Sold To The Alphas I Hate - Chapter 248

Chapter 248: The Truth From Rafe
Eira’s POV

Once we had breakfast together, Kael told me, “Today, I’m going out for some work.”

I didn’t know why he was telling me, but I nodded anyway.

“Take care of Raven,” he instructed, then turned to Raven. “Listen to Mommy.”

Raven nodded as well.

I looked at the two. Things were changing. It was giving me a family feeling now — in fact, it had started quite a while back.

Kael turned to me and pecked my forehead. “See you.”

I was taken aback but nodded as usual.

Kael looked at Roman. “Let’s go,” he said, and walked toward the door.

So, Roman and he were going together.

Roman hummed and came to me. He cupped my face in his hands and pecked my lips softly.

My breath caught in my chest. He moved back and looked at me. “I’ll be back soon.”

Why?

Why were these people doing this to me? I wasn’t ready for it. My heart might just burst any moment if they continued this way.

I nodded lightly, and he turned to leave. But he left my heart beating wildly once more, just when it had managed to calm down. My gaze followed him as he left the house.

“Jason and I are going out with the security,” Lucian said and left with Jason.

Fluffy got Raven’s attention, and Rafe directed them to the garden to play. Then he turned to me. “Caldwell, want to come out? The sunlight’s nice today.”

I had nothing else to do, so I followed him anyway.

Raven and Fluffy were playing — Raven would throw a ball for him, and Fluffy would bring it back. Meanwhile, Rafe and I settled on the grass.

“Why are you sitting like a poor sheep?” he commented. “Sit like me. It’ll feel better.”

I sighed and extended my folded legs, sitting like him with my hands resting on the grass to support my leaning body.

“Where did those two go?” I asked. “Both of them looked serious.”

“Why didn’t you ask them?” Rafe countered.

“I thought they wouldn’t tell me, so…”

“How will you know unless you try?” he asked. “Whenever you asked something, have we ever replied with ‘You don’t need to know’? We answered whatever you asked. Maybe sometimes we didn’t tell you the entire thing for a reason, but at least we told you something.”

Well, that was true. They always replied — I just didn’t ask enough.

“Now I’m asking you. Will you tell me?” I said.

He chuckled. “Getting smart, Caldwell?”

“Say it if you want to, or don’t,” I frowned.

“Alright,” he let out a bored sigh, “they’ve gone to meet the man… hmm… the one Raven used to live with.”

It scared me now. “Is he here to take him back?”

“Certainly.”

“He can’t.”

“Don’t worry. We won’t let him,” Rafe assured. “You don’t know Kael well yet. I’m sure you’ll know soon.”

“As long as he protects Raven,” I muttered.

“Where everyone stops thinking, that’s where Kael starts thinking,” Rafe said, a confidence, trust and pride in Kael.

I wasn’t sure what he meant, but whatever. I just wanted my Raven.

“Caldwell, from now on, make sure to ask questions to the relevant person,” he said. “You’re Kael’s mate — that means his Luna. You have the right to know everything, and he’ll respect that. Just try it.”

Last night, I asked Kael about Raven, and he indeed answered me.

“Unless you ask, we won’t know what’s in your mind,” Rafe said. “That day, you wanted to know about Roman, but you hesitated to ask. So I had to take things into my own hands based on my understanding of you. But don’t always depend on that. Learn to take initiative. You’re a family now.”

What he said felt good to hear. Maybe I would follow his advice. I hummed in agreement.

After a while of silence, he asked, “You like Roman, don’t you?”

I was taken aback and looked at him, not knowing why he would even say that.

He offered me a gentle smile. “Well, he’s a good man, so it’s obvious you would like him.”

“It’s not like that,” I countered quickly.

“You once had a boyfriend, didn’t you?” he asked.

I sighed. These people still remembered that.

“You must know the feeling,” he said. “The same one you’re feeling for Roman.”

I wasn’t sure. “I’m just grateful that he’s good to me.”

He hummed. “It’s only been two months since you’ve been with us. During those two months, Roman was the only one who cared for you from the start and was always good to you. So, the feeling of gratitude is understandable. But even if it’s more than that — even if it’s you liking him — you shouldn’t deny it.”

I didn’t comment. I’ve been through so much, and I’m with these people just for a short while. I don’t have my own feelings now.

“You can give yourself another chance at love,” he said. “Though all five of us are your mates now due to our bond with Kael, in the end it’ll be your choice whether you want to accept us all or just one. If you like Roman, you should give yourself a chance to feel it once again.”

I wasn’t sure what to say and just stared into the distance.

“What do you think about Kael?” he asked.

I looked at him once more. Was he trying to sell his brothers to me now? If not one, then he’d try with the other.

I didn’t answer.

“You have a bond with him now,” he said. “You know he’s good and didn’t harm you intentionally, but there’s something that stops you from even thinking about him.”

I swallowed hard. Why was he saying this?

He met my gaze. “Is it because of what he did when he came to see you in the prison?”

I stared at him in silence. “You were there?”

He hummed. “Kael didn’t know either,” he said, “so that’s the reason?”

I shook my head. “It was meant to end that way, even if we weren’t in that situation.”

“Because you already had someone else in your heart,” he added.

I couldn’t deny it. “Yes, I had.”

“Did you wait for him to show up to help you?” he asked.

