Page 179 of Crystal Luna
“You think Axel is better than cleaning up after me, don’t you? That I should do as you remember: get on my knees and do it my damn self.”
“N-no, Luna,” she stammered.
Velora’s lips curled into a far too sweet smile as she stepped over the casings and towards Larissa. “Oh c’mon. You can tell the truth. What is bothering your sweet, pathetic heart?”
Though he tried to hide it, Axel didn’t approve of how Velora spoke to his mate—and who could blame him? She was his whole world after all, but he didn’t understand their past.
“You don’t deserve your title,” Larissa spat.
Axel’s eyes widened in terror and—disbelief? “Larissa!”
“It’s alright Axel, I wanna hear it all. While we’re at it, what else is on your mind?”
There was clearly something else, but she didn’t dare say it out loud, her eyes travelling between her mate and her luna.
Velora relied on her powers as luna, and it dawned on her. “Interesting,” she snarled. “You’re wondering why Axel hasn’t been given the title as beta.”
“He deserves it,” she sneered.
Axel was horrified. “Larissa! Stop!”
“And you think I’m the one who’s keeping him from something that’s rightfully his?”
“Of course you are! You hate me, just like you hated Ely. Now that he’s dead you’re punishing me.”
Velora’s hand shot forward and grabbed Larissa’s jaw, drawing a painful gasp from the woman. She didn’t care that she was hurting her—nor did she care that Axel’s fist was twitching as he restrained himself.
“Let me tell you something, and all you will hear now will stay between us,” Velora didn’t have to raise her voice as she used her luna command. “I’d much rather have Ely alive so I could return the torture he’s put me through all these years. I wish he would return just so I can show him no mercy. And you want to know why, you selfish clueless bitch?”
Larissa trembled, but Velora didn’t loosen her grip, not even when her mates burst through the doors.
“He forced himself on me. While you were playing wanna-be-luna with Asher, he raped me in that place I now have to call home. While I prepared your damn breakfast smoothie, I bled down my thighs. You asked me if I could look at least somewhat decent when serving you, just hours after I was used like a toy.”
Velora’s mates stood wide-eyed as she felt her wolf grow and her half-shift creeping to the surface. As Velora grew, Larissa’s body lifted until her toes merely grazed the floor beneath them.
“But that isn’t the reason your mate isn’t beta. He was my first choice, actually. I’d put up with your shitty face if I had to because yes, he deserves it. But he’s far too good of a warrior to be sentenced to a life behind a desk.”
She dropped Larissa, enjoying the way her legs buckled until she knelt in submission. For a moment she stood there and soaked it in.
Then she left Larissa crumpled on the floor, walking straight out of the gym. She felt Asher follow her while Isaiah stayed behind to make sure Velora’s secrets were safe.
“Vel, please stop,” Asher begged behind her.
“What?” she barked, spinning around to see him holding his shirt out to her.
She looked down at herself and saw that her rather tight blouse had ripped during her shift and was showing off far more than he was comfortable with.
She took the piece of fabric from him, throwing it on and buttoning it up to hide her figure. Normally she didn’t have to worry, but that particular outfit was too tight to withstand a half-shift. Her jeans had ripped too, but Asher’s shirt was long enough to keep her modest.
She took a deep breath and closed her eyes to calm herself again, but couldn’t hide her smirk at the memory of Larissa’s fear-stricken eyes.
“Felt good, huh?” Asher asked.
“Nearly as good as throwing you into that mirror.”
“It was my pleasure.”
“Well, that only leaves me to get my ass kicked.”