The Lycan's Stolen Bride

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Callie did not turn around right away. She closed the box lid slowly, then looked over her shoulder.

Rowena stood in the doorway, arms crossed, a small smile playing at her lips. All traces of the crying, shaking girl from the front hall were gone. In their place stood someone else entirely, someone smug and cold, enjoying every second of this.

"You should have seen your face," Rowena went on, stepping further into the room. "Standing there in silence like a mute little animal. Mum and dad were so hurt by your act that they are furious with you and refuse to give you any more attention than necessary, I really thought I was going to have to get more creative when you get back, crying and demanding their love as usual, but this..... Honestly, you make it too easy."

Callie said nothing. She turned back to the boxes, ignoring her, maybe if she pretended to be dead, it would only make her leave faster.

That only made Rowena angrier. She stepped closer, voice dropping low, turning vicious as she sppoke.

"You think staying quiet makes you look strong and untouchable? It doesn't. It just makes you look pathetic. Everyone in this house already hates you. I made sure of that a long time ago."

Callie still did not answer. She reached for another box, lifting the lid.

Rowena's hand shot out and knocked it from her grip, sending the contents scattering across the floor. "Are you even listening to me?"

Callie crouched down slowly and began picking the fallen items back up, saying nothing at all.

Rowena's face twisted with fury at being ignored. She opened her mouth to say something else, something crueler, when footsteps sounded down the hallway outside. Fast, heavy footsteps. Peter's voice, calling out for Rowena.

In an instant, Rowena's whole expression changed. Her eyes went wide and glassy. Before Callie could even register what was happening, Rowena raised her own hand and slapped herself hard across the face, then let out a loud, broken sob.

"Please," Rowena cried, voice trembling, stumbling back toward the door just as Peter appeared in the frame. "Please, Callie, just leave me alone. I'll leave the family if that's what you want. You can have everything, be the only heiress, just please stop this."

Peter's eyes went wide with fury the second he saw the red mark blooming on Rowena's cheek. "What did you do?" he shouted, storming into the room.

"I didn't touch her," Callie said quietly, still crouched on the floor with the scattered box contents in her hands.

"Don't lie to me!" Peter's voice cracked through the small room. "Look at her face! You think I'm stupid? You think I don't see what's right in front of me?"

Callie stood up slowly, the items still in her arms. "Peter, I didn't—"

He did not let her finish. His hand shoved hard against her shoulder, and with her balance already weak from years of poor food and exhaustion, she stumbled backward, hip catching the edge of a small wooden table by the wall. She fell hard, the table tipping with her, and pain flared sharp across her side as she hit the floor and collapsed to the ground like a card of crumpled cards. She felt something warm trickle down her arm where the table's edge had cut into her skin. She could feel the beginning pang of an injury, already starting as she sucked in a breath which only made the pain worse and her eyes watered a bit.

Peter did not even glance at her on the ground, neither did he care that he had pushed her. He was already moving past her, gathering Rowena gently into his arms, murmuring soft words of comfort as he guided her out of the room.

Rowena glanced back once over his shoulder. The tears were gone from her eyes now, replaced with a small, satisfied smile aimed directly at Callie, lying bleeding on the storage room floor.

Then she turned and let Peter lead her away, leaving Callie alone in the dust and broken boxes, blood soaking slowly into her tattered sleeve.

Liam came by the house that evening, like he always did. After all he was a welcomed guest to the family, so he was treated like he was at home and one of them. He heard from one of the maids that Callie was back, and instead of going straight to see the rest of the family, he went looking for her first. A maid directed him to her new place as the man thanked her as the maid left,her job done.

He found her in the small storage room, sitting on the edge of the narrow cot, a cloth pressed to the cut on her arm, staring at it. She looked up when the door opened and her whole body went still at the sight of him, a little tremble going unnoticed by him.

"Callie," he said, stepping inside like he had every right to be there, his broad form making the little room even more tinier as he spoke. "I heard you were back. I wanted to come see you myself."

She said nothing to that. She kept the cloth pressed to her arm and looked away from him, ignoring him as well. She did not want to see him either.

Liam smiled like her silence did not bother him at all and he was already expecting her to be more stubborn than this and would need more coaxing. He walked closer, looking her over slowly, the way someone looks at something they think already belongs to them.

"You look thin. And tired. But still you." He reached out and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear before she could pull back. "I've missed you, you know. More than you think."

"Don't touch me,Alpha " Callie said quietly, moving back on the cot, putting some distance between them.

Liam only laughed, soft and low, like she was being shy instead of serious with him as he reached out for her. "Come on. It's just me Liam. You used to love it when I touched you."

"That was before," Callie said. "Before everything."

"Nothing has to change," Liam said, sitting down on the edge of the cot beside her before she could stop him from doing that. "I still care about you, Callie. That hasn't changed at all, even after everything that happened."

Callie looked at him, waiting for him to say something that made sense. Instead, he reached for her hand, holding it even as she tried to tug it back but found herself unable to, the difference in strength was clear between them.