CHAPTER 78: TRUTH HURTS

🌙𝐋𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐡

The boulder came hurled towards me with a speed that made my heart lunge into my throat. I ducked, the wind from the rock’s momentum nearly knocking me over.

I slide down easily, making eye contact with Dmitri just as it made impact behind me, into the concrete wall. The sound, ringing through every cell in my body. I flinched, only slightly.

Dmitri’s lip curled into the imperceptible encouraging smile that he always reserved for me.

My heart returned to its usual place in my chest cavity. Panting, I gave him a thumbs up. Sweat made my clothes cling to me, my entire body ebbing with a satisfying ache that I had grown to crave over the days that passed.

Dmitri glanced at his watch as he walked up with a water bottle in hand. "Six hours done," he informed me. "You can go and rest."

I wiped the sweat that threatened to drip into my eyes.

Suddenly. Dmitri inclined his head, bowing slightly. "High Alpha, you are back." he greeted.

My heart skipped, whipping around to face only to find no one there. I looked around, confused until I heard the sound of an item whistling through the air, coming right at me.

My mind computed in less than half a second. Turning would take time, and I would end up with me getting hit in the face. So my hand snapped back, catching the item.

I whirled to face him, heart pounding.

Somehow he had an easy smirk playing on his lip. "You crushed that,"

Still breathless, I returned a shaky smile. "What did you start speaking like that?"

He looked at me sort of deadpan. "You crushed it, literally," he replied.

I looked down to see the crushed water bottle in my hand. It was not a clay brick like the one that Charlotte had tossed at me.

This was a metal vacuum flask with multiple layers and walls. Yet, I had crushed it with one hand.

I stood there, mouth agape at what I had just done. I had shoved a boulder three days ago and had not yet come to terms that I possessed such strength.

"Good to know the burst of strength with the boulder had not been a fluke." His eyes took on a strange light. "You will actually do this."

I stopped. His words had no certainty in them. More like a probing question.

But I shook it off and smiled, throwing a glance up at the place behind the railings where Vladimir would have stood.

Empty.

Again.

The hollow feeling in my chest deepened.

"Why are you doing this?"

Dmitri’s voice cut through my thoughts like cold water.

I snapped out of it, blinking at him. "What?"

His dark eyes fixed on me with an intensity I’d never seen before. His expression carefully neutral, but something in his voice was different.

Haunted.

"You could die," he said. Monotone. Low. But underneath, I heard the tremor. "In two weeks, you’ll face Veronique in a duel to the death. You’ve been training for less than a month. She’s been a Beta her entire life."

He took a step closer.

"So I’m asking you: why are you doing this?"

I opened my mouth. Closed it.

"Because I don’t have a choice," I said finally, sharper than intended. "The duel was called. I can’t refuse. You KNOW that."

"That’s not what I’m asking."

His eyes didn’t leave mine. Dark. Unreadable. But something beneath the surface—something almost desperate.

"I read your file. Alpha Kustav is your father. He wanted to give you a home..."

"Purchase me back," the venom in my voice shocked even me. "Have me under his mercy."

The words tasted like bile.

Dmitri’s expression didn’t change, but something flickered in his eyes. Recognition.

"He raped my mother," I said flatly. Dead. Like I was talking about someone else’s life. "Iris. Her name was Iris. She was human. She was just trying to survive. And he—"

I swallowed hard.

"He took that choice from her. Took EVERYTHING from her. And then left her with me. A constant reminder of what he’d done."

Dmitri went very still.

"My half-siblings hated me," I continued, words spilling out like I couldn’t stop them. "They looked at me and saw HIM. Saw the rape. Saw the trauma. And they made sure I knew it. Every single day."

I looked down at the crushed flask.

"And now Kustav—the man who STARTED all of this—wants to ’give me a home’? Wants me under his ’care’?"

I laughed. Bitter. Sharp.

"No. Absolutely not. I would rather DIE fighting Veronique than spend one SECOND under Kustav Volkov’s roof—unless it’s for the sole purpose of gouging out his fucking heart."

My Lunar Crest flickered. Barely visible.

