"How is this possible? How can she still stand unaffected?" Susan's shrill voice held the same surprise that Athena was feeling.
She couldn't believe what had just happened.
Apart from the brief, uncomfortable heat in her neck that reminded her of his mark, she didn't feel a single pain.
She couldn't even feel their bond breaking.
Her brows furrowed as she looked at Richard's darkening scowl.
"You were my mate," she said, more as a question than a statement.
Something was not right.
"Well, not anymore, bitch. You are nothing to him now," Susan quipped, recovering from her shock.
"How can she still be standing after your rejection?" she whispered urgently to Richard. "She must be doing it on purpose to make you look weak before everyone. An alpha's rejection hurts the most. Yet she made it look like it's nothing. Like you are nothing."
Richard's scowl darkened at her words.
No one else but him knew the real reason for what had just happened, but looking bad was something he couldn't afford.
Athena had humiliated him, and she must pay.
"If you kneel and beg now, I might consider not throwing you out of the pack," he growled as amber eyes glared at Athena.
Athena rolled her eyes as a show of dominance. "I see you are delusional, alpha. I want nothing from you and your pack. The one who loses a great deal today is not me."
She turned to leave with relief in her heart.
She had come to fulfil the moon goddess's wish and was free of the burden of a worthless mate instead.
Very soon he would know what he lost after her identity had been made known to him.
By then it would have been too late, and she would forget any lingering feeling caused by that connection she had felt between them that first night.
"How dare you turn your back on your alpha?" His irritated voice stopped her.
Athena sighed and turned. "You are not my alpha. You are the unworthy one. Moon goddess bless the late alpha. He is what an alpha looks like, and you are nothing compared to his finger."
He transformed right before her. Athena's breath skittered in her chest as rage turned his slightly soft yet handsome face into something sinister. "Don't you dare mention him!"
Even Susan stepped back slightly from his side as he jabbed his finger at Athena with his words.
Then, realising his reaction, he looked to his left, where his men quickly bowed their heads away from his glower.
Athena could see his visible effort to calm himself as his hands opened and closed like claws.
Veins popped in his bare forearms. Then he was turning back to her with his customary charming grin.
Still, icy fingers raced down Athena's back as his eyes coldly locked with hers.
"You dare insult your alpha? It's time you see what I do to fools like you who don't know their place. What my father should have done when you crawled into this pack. You are a rogue who only came to this pack to infiltrate our border to cause chaos. My father failed to see that back then. I will correct that mistake."
Athena thought he couldn't surprise her any further, but his height of callousness stumped her for a moment.
He wanted to punish her for not falling to her knees to beg him not to reject her. Yet, the bastard couldn't even be straightforward about it.
He would use the excuse of her being a rogue to inflict a justifiable punishment on her. Now he was calling her a spy too?
What would he do when he knew that she not only had a pack now but controlled all packs, including his?
"Your delusions know no bounds, alpha," Athena drawled, the alpha's title laced with mocking emphasis. "One minute I am totally powerless, and the next, you are accusing me of being a spy and causing chaos? Get your story straight, will you?"
When he merely ignored her and whispered something to Ludric, who gave her a sickening look, Athena folded her arms defensively and said, "You can't punish me for your lies."
"Oh, he can. That is what losers like you will never learn. He has the power. He can do whatever he wants. And you are the liar," Susan hissed.
"Watch me," Richard said cheerily.
Athena's ears perked at the sound of an approaching vehicle.
Soon, Ludric drove a grey Mercedes out of the gate.
He parked close to Athena, and dread lumped in her stomach as he came down with thick silver chains.
Thick, padded gloves protected his hands from the silver.
The sharp metallic scent hit her before it even touched her.
Athena automatically backed away and found out too late that two of the men had gotten behind her.
They grabbed and pushed her towards Ludric, who grabbed her. His hands brutally biting into her skin.
"What are you doing? Let go of me!" Athena struggled before another backhanded slap from Ludric sent her sprawling on the hard ground close to the back tyres.
Ludric dragged her by her hair to the back, then lashed the silver chains onto her wrists.
The moment the chain touched her wrists, Athena's body convulsed.
A blistering burn exploded where the metal met her skin, as if molten steel was being poured straight into her veins.
Her throat ripped with an involuntary cry as the silver hissed against her flesh, the smell of scorched skin curling into the air.
She would have doubled over in agony if not for the men who grabbed her
Their restraining hold made a terrible sense of déjà vu roll through Athena, and she had to swallow hard to fight back the nausea.
"No, this is not happening again," she protested in a horror-filled whisper.
Her eyes widened when Ludric tied the other end of the chain to the fender of the car.
The realisation slammed into her chest like a blow. Her mind rejected it even as her pulse thundered in warning.
"No," she breathed, panic flaring in her jade-green eyes.
She twisted toward Richard. And the twin smirk on his and Susan's faces answered her question.
No, he wouldn't.