Caged Between The Beta & Alpha
Chapter 76

RAVEN

Quickly, I switched routes, heading towards the pack headquarters before I changed my mind.

I stopped at the entrance and looked at the guards.

“I wish to speak to Liam.” I said quietly, not missing the way they looked at my mark.

My stomach churned and I realised that what someone wore with pride, had become something awful for me, something to be leered and gawked at like a spectacle in a zoo. I moved my hair forward, covering it.

They opened the door, allowing me inside. Another guard escorted me through the halls, unlocking the next door and leading me to the cells. My heart thudded when we slowed down.

“Do you wish to talk from outside miss or inside?!”

I don’t know…

“Outside is fine.” I said quietly, my stomach twisting.

I can’t do this… I can’t…

Breathe…

I stopped when I saw him, sitting in one of the cells on the bed. His eyes were closed, his back against the wall. He looked as handsome as ever, dressed in a plain white tee and grey sweatpants, his hair was falling in his eyes and my ch3st squeezed, the memory of him biting into my neck sent a shudder down my spine.

Was it the sane Liam or the dark Liam sitting there?

As if sensing me watching him, his eyes snapped open and I stared at him, my heart racing. I balled my fists in an attempt to stop shaking.

I waited as the guards opened up a small narrow square window in the impenetrable glass walls of the room. I could hear his heart thundering through the opening, his eyes locked with mine and I realised I felt.. scared, sick, tense, broken and anguished.

The very realisation made me step back, I saw the guilt in his eyes before he looked away.

I came here. But what am I here to say?

I couldn’t do it… I thought I could…I…

He stood up and walked over to the window, his eyes that were filled with a thousand emotions met mine.

“..” I couldn’t speak.

“‘Nothing I say can undo what I did, what I let my anger do. I shouldn’t have lost it… but I did and look at the consequences.” He said quietly.

Not once did his gaze go to my neck, and through the bond, I could feel his anguish and his pain.

I knew that dark Liam was in there… ready to take over at any moment.

In sudden clarity, I realised what I needed to do.

Even if it hurt him a little, I needed to tell him the truth.

My heart skipped a beat and I looked at him, needing to get my thoughts out there.

“A woman wears the mark of her mate with pride and happiness. We want the world to know we are claimed and happy.. I have dreamt of you marking me, countless times… but never had I ever thought it would be like this.” I said quietly, trying to control the sadness in my voice.

It hurt telling him that, knowing that right now it wasn’t the dark Liam I was talking to but the Liam who held no account of what he did. It didn’t make this pain go away though.

“I didn’t either. I can’t use the curse as an excuse.

That’s like saying I got drunk and assaulted someone but since I don’t remember… I’m not at fault.

I get that. This wasn’t just going to go away, it was going to take time.

“I let my anger and jealousy take over and jumped to assumptions the moment I saw that picture.” Liam said quietly.

Picture?

“What picture?”

“It doesn’t matter, it was just something that was posted under my door. I don’t deserve you and I can’t take back what I have done… but I can set you free

What are you-“

“I Liam Westwood, reje-“

“Stop it!” I shouted, my eyes blazing in anger and pain as I felt the pull at my ch3st.

How could he?

He closed his eyes and all I felt was his agony, his fists trembling slightly.

‘Raven it’s for-“

“I said stop!”

How dare he!

“Don’t make my decisions for me! Just… Let me do what I want!” I shouted angrily.

He frowned.

“You are better off without me.” He said quietly. “

What I did was unforgivable. If we reject one another, it’s for the best.!”

“I’ll reject you when I want to!”

That was my decision to make, not his.

Yes, I’m hurting. Yes, I’m angry. Yes, I’m broken, but I still love him. Although I didn’t know what the future hell…. I would do things for my happiness… and make my decisions for me. I would also break this curse, not for my mate, but for one of my best friends. The Liam of my childhood.

“Open the door.” I said to the guard.

He hesitated but I didn’t care, glaring at him until he obliged. I stepped inside and he shut it, watching us apprehensively.

“I know you have been jealous and angry at the entire situation, but Damon and I weren’t sneaking around that day. We were about to reject one another.

“I said quietly.

His eyes widened in shock as he stared at me, as if seeing me for the first time. The realisation of the truth sinking in followed by the look of pure regret.

“Yeah…”I said quietly, turning away.

I could tell from just looking at him that he would always regret those actions of his and the guilt would always remain.

“I am sorry… Although it can do nothing to help the pain I’ve put you through.” He added quietly, I could hear him trying to stay strong, to make his voice sound emotionless but I could hear it, feel it..

I stared ahead, my heart squeezing painfully.

“Maybe someday I’l be able to accept it and I know that I’ll forgive you for it, but forgiveness and forgetting something are two different things.” A part of me was telling me to stop, that I was hurting him, but I also knew I needed to do this for me, to share what I was feeling. “I love you, Liam, and as your friend. Il be here for you, and we will work on this curse. !”

But more than that.. I don’t know… I really don’t know… What I did know was that I needed to heal myself first. I needed to stop just tolerating and living with whatever I was given.

I realise.. I won’t be able to make anyone else happy if I myself wasn’t happy.

I looked back at him, at the man I loved. My ch3st squeezed painfully, I needed to stop thinking of him as the young Liam but see him for who he is, to see the goodness in him now and acknowledge his faults too. Only then can I really make any kind of decision.

He didn’t speak. I walked out of the cell, each footstep echoing in my ears, the sound of our beating hearts and breathing loud in my ear.

We could have done things differently… I could have been more firm, I should never have strung Damon along when I was only hurting him. I knew deep down that he was only getting hurt and in the process, it only pushed Liam further.

I needed to stop behaving like a child and face every obstacle in life, no matter how painful they are. I needed to, for me