Twenty Three

Camila bit her lower lip, preventing herself from screaming. She raised her head and looked at the woman standing in front of her, looking down at her with a smirk on her face. The moment Alina pushed the knitting needle into her thigh, she felt like screaming, but the moment it hit her bone, the pain faded away. Although it didn't hurt at that time, she knew that soon it would, given the cold conditions at the servant's quarters.

"How does it feel?" Alina smirked at her. "Huh? How does it feel?" She smirked again, but Alina ignored her. She had suffered a lot on her hands, and she was not going to let that happen again. When Camila stood from the spot she was sitting on, glaring harshly at Alina, Alina smirked, thinking that she had won and that Camila would now try to avenge her. Even when she walked furiously towards her, her eyes glowing with anger, she blocked her with her hands akimbo. Alina stood stunned when Camila limped past her but didn't say anything.

"What was that?" She asked herself, gasping in shock. "Wasn't she coming to slap me?" She knitted her brows together. "I have to think of another way of tormenting her. Maybe one that is much worse than what I have just done. One that will definitely push her into losing her anger. " She chewed on her nails, following the trail of blood Camila had left on the way while walking out of her room.

In the hallway, all the other servants stood gossiping, wondering what could have happened to her. When she walked in with Beta Steven's moments ago, she wasn't limping, nor was there blood flowing down through her left leg, but moments later, after Luna Alina walked in, she was bleeding and barely walking.

"Could it be true that it has always been Luna Alina who picks on her, but not the other way around?" They asked themselves. Camila stepped on the steps that would take her out of the quarters, but the needle now buried beneath her flesh sank even deeper, shooting pain all over her body.

Feeling as if her heart was getting pricked, she lost her balance and fell backward. She closed her eyes, waiting to hit the hard ground with the back of her head, but she fell on something soft instead. Instead of her crying with pain, someone else screamed beneath her, causing everyone in there to gasp in shock. It's like the screams of the person beneath Camila attracted the attention of people outside the quarters because, in a few moments, thuds could be heard coming towards the hallway.

Camila struggled to stand and strengthened her hand to help that person wake up, but she was shocked to see it was Alina. "Luna Alina?" She called in panic mode. She stretched her hands again, but before Alina could accept it, the guards walked in, followed by Alpha Killan, who pushed Camila aside and rushed to the groaning Alina.

"Babe! Babe! Are you okay? Can you hear me?" Alpha Killan called to the passed-out Alian, slapping her cheeks softly. "What have you done, Camila Rasort?" He growled, yanked her by her hair, and pushed her down the steps as well. A scream escaped Camila's lips, not because she was hurt when falling down but because with each roll she took downward, the pain in her thigh increased. "Stop exaggerating! You are not hurt!" He yelled, yanking her upward by her hair. It was really stupid. He was forbidding Camila from screaming after stumbling down the four steps, but she allowed Alina to grunt as if she were pushed from a building.

"You are nothing but bad luck, Camila. I swear the punishment I'll give you this time will make you curse the day you were born!" He growled, and Camila knew he meant it from the look in his eyes. When she finally started getting back to her senses, the blurry images came clear in her eyes, and she felt the pain shooting through her. Camila sat on the ground, pulling her knees to her chest.

"I haven't done anything alpha. I was.."

Pa!

She was slapped before she could finish her sentence. "How dare you try to say you haven't pushed her? When I and the guards walked in, your hand was still hanging in the air, was it not?" he asked, walking closer to her and gripping her neck.

"I.. I was calling out to her. I was giving her my hand so that she could stand on her feet." She said this while choking on her own tears. How can Killan be that stupid? At least he could have asked the maid surrounding them what had happened, but because he walked in and saw her hand hanging in the air, that was it. She has pushed her. Camila chuckled at those thoughts. She even looked back, wondering what kind of man Kilan had turned to. He wasn't the man she had married a year ago. He was a completely different person. All the stories she had heard about him while still at her father's house were now making sense to her.

"No one can hide their true colors for long, I guess." She mumbled inwardly, shaking her head in pity. She raised her head and looked at Killan, who was still talking to her. She had zoned out a long time ago, and she didn't hear even a thing. Everything turned into slow motion, and it was in that moment that she saw Alina smirking while looking at her. Because no one was watching her now, she kept flickering her eyes open while tapping her fingers on the ground as if she were impatiently waiting for something. Camila turned to look at the maid to see if they were seeing what she was seeing. All of them had their heads bowed, fearing to lock gazes with the Alpha in front of them. The guards were standing behind Alpha Killan, shaking their heads in agreement with whatever he was saying.

She looked at Alina once again, who was now still unconscious after sensing Alpha Killan's gaze at her. "I have to do something." She thought while looking for a way to end Alina's drama. Docking her head around the hallway, Camila saw a black rope lying carelessly on the ground. Faking a loud gasp that turned all the attention to her, she jumped on her feet, ignoring the pain shooting through her legs, and screamed, "Snake! Snake!" Everyone jumped backwards in shock; a few guards and a maid had already run to hide in a corner. Camila locked her gaze on the person she wanted to expose and laughed. Alina was no longer lying unconscious on the floor; she had jumped into Alpha Killan's arms. In fact, it was she who had taken over Camila now and was screaming snake at the top of her lungs.