I wanted to expect it, but I knew I was a sinner and I shouldn’t. Yet that small tinge of hope was always there — that out of the love we had, he would at least ask me something. But he didn’t. He silently watched me and left without a word. His silence felt worse than if he had cursed me for what I did.

“I didn’t dare expect,” I said. “And you can stop reminding me about him. I’ve left it in the past.”

He hummed, and there was silence once more between us. But I felt like, after so long, I was having a peaceful talk — one where someone was asking me what was in my heart.

“Want me to tell you one truth?” he said.

What kind of truth? I wondered and asked, “What?”

“Even if every one of us hated you until we knew the truth, no one ever wanted to kill you,” he said. “Not even six years back, and not even when we found you. Even if you betray us now for real, we will never be able to kill you.”

I didn’t understand what he was trying to tell me, but I said anyway, “Because you want me to suffer.”

He shook his head. “You don’t know, but all of us loved you like crazy back then. The only thing that held us back was—you were a minor. The thought of you not existing in this world is unbearable. All of us were fine with the thought that you were alive in some corner of that prison. That was enough.”

“You’re thinking too much,” I said, finding it illogical.

He raised a brow. “Have you not wondered? That day, Kael came to the prison but didn’t kill you. If not Kael, you know Lucian’s temper well. He and Jason came to you in the prison as well, didn’t they? But you’re alive.

“And that night when we found you again after the traffickers sold you to us, Lucian strangled you. Do you know how powerful he is? It wouldn’t take him a blink of an eye to snap the neck of another Alpha, but you were alive even when he strangled you for a long time. Because in his heart, he didn’t want to kill you. He couldn’t.

“Also, Jason kicked you on the chest—it wasn’t to kill you, but because he thought you were dying and he wanted you to breathe. He’s a doctor and he knows how much pressure his kick needs to make you breathe again. If he had done it carelessly, your rib cage and lungs would have crushed right there, instead of just two ribs being mildly fractured.

I tried to process it, while Rafe continued.

“All those curse words towards you—it was their anger talking. But that wasn’t anger towards you, it was towards themselves. That they couldn’t stop loving you even after what you did. That hate and bitterness were for their own selves.”

“And Kael allowed you to come to this home, where no one was ever allowed except his brothers — that’s the biggest proof. And none of us truly stopped him. All those reasons they created to keep you here were just excuses to make themselves feel better, to convince themselves they were taking revenge on you for what you did. But who were they fooling? Themselves only.

“As for Roman and me, we didn’t have any bad blood with you either. We preferred to go with the flow with our brothers, as always. So, that was our excuse to let you stay here — that we always follow our brothers.”

“Kael needed you, a pureblood, just to save someone’s life because he had once promised his mother that he would protect that person, that’s it. We had no other use for a pureblood she-wolf. We didn’t even need a breeder, as having a child or a mate was never our goal. After that incident six years back, none of us wanted a woman in our life — or in this home.

“If the she-wolf we bought wasn’t you, the other she-wolf would have never stepped inside this home. She would have stayed in the hospital, fulfilled what we bought her for, and then we would have released her to do whatever she wanted with her life. None of our business.”

I didn’t know what to think about it.

“You must think I’m just making all of this up, don’t you?” he asked. “You don’t trust it.”

I looked at him. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust them, but the truth was too much to digest at the moment.

“Well, if you think so…” he smirked, “then maybe you’re right.”

“What?” The bastard was confusing me now. What he said to me — was he just making it up, or was it the truth?

He laughed. “A pea-sized brain.”

I wanted to beat him. He had just softened my heart towards all of them, but…

He stopped laughing and then offered me a serious look.

“Use your brain to think whether what I said is the truth or if I’m just trying to manipulate you to gain plus points for us,” he said. “Learn to use your own brain to analyze the situation. The truth will be as clear as clean water. An idle mind will lead you nowhere.”

My heart said whatever he told me today, he was telling the truth. But this bastard had a knack for confusing me.

After troubling my peaceful mind with his evil twist of talking, the bastard was sitting calmly, staring into the distance and even humming a tune.

Wait, why did this tune feel so familiar?

I looked at him. “Where did you learn it?”

He offered me a wicked smirk. “Guess?”

“I created it back then, but…”

“But you played it only inside your room every night,” he said.

I nodded. “But, how did you—”

“Are you still that dumb?”

“Were you stalking me?” My voice rose.

“Not always,” he replied shamelessly. “Once in a while, when I got bored, I would pass by your home…” The smirk on his lips widened, “…in the night.”

“You perverted vampire!” I punched his shoulder.

He caught my hand. “I would’ve been perverted if I had sneaked inside your room while you were sleeping, or peeked when you were having a shower, or maybe changing your clothes.”

“You did that?” I asked angrily.

He looked me up and down. “Does that even matter now?”

Yeah, they had seen me naked many times now, but I was a young girl back then.

“Relax. I never saw you like that. I just sat by the boundary wall below your window and played with Vixen. But my sharp ears made me hear you humming.”

I finally relaxed. But, my mind couldn’t help but think about what he said to me today.

If they truly love me as he claimed, the question was- Why?

I was just an ordinary girl.

“You didn’t ask me who Kael was trying to save by using a pureblood?” he commented.

“Who?” I asked.

“You are too late to ask and I am not in a mood to answer,” he stood up, dusted his hands and walked towards Raven and Fluffy, “You can ask the one you should.”