, pain reflected off more. I could almost feel her pain from the distance that separated us.

If I had concentrated a little more, I would have been able to feel it. I didn't know what it was. It was just a fleeting thought. But the thought came to stay. I knew since the thought had managed to pass through my head with me giving it a little more thought, it was likely to be true.

Maybe it was part of my gift. But I didn't find out more about it as Alpha Ryven's voice cut through the silence.

"They deserved to die. You know nothing, Ava. You were still a child. So I wouldn't expect you to understand."

I opened my mouth at the same time a chuckle left Ava. I wanted to put him in his place and use the force of compulsion on some of the guards because I wouldn't be able to do what I planned to do

with him alone.

Even if I was more powerful now, I still needed more hands and the knowledge of tortue. However, I knew this wasn't going to be easy.

"Shut up!" Ava screamed and I flinched. "I was younger but I had more sense than you. Father was evil. He wanted to use her mother for his selfish gains." She stopped and walked closer to him. "He wanted to take her powers and use them afterward. Who didn't know her mother was a very beautiful and attractive woman? But do you know what hurts the most?" She asked and Alpha Ryven's jaw tightened.

She continued while I tried to keep my emotions at bay at the mention of my mother's death. I wasn't stupid enough to know if I spoke a word, it would break the atmosphere in the room.

It was an atmosphere of confession. From the way Ava lifted herself from the wall to the slow walk that was made after that. I knew I wasn't to disturb even if all the cells in me begged to be part of the conversation.

Just once, I would obey the little voice in me that told me to be quiet and listen.

"What hurts the most was seeing how father treated mother after that."

"It was partly her fault," Alpha Ryven said with contempt.

Ava got close to him. Too close for my liking. I feared Alpha Ryven would do something bad to her. But I had to remind myself it was Ava I was dealing with. She was the younger sibling that bested her older sibling at everything. As much as his shameful that was, Alpha Ryven's eyes held no shame. It only contained anger.

So much of it.

"It wasn't. You and father were so delusional to think you could eat your cake and have it. And I know you've been delusional since you never stopped searching for her!" She pointed to me and I jolted.

"Why should I? It was father's last request from me. You have no idea how much I tried to gain his attention. So keep your mouth shut. And as for Mother, she deserved it. If only she had helped her father, victory would have been ours."

"I hate you. I tried not to hate you each time I set my eyes on you. But this is the height!" Ava shouted, the veins in her temple becoming more prominent from the anger that raked through her.

Both siblings were angry but Ava's could be considered as scorching. "I would do with you what I have fought myself severally on because you also tried to harm an innocent child."

"Her first child should be mine! No one else's. Why should I care for a bastard?" Alpha Ryven asked and I flinched from the tone of his words. "Why? You would never understand what I have gone through because you have been sheltered all your life and given anything you desire. You are a spoiled rotten woman who knows nothing but to run her mouth. I curse the day I told you of my plans." He stopped and breathed hard.

He was standing now, glaring down at Ava who almost reached his jaw. "You have been nothing but trouble. I would have banished you when I had the chance to. Now you're here to stab me. What does that make you? No different from father."

"What?" Ava took a step back, disbelief written all over her features. "Don't you dare compare me to that monster? I don't want to be put in the same sentence as him!"

"Why?" Alpha Ryven gave a dry laugh, his head bouncing back. "That's because you are as sick as him. He reminds you of yourself that's why…"

"That's why I killed him!" Ava said and Alpha Ryven took a staggering step back. I didn't know I had also taken multiple steps until I felt something hit the back of my leg.

Ava was joking, wasn't she? Ryven was the monster here. No, it couldn't be Ava. She fucking killed her father. I couldn't imagine what she would do if she were allowed to rule. Maybe both siblings were nuts after all. What family did I stumble into? With so many secrets that I couldn't find even in my worst nightmares.

She continued, "I know what Ryven plans to do to you. This isn't your fight. If you want to be free from him and go back to Alexander, compel him to follow all my orders," Ava looked behind her shoulders at me. I was breathless from the amount of deathly aura that surrounded her.