CHAPTER 89: CHAPTER 89 NO PEACE FOR THE WICKED

"Ember, hurry up, don’t just stand there," Maddie waved her hand to me.

I quickly put on an unreadable expression. I walked hastily towards them, my gaze met with Maddie, who was patting the seat next to her for me to sit. A low smirk formed on my lips as I walked towards her direction, only for me to seat Damon.

Her expression turned sullen. She tried to smile but failed miserably.

My gaze met with Damon’s cold one. His eyes sparkled with amusement. He grabbed his knife and began to cut the steak in pieces.

At the sight of food, my stomach squealed in delight. It was as if the tension from earlier had made me almost forget my best friend. ’Don’t you dare disgrace me, I’m trying to build my reputation. So don’t you...’ the growling noise of my stomach reverberated through the hall.

My stepmother Evelyn scoffed. "So uncultured, behaves like a vagabond. This is so uncalled for—a breeder dining with alphas."

I turned to Damon, who was still focused on the meat he was cutting, as if someone didn’t just speak.

"Alpha Damon, as prestigious as you are, why would you let your breeder sit at the same table as you? We should always follow the rule of hierarchy," she added, her eyes narrowed at me.

"Mother... don’t be too hard on her," Maddie said with concern, but I saw the glint of satisfaction passing through her eyes.

"You are right, we should always follow the rule of hierarchy..." the knife in his hand dropped on the table with a clank. "...Ember..." he turned to me.

’He won’t tell me to eat from the ground, right?’ My head pounded in my chest as I wondered if he was going to humiliate me in front of them.

"...She’s right. What should we do? She said a breeder is not supposed to sit together at the same table." He gracefully relaxed his back on the chair.

"We don’t have to do anything about that, master. She’s wrong," I said bluntly.

"Ember, you will not speak to your mother like that!" Alpha Caelen growled at me.

My eyes locked with his for a moment, but he quickly averted his gaze. I scoffed. Why couldn’t he look me in the eyes? I shouldn’t regret his actions yet.

"Why so?" Damon ignored the tension in the air.

"Because according to you, master, I’m not your breeder—I’m your pet. And the status of a pet is higher than that of a breeder or a slave," I shamelessly said. Even though I knew that what I had said was not completely true, as long as I twisted it enough to make it sound good, then it was good enough.

Damon arched his eyebrows at me, as if to say, ’Is that so?’

He turned to them. "You all heard. She’s my pet, so she has the right to eat at the same table as me," he said nonchalantly.

Smoke fumed out of Maddie’s ears, and Evelyn looked like she had just eaten the most disgusting thing in the world.

"Alpha Damon, it seems like you really treasure my little sister," Maddie asked, pouring wine in his cup.

Damon didn’t spare a glance; he just gave her a curt nod. "Speaking of hierarchy..." he drawled. "You all aren’t supposed to sit at the same table as me if we follow the rules."

At his words, their faces ashened. Cold beads of sweat formed on their skin.

"Alpha Damon, you are right. My mother had spoken out of turn," Sebastian spoke with a bow. Hearing him speak was like rainfall in a desert.

"Never mind." Damon turned to me. He placed the plate of the meat he had cut in front of me. "Eat," he said casually, before he dished out some mashed potatoes for me.

Maddie’s jaw fell. Well, not just hers—my family looked like they had just seen an alien falling from the sky. Their forks froze in their hands as their shallow minds tried to comprehend what was happening in front of them.

I looked at him with my cheeks flushed. ’This psychopath really knows how to pamper me in public. I never thought he would do this. Okay, his ability to treat a lady has gone up to 3 percent.’

Not wasting any more time, I dove into the food. But this time I controlled myself. I didn’t want to give them the satisfaction that they were able to break me to the extent of eating like a starved dog.

My toes curled as the flavour of the food exploded in my mouth. I moaned softly in delight. Just then, Damon wiped the corner of my lips with his thumb. His warmth made me shudder. My eyes widened round. ’Okay, this is new... and strange.’

Alpha Caelen spat out the wine he was drinking. His eyes widened so much that I feared his eyes would bulge out of their sockets.

That was when I realized that all eyes were on me. ’I guess I’m famous now, or is it that my beauty is shining so much that they could not look away. Hehe,’ I thought sarcastically.

Alaric, who had been watching the scene, quietly chuckled. He wiped his eyes as if he was seeing wrong. I bet he too didn’t expect Damon to act like this.

An awkward laugh brought everyone out of their trance-like state. We all turned in the direction the jerking of a car was coming from, only to find Maddie making the sound. Small drops of tears escaped her eyes. Her fingers tightened around the fork in her hand.

"Maddie," Sebastian called with a hushed voice.

But Maddie did not answer him. She just continued laughing like a maniac, as if her entire world had crumbled. Well, basically, it had. I bet that action was a huge blow to her.

My lips curled up into a satisfied smile. "Like I said before, no peace for the wicked as long as I’m here."

"Maddie." This time Evelyn sternly called her, her eyes throwing daggers at her.