Beyond Forgiveness

Lumina POV.

The walk from the dungeon to the bright, sterile environment of the pack hospital feels endless. My heart pounds against my ribs, threatening to crack them. I focus on the rhythm of my shoes on the linoleum floor, trying to ignore the scent of antiseptic burning my nose. We stop in front of a heavy wooden door. Voss pushes it open to reveal Corbin's private recovery room.

Acidic bile rises in my throat at the nauseating sight before me. Kaelen sits in a plastic chair close to the mattress, tenderly holding my bandaged brother’s hand. The intimacy of the gesture twists a rusted blade in my gut.

The door clicks shut. Kaelen’s head snaps up. The moment his eyes land on me, they light up with desperate hope. He drops Corbin's hand, leaping out of his chair and rushing toward me with his hand outstretched.

I jerk backward, pulling away to put a safe distance between us. "I am not ready for you to touch me yet."

He freezes. He looks physically hurt by the rejection, but he offers a jerky nod of understanding and lowers his arms. I spare a brief glance at Voss. My oblivious father gives me a subtle, encouraging nod to press on.

I force my leaden legs to carry me forward. I sit stiffly in the hard plastic chair right next to Corbin’s hospital bed, clasping my trembling hands in my lap. I chant a single thought in my mind. Just get through this performance so you can leave this nightmare behind. Be the broken, compliant daughter.

Corbin shifts uncomfortably in the bed, his voice raspy and thick with tears. "Thank you for coming here, Lumi. I know how upset you are. I am so sorry for the horrible way I treated you. Do you honestly think you can ever, eventually forgive me, Lumi?"

I refuse to let his manipulative words break my resolve. I clench my jaw, but the sheer exhaustion of the betrayal catches up to me. Hot, involuntary tears spill down my pale cheeks. I wipe them away in frustration.

"You were always my protector. I could always count on you, but you not only stopped being my brother, you took my mate."

Corbin scans my face, pleading for mercy. "We should have been honest with you from the beginning. But Kaelen was deathly afraid you would reject him. Everything I said in the woods, my cruel, venomous words about you not being good enough, were born out of a blinding, ugly jealousy. Kaelen truly loves us both equally, Lumi. I swear it."

Kaelen drops to his knees right beside my chair. The hard floor smacks against his kneecaps, but he doesn't flinch. He looks up at me, begging me to accept their colossal mistake. "You are the other half of my soul. Corbin and I simply cannot live without you. We desperately want this arrangement to work. Please, give us a chance."

I keep my emotional guard forged in steel. I refuse to let either of them touch me and shatter my hanging-by-a-thread control over my fake compliance. One touch from my mate would send my wolf into a frenzy I cannot afford right now.

I stare at a blank spot on the wall, executing a flawless lie. "I need time to think. You keeping me locked up as a literal prisoner is not helping me forgive your horrific actions. I want to go home and spend quiet time with my mom."

Voss falls for the act, stepping forward and puffing his chest out. "I will personally escort her back to the house. I will bring her back in a few short hours once she has calmed down."

I stand up, keeping my body rigid. Right before I step through the heavy door, Kaelen firmly grips my hand.

"I do truly love you, Lumi. Please never doubt that."

I offer a silent, hollow nod, pulling my hand from his grip. Keep telling yourself that, I think. You do not betray someone you love.

My father and I walk back to the Beta house in suffocating silence. The midday sun beats down on us, but I feel nothing but cold dread settling in my bones. Before we even reach the bottom steps of the wooden porch, the front door flies open.

My mother rushes out. She wraps her arms fiercely around my trembling shoulders, burying her face in my hair. She blatantly ignores my father’s existence as he stands on the steps behind us.

She ushers us both inside to eat lunch. She guides me to the dining table, deliberately choosing to sit directly beside me instead of occupying her customary spot right next to Voss.

The underlying tension in the room is suffocating. A bowl of soup and some bread sit on the table, but my stomach rolls at the thought of eating. I stare at my bowl, managing to force just a few dry bites of bread down my throat to maintain appearances.

Voss pauses with his spoon halfway to his mouth, urging me to eat more. "You need to keep your strength up, my precious princess."

My mother drops her spoon with a sharp clatter, her eyes blazing with hatred. "Don't you dare pretend you care about her well-being now, Voss. It is a little too f**king late for that. The only single thing you care about is your precious Beta title and this wretched pack."

Voss's face contorts in raw anger. He pushes his chair back and attempts to stand up to assert his dominance over his mate. He makes it halfway up before staggering wildly.

His knees buckle outward as he sways unsteadily on his feet. He grips the hard edge of the dining table with white knuckles, the color draining from his face as his panicked eyes lock onto my mother’s cold stare. "What have you done to me?"

My mother doesn't even blink. "I protected my innocent daughter from you and your sick, twisted so-called Alpha. Something you should have done from the very start."

Voss inhales sharply, taking two clumsy, uncoordinated steps toward her. His arms flail out, seeking a hold on empty air. His eyes roll back into his head, and he collapses to the hardwood floor with a massive, sickening thud. The silverware on the table rattles from the impact.

My mind races in terror as I sit frozen in place, staring at his motionless form. Did she actually kill him?

My mother pushes her chair back. "Let's go right now, Lumina. We have no time to waste. Don't worry, he isn't dead, but when he wakes up, he'll wish he was."