After talking to Aleksi, Eris was in her new room, sleeping like a baby, quiet and carefree. She had permitted herself to lower her defenses, just for that night, as a small celebration. Finally, her bad ending had been destroyed.
Until a noise started getting her out of her light sleep.
"Oh sorry, sis, did I wake you up?"
Kyle was at her side and before Eris could react, he had already put a cloth in her mouth with an acidic and dangerous smell.
"Now you've turned into a bitch. Are you looking for a way to ally yourself with that stupid wolf? Have you no pride? You know what happens to half-breeds, traitors, and tattletales, right? They get punished!" Kyle dragged her off the bed and pulled her hair until her scalp burned after every sentence he said.
"What did you say to him?" asked Kyle after pulling her out of the room, in the middle of the dark and practically spitting in her face.
Eris resisted, without smelling and making use of her resistance to perfumes.
She hated him. She hated him so much that she had sworn that someday she would get revenge even if they were family.
But she didn't want to kill him, she wanted to lock him in a tiny cage like he had done to her.
"Speak!" shouted Kyle when she refused to answer right away and smacked him on the side of the head.
Eris for the first time put up resistance, kicked and tried to bite him, but even if Kyle was not as big and strong as Aleksi, he was still a man and soon subdued her.
"Now you're rebelling, bitch? So, what Sabrina said was true! You'll leave us, how dare you, you're just useless, who would want you, him? Aleksi only seeks your power, to use you like the rest. Only we will give you more worthy choices, who sent you to be so talented, but so weak?"
Eris had no energy or will to deny it, she had seen several futures with him and they were all bad. The best ones being the times when he would die trying to defend her, or he would force her to create perfumes to save his pack from being slaughtered by the beast alliance and then he would decide to vindicate himself by dying in battle after finishing off her pursuers...
Eris shook her head involuntarily in denial, she was scared and deeply sorry that because of one mistake, her brother would end her chance at a happy future she had never seen or considered.
She didn't want to die, she didn't want to suffer, there were still so many things she wanted to do.
And despite her fears, her regrets, knowing that there were so many possibilities in the world thanks to her visions, she wanted to live at least one of them and not just experience a life of captivity.
"No, please." She tried to shake her head against the handkerchief in her mouth.
"You screwed up, so don't blame me for your punishment."
Kyle dragged Eris down the hall until they reached the stairs.
"Please…" Eris begged with tears streaming down her cheeks.
However, before she could finish her plea, she felt a dangerous presence.
Across the hall was Aleksi. He was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed and staring at them.
Kyle let go of Eris and faced him. She put her hand to her hair trying to ease the pain in the back of her skull.
"Alpha Aleksi, what are you doing here?" Kyle muttered angrily.
However, Aleksi's response was to throw something into the hall in the direction of the brothers.
Eris covered her mouth when she recognized Sabrina and Kyle turned pale, the disgusting smell of sweat filled the air and his shirt had large perspiration stains. He was afraid, he had never been so afraid in his life.
Sabrina was barely breathing, she was devastated, and unless she received immediate attention, she would be left covered in scars, an unacceptable ugliness for her who revered conventional beauty as a pillar in her life.
"Looks like your girlfriend got the wrong room." Aleksi stepped forward, and although the two brothers wanted to back away, neither could move from their spot. The wolf's fury was so intense that it paralyzed them.
"I kindly came to return her to you and show her the right way, but look at this mess I'm dealing with. Is this how you treat your family? A perfumer?" Aleksi paused, surveying the chaos with a fierce gaze. "I'm sure you know the consequences of violating Kassias' pact. And these are real consequences, very different from what you were planning to do to your sister."
Aleksi didn't curse him or hit him. He stood in front of him, with such overwhelming energy that Kyle couldn't stop shaking. He had to hold onto the wall to keep from falling.
"I don't know what you're talking about, Aleksi." Kyle stood his ground, despite hearing the crunch of bones in Aleksi's hand. "She was in the middle of a nervous breakdown, and I was just trying to calm her down while the doctor came to see her. I can't let the servants get involved and get hurt."
"So, you were babysitting her?" The mockery in Aleksi's voice was so palpable that Kyle didn't dare continue speaking for a few seconds.
"You don't know us. Stay out of it," Kyle whispered, barely finding his voice to speak.
"Stay out of it?" Aleksi took another step forward, standing only inches away from him. "I'll give you two options. First: I end it all and take Eris with me. Second: Eris comes with me while I bring in a specialized team to check whatever you've been doing in your home, the cells, and the lab."
"How dare you?"
"I'm giving you an overly kind option, out of respect for my new in-laws, but I see you're not taking advantage of it. What a shame."
Kyle's eyes widened in horror.
"You had the chance to settle this, but you keep messing up. Eris, you won't blame me for ending everything here, right?"
Eris trembled. Aleksi hadn't raised his voice, but his calm was more terrifying than any scream. A possibility popped into her mind. She had once seen Aleksi set her house on fire, but that had been used against him by his enemies, causing the worst endings for both of them. So, Eris decided to act.
"I'll bother, Aleksi."