"I might be the most naive hybrid in all this realm with a dream as impossible as rewriting fate itself, but this is all I have left to do. Then I will lay Iris Brooks to rest when I know that Kustav will never be able to stand over her again."

Silence.

Then Dmitri’s voice, quiet but cutting:

"And how exactly do you plan to kill an Alpha when you couldn’t even cut off the parasites that fed on everything that could have made you happy?"

I froze.

"What?"

"Your half-siblings," he said, voice flat. Clinical. "Ajax. Charlotte. They used you. Abused you. Sold you. And you let them."

My jaw clenched. "I was POWERLESS—"

"Were you?" he cut in. "Or did you CHOOSE to be?"

The words hit like a slap.

"You worked your ass off in the human realm," Dmitri continued, relentless now. "Earned money. Strived for something better. And what did you do with it? Gave it back to them. Fed the very people who made your life hell."

My hands trembled, the ringing in my ear trying the drown out the bitter, horrible truth he was spewing.

"You could have LEFT," he pressed. "You could have fought back. You could have told them to go to hell. But you didn’t. You STAYED. You GAVE. You ENDURED."

His dark eyes bored into mine, stripping me bare.

"So tell me, Lilith—how can you DECIMATE an war trained beta and then go on to exact revenge of an Alpha when you had no power over your own family? When you couldn’t even put them in their place?"

"I had to. I ripped her away from them—Iris. She CARED for them, even after everything. So I had to pick up where she left off. I HAD to." I said, voice shaking.

"Pick up the cursed mantle of unearned obligation to those monsters?" He spat.

How did he know all of this... "You have NO idea what it was like—"

"Then MAKE me understand," he challenged. "Tell me why you think you can take down Kustav when you couldn’t even stand up to Ajax."

My throat closed. Because he was RIGHT. And I hated him for it. Hated myself even more.

"I was trying to SURVIVE," I said finally, voice cracking. "I was just trying to make it through each day without—"

"Without what?" Dmitri’s voice was quiet now. Almost gentle. "Without disappointing them? Without proving them right—that you were worthless? A curse? A plague?

I looked away.

"Is it guilt?" he asked softly. "Is that what makes you chain yourself? What made you give everything to people who gave you nothing?"

My eyes flickered.

The truth reflecting in them.

Yes.

Guilt.

Always guilt.

"For existing. For surviving when my mother didn’t. For being the reminder of her trauma. And then for TAKING her away—the only person holding our dysfunctional mess of a family together."

"And if that guilt still holds you back," Dmitri continued, voice dropping, "if it’s still CHAINING you—then maybe instead of going on a suicide mission, you should stay with Kustav for the meantime. Until you figure something out. It is better than getting yourself killed in two weeks."

My head snapped up. "What?"

"Leave Vladimir to Veronique. Veronique has been throwing boulders since before you could pick up a pen." he said, voice carefully neutral. "Don’t be foolhardy. Don’t throw your life away for a fight you’re not ready for."

Something in my chest IGNITED.

"No."

The word came out as a GROWL.

My Lunar Crest began to GLOW.

Soft at first. Then brighter.

"NO," I repeated, stronger now. "I’m not going back to Kustav. I’m not RUNNING. I’m not—"

I took a breath, steadying myself.

"I have people here," I said quietly, fiercely. "People who believe in me even when I can’t. People who see me as MORE than I am. Who encourage me—in their own way."

I pointed at him, voice breaking. His words still replayed in my head—harsh, true, cutting.

"I thought YOU were one of those people." I whispered.

My Crest flared brighter, the heat pulsing through my veins.

"But I guess I was wrong."

----

Over the security footage, I watched her lunar crest glow, golden. She tossed the bottle and walked away leaving Dmitri there standing.

My skin prickled with goosebumps, my jaw clenching. For a moment, he looked dazed, his mask slipping, to reveal the same haunted expression I had seen that day.

His gaze fell on the crushed vaccum flash that she had left behind.

His entire body stilled and for a moment he was nothing more than a statue.

My eyes narrowed, watching as he picked up the bottle and proceeded to look right at the discreet camera, his gaze reaching me through it’s lens.