Chapter 8 SISTERS SPAT

~JADE~

"Please wait here, Luna; the elders will call for you shortly." Said one of the two guards who had escorted me to the council hall upon request by the council elders.

Closing the door of the council hall behind him, the guard moved to the other side of the hallway, looking away from me, while the second guard proceeded to walk a few feet down the hallway away from us.

I had woken up this morning with an aching heart and bile rising up my throat like every other morning since the morning my life took a drastic turn. After the argument with Hunter in his kitchen two mornings ago, he stopped coming home.

I have not the slightest clue where he goes, but I sure as hell know what he does, if the pain I feel every time is any indication. It still baffles me how easy it is for him to switch up on me like this. He didn't even care to give it time, or at least wait until a verdict had been passed. And if I am being honest, I have already given up hope of any sort of reconciliation between us.

Will the council find me guilty or innocent? I have no idea how they intend to run the trial. Will they try Darren? I haven't heard anything from him since that morning. The last time I saw my sister Arya was that evening at my parent's house. If there's a chance that Darren will be at the trial, maybe he will tell the truth and prove my point that nothing happened, but at this point, I don't even know what's the truth anymore.

Besides, whatever the verdict of the elders turns out to be, it wouldn't matter anyway since Hunter has already rejected me. Perhaps if there's a chance I am found innocent, will they make him take back his rejection? Even if he does, how well will that bode for us? Will it be possible for us to just go back to being the happy couple we once were and pretend like none of this ever happened or that I haven't been waking up in pain these past nights due to his frivolous ways?

"You." I raised my head to the sound of Arya's voice.

I guess I was so lost in thought that I didn't even hear the sound of her footsteps down the hall.

"Why are you so selfish?" Arya asked with a heavy tone of disdain.

"Selfish?" I mumbled my confusion as the lines on my face creased. "I am the one who got drugged, Arya. The one who can't remember what happened to her-why are you acting like I wanted any of this to happen? Why would I want to become a subject of mockery when I already had the perfect life and the perfect home with my mate? What would I possibly want with an ordinary Delta wolf? What can a Delta like Darren give me when I have everything I could ever need with Hunter?"

Arya sneered at my words, her eyes full of hatred as she stepped closer, inserting herself into my space. Usually, I would flinch and cower before her stares because I never understood why she had always hated me. Even while I was in the Philippines, the rare times Aunty allowed me to have supervised calls, Arya would always make nasty comments over the phone, and when I came back here, she never hid her dislike for me.

"He might've been an ordinary Delta, but that ordinary Delta was my boyfriend. Darren was my man, and you shamelessly fucked him. You wouldn't be acting like a victim if you weren't caught; perhaps you might not have slept with him for material gain, but we both know you did it for your selfishness and greed to always covet what is mine." Arya grits out, spitting on my face in the process.

I held back the sneer on my lips as I also pushed back the need to cower. I am a beta, one whose wolf took so long to manifest due to all the drugs my aunt was feeding me. It is quite humiliating for me as a beta wolf to always cower before my sister. First, it was because I respected her as my older sister, and at some point, I did so because I sought her approval and for her to like me. But now? Not so much, because I am not sure if I ever knew her at all.

"I don't know what point you are trying to drive, sister, but I have never coveted anything of yours. I don't know what happened that night, but I didn't sleep with your boyfriend. I would never hurt Hunter like that. Never." I wiped her spit off my face, and Arya scoffs.

"Lies, all lies, Jade, and only a fool who doesn't know how self-centred you are would believe you. You don't care who you hurt, as long as you get what you want. It didn't matter to you if your actions would hurt your mate or me; you wanted my boyfriend, and you went for him. Only the goddess knows how many women you've done this to in this pack that no one knows about." Arya commented, shaking her head as she poked at my chest.

"What the hell are you on about? I have done nothing of that sort to anyone. I have never cheated on Hunter, not before now. Will it kill you for once to act like you like me and take your sister's side? Do you not wonder why I don't remember any bloody thing? Does it not concern you that your boyfriend possibly took advantage of me and might've done so to other women? Act like my big sister and help me find the truth; instead, you are accusing me of things I didn't do while calling me names. No matter how hurt you are, Arya, shouldn't family come first? Is that not what Mama and Papa have always taught us?" I hissed in a hushed voice, slapping at her hand poking my chest.

Shaking her head as she stepped away from me, Arya wiped at her bleary eyes. I noticed the corner of her eyes moved, and she seemed to be stalling for the guards' attention. The minute both guards shifted their attention to us, Arya let out a broken sob like a performing actress.

"You are still the same selfish girl; here I thought you wouldn't be so self-absorbed after living away from us for so many years, but nothing has changed. You always make everything about you; no one else is more important than you. And you don't care what you take from me; you just keep taking. First, you stole my chance to move to the Philippines with Aunty. I'd been preparing for months, and when she arrived, you couldn't stop gushing about how much you wanted to visit the Philippines and how fantastic it would be to live with her. And you managed to get her to agree to take you, even though I was the one she came for. Then what did you do after you came back?" Arya paused to sob into her hands.

Shaking her head, she continued. "Twelve years and nothing changed; you came back, and you stole the love of my life from me. Everyone knows how hard I worked and trained for years, and our love was no secret to anyone. I was supposed to be Luna, and then you came and took that and the man I loved away from me. Despite how heartbroken I was, they told me to let it go, and I did, because why? Fate has chosen; it was fate. I buried my anguish and accepted my fate, and now that I've moved on and finally found another man to love me the way I deserve, you went and slept with him, just because you couldn't bear the thought of seeing me happy. Because you can't stand seeing me have what I want, and heaven knows I despise you for this, Jade. I hate you." Arya spat, just as the door to the council hall opened right at that moment, as I stared stupefied at my sister's face, unable to form a coherent speech.

"The elders are ready to attend to your case now. Jade, Arya." Whoever opened the door announced, Arya hastily turned their way, acting like she hadn't expected to be caught in such a vulnerable state as she wiped at her face hastily.

"Of course, we are behind you." She replied with a warm smile, while I remained glued to the spot, trying to piece together what I just heard.