Not everyone is stupid; a few maids who had been watching Camila closely and had seen what had happened laughed out loud, bringing Alina back to his senses. She looked around her and saw that everyone was looking at her with shock.

"Luna Alina is awake!"

"I thought she had passed out!"

"She didn't! Don't you know she is a drama queen?"

The maids whispered among themselves, but in a voice that everyone could hear. Alpha Killan, who was yelling at Camila and asking her to pray to the heavens that Alina would wake up, looked at Alina in shock. "Babe, I thought..." he drew on his words, looking at the spot where she had passed out.

"Let's get out of here, babe. I feel dizzy." She whistled against Killan's ears, but everyone had heard her. A fistful of laughter erupted in the hallways as everyone made fun of her. Alpha Killan had raised his voice, asking them to shut up, but his voice was muffled by the loud laughter. To embarrass her even more, Beta Stevens came in while running. He heard the commotion while still at the gates, and he hurriedly ran in there to see if Camila was in some sort of trouble. Camila was like her little sister, and he had vowed to his wife Ruth and their baby Sarah that he would no longer let anything bad happen to her.

"Mil. What happened to you? I wished you all well when I went to the hospital. Why are you bleeding? What happened to you?" He asked in a rushed manner, tracing the blood coming from her legs with his eye. "Oh Mil. Come on. Are you on your period? Look, there is blood everywhere. Why didn't you tell me, huh? I could have carried some sanitary pads with me, or so you want Ruth and Ash to kill me when they come to realize that I am not taking care of you as I had promised them both?" Steven asked and dapped his handkerchief against the line of dried blood stuck on Camila's leg. Steven's voice, which was now the only voice in the hallway, caught everyone's ears. The guards and Alpha Killan also noticed the pool of blood in her legs and gasped.

"Talk softly." Camila hushed him down, but he didn't listen. "I am not on my period. A knitting needle is stuck on my thigh." She yelled at Steven to stop. She lifted her dress to show him, and everyone in there gasped. A hole was made at the front and back of her thigh.

"Camila! What happened? Tell me, who did this to you?" Beta Steven growled.

"I fell on it." Camila lied, biting her lower lip. She knew that mentioning that it was Alina who had done it could bring nothing but more pain to her.

"Don't you dare lie to me, Camila." Beta Steven growled. Camila kept on mumbling, wondering if she should say the truth or not. Even if she were to say it, she didn't have any evidence to show that it was Alina who did it, so she decided to end things by saying, Come on, Beta Stevens. "It's nothing serious." She laughed.

"Nothing serious? Huh? Here, I want you to jump on that leg until the end of this hallway. It's nothing serious, right? Jump!" Beta Steven yelled at her. Feeling tears pricking at her eyes Camila bowed her head, crying silently. "I can't jump." She sniffed.

"So you admit it's serious, huh?" Steven reduced her voice and then apologized for yelling at her. "Sorry, I had to yell at you, Mila. Whom are you protecting? Why do you have to endure all this, Camila? Do you think it's fair?" He asked, docking to her level to wipe her tears. "Tell me, who did this to you? I am not buying the fact that you fell into it. It could have pricked your tummy if you really fell on it, not your thigh, Camila. It's evident that this needle was pushed with force," he insisted, wanting to know who did that.

"Beta Steven's, don't forget the fact that she also pushed my mate. So as you try to make her say who pushed that needle in her, don't forget to find out the reason why she pushed my mate too, because I won't spare her. But for now, we'll be out of here; my Alina needs to see the doctor!" Alpha Killan's cold voice came through.

Beta Steven chuckled and then turned to face Killan, who was about to walk away. Clearing his throat to get his attention, he responded, "No one is getting out of here, Alpha Killan. For the past twenty years, I have been working with you. I have never gone against your words or talked back at you, but today is the day. So today, you will stay right here and hear what she has to say. Don't get shocked if she says that it's your darling wife who has done this."

"Beta Steven's!" Alpha Kilan growled as if he were about to charge towards him.

"Leave the growling at each other for later, but for now, stay right there!" He stressed each word coming from his mouth.

"It's better be good because if it's that bitch who hurt her...

"Then what? What will you do? Wait, have you thought about what you will do if it's Alina who has done this? Anyway, let's not assume. Camila, who did this to you, and know that if you won't tell me someone else will eventually tell me." Beta Steven turned to Camila, cupping her cheeks. Beta Steven knew that it was Alina who had done it from the moment he walked in. The horror on her face when she asked Camila who did it said it all. Even with Alpha Killan wanting to go out of there, it was she who said it because he saw her whispering something against his ears, but he wasn't going to back down. He had had enough, and he wouldn't let anyone do that to Camila ever again unless he was away from the pack.

"Camila?" Steven raised his right eyebrow at her, tilting his head sideways. "I am waiting for your response."

"I.."

"It's Luna Alina." A voice came from behind them, cutting off Camila's words. Everyone turned to look at the person who had said that, and they all gasped in shock.