Page 138 of Taming the Alpha's Daughter

“Lilith was Kyan's mother!” Sage confirms my thoughts. Lorelei nods.

“Good, you're keeping up then,” she chuckles. “Lilith was Dominic's mate, he had no intention of paying for her. He wanted blood!” Lorelei grits her teeth and the first glimmer of emotion from the woman shows. She truly did love her mate. Which is frightening to know this woman is capable of love, knowing the things she has done and the lives she has ruined.

ChapterOne Hundred One

“Anyway, he got his vengeance. When I returned, it was without Dior. I knew I wasn't going to be able to take him down without a plan, so I went back home. My son took over the Reaper Wolves while I went back into hiding. For some time anyway, that was short-lived because eventually, we got a tip off about the whereabouts of the rogue women who fled our pack when Alpha Ezra attacked us,” Lorelei says. I have no idea what she is talking about, but Sage seems to be keeping up with most of the story; her eyes fixed on Lorelei.

“They were split among three packs, and Alpha Jackson offered them back to us in exchange for our help, and when I heard he was going to war against the black Creek Alpha, of course I took him up on the offer.”

“Yet you lost that war too. This one will be no different, Lorelei, cut your losses and run!”

“You would say that because you were my breaking point. I could have walked away until you took him from me! He was all I had left!” she spits at Sage, then nods to the men with the TV. They plug it in.

Lorelei forces us to watch a video. As the screen illuminates, a scene unfolds that feels like a descent into my own personal hell. Yet, it's not mine, but Sage's. Only here she is younger, her innocence starkly evident even in her sleep. The camera shakes, capturing the abrupt awakening of her mother, who immediately slaps it away with a protective ferocity.

The camera clatters to the ground, only to be swiftly picked up by Satish. His voice, tinged with malice, cuts through the tension. “I think I want this one,” he says, his hand reaching out towards the sleeping Sage who is chained to a tree. The scene is chaotic, the camera swaying as someone else takes over filming.

Sage's mother attacks Satish in a desperate attempt to protect her daughter. But another man intervened with a brutal kick, sending her crashing to the ground. “Do you remember Jason, Pablo, Katix and the others?” Lorelei asks Sage.

Sage lifts her gaze to Lorelei. “Barely. They really aren't worth remembering!” Sage sneers.

“Well, let's see if you remember this then, shall we?!” Lorelei asks.

The video continues to play and Sage wakes to this nightmare, her screams piercing the air as Satish clamps a hand over her mouth, muffling her cries.

Her mother thrashes beneath Jason's assault, each plea for her daughter's safety a knife to my heart as he hits her with a rock. Satish's words, “Don't you worry, we'll take good care of her!” are a grotesque promise as her mother's life ebbs away under Jason's relentless blows. Sage, young and vulnerable, endures unspeakable horrors. Each frame is a reminder of the cruelty she faced as well as a hollow echo of the twisted acts that were once my everyday existence.

Then Jason, with a sickening eagerness, turns his attention back to Sage. “Me first! I've waited so long to get a taste of her,” he declares.

“Fine! But I get her ass!” Satish snaps, and I feel my stomach drop. Glancing at Lucas, he has his face tucked into his knees, hands over his ears, and I feel sickened that he is in the room watching what happened to his grandmother.

The camera lingers on the scene, and I'm forced to witness the unspeakable acts inflicted upon Sage. His depravity doesn't end with her; the man, Jason, returns to her mother's corpse, defiling her in death.

The horror of what I'm witnessing is overwhelming. I can feel bile rising in my throat, and the urge to look away, to escape this visual torment. But there's nowhere to hide from the cruelty being displayed on the screen.

Sage, next to me, watches with a face carved from stone. Her lack of reaction doesn't stem from indifference; it's a shield, a way to protect herself from the agony of reliving this trauma. It's her way of maintaining control in a situation where she had none.

Satish seems frustrated by Sage's reaction, as if her lack of visible pain diminishes his triumph at hurting her. But I see her strength, the resilience that has carried her through unspeakable horrors. In her silence, she denies Satish and his monsters their victory by reacting.

The footage ends, and Lorelei sneers at Sage. “Still think you're an innocent Sage?!”

Sage looks at Lorelei. “Yes, because I did nothing wrong. your son is a sick man!” Sage growls, lifting her head to glare at Satish beside her.

“Now that is where you're wrong. It's not Satish I am talking about,” Lorelei taunts, grabbing Sage's face. Sage glares at her.

“You took from me the only piece of Dior I had left! Jason Dior Shivani was my son! And I know you and your mate killed him.”

Sage’s reply is defiant. “I see the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree then! And that thing deserved so much more than death.”

“No it doesn't. And you'll end up just like your mother! A dick in her ass and a smashed skull by the time I'm done with you!” Sage holds her gaze, refusing to look away.

“Do your worst. If your weak, pathetic son couldn't break me, you certainly won't.”

Lorelei’s gaze hardens, a mix of pain and rage. “Dominic got his vengeance. But now, it’s my turn. And this,” she gestures at us, “is just the beginning,” Lorelei says, standing up and looking over her shoulder.

“Celeste created the Gemini Daggers, but I intend to create something far more sinister. A dagger is only a dagger, an object. Harmless unless used by some other God or Goddess. By the time I've finished with you both, I will have created not only a God, but a God Slayer,” she smiles cunningly, her eyes flicking to her son. “The Octavians won't know what hit them when he is unleashed!”

Sage snickers, and Lorelei grips her hair, pulling her head back to stare directly into her cruel eyes. “You dare mock me while sitting in the chair you'll die in?!”

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