"She was the first one to attack me and scratched my face." Interrupting the alpha, I raised my head and showed Carter my cheekbone. Right after the fight with Kelly, I looked like a pack of rabid cats had attacked me, and I still had a particularly deep scratch on my cheekbone. "Yes, I did a lot to Kely, but in revenge."
Carter's gaze burned with gloom. It became uncomfortable under it.
"I know, Jones. For me, the very fact that someone touched Kely is unacceptable, but I have never interfered in your women's squabbles, since they did not go beyond the rules, and I do not consider my girlfriend so weak as to doubt her."
I wanted to smile maliciously. Carter, being the leader of the alpha kingdom, could not step over the rules. And in Kely, he saw his future mate.
The mother of his children. So, one way or another, she had to be strong. Otherwise, she would be eaten later. He surrounded her with everything he could. But she couldn't handle me. So now she turned Carter against me. That's breaking the rules.
And so Kely is a stupid, weak idiot. She even screwed up the sisterhood because of which we had two of them in our group.
"I didn't approve of your exclusion." Carter turned his gaze and looked at the young woman who came into the park. She was with two children.
"And since I am responsible for my girlfriend, yesterday I reminded Keli of the rules and that she was crossing them. After that, I filed a petition with the dean to readmit you, but don't worry, I already took it back, because you, an idiot, can't solve problems normally. Rather, you are a stupid, hysterical bitch and you will answer for the fact that you broke Kely's bones."
"How ironic. Especially considering that because of Kely, one of the girls from my pack is still in the hospital in a coma. Of course, your adored Kely didn't beat her up personally. She paid some alphas, but, you know, that's even worse. It's one thing when betas beat you, another when men do it."
"Aren't you afraid I'll rip your tongue out for saying that?" Carter tugged at the edge of his hood with his fingers, looking at me in such a way that I saw something worse than hell in his eyes.
"Do you think I'm lying?" Leaning forward, I said: "I swear that it wasn't me who beat up Kely. I swear on my blood, and if it turns out that I'm lying, you can tear me to pieces with your own hands."
"Do you mean to say that she's lying?" It seemed that after my oath, something in Carter's eyes changed, but at the same time, it infuriated him even more.
"I love Jad, and if there's one thing I want in life, it's to be with him. That's why I wouldn't beat his friend's girlfriend even in revenge. I would have solved the problem differently, so as not to create problems for Jad." I took the diary and, opening it, took out a photograph. "So, yes, Kelly is lying to you. And not only about this."
I handed Carter the photograph. It seemed to me that he did not want to take anything from my hands, but he still took the photo.
"And what is this?" he asked, lowering his gaze to the photo. At first, indifferently, but almost immediately, moving his eyebrows on the bridge of his nose, changing somehow. It even seemed to me that Carter's palm trembled.
In the photo, there were two of us. Still children. Almost immediately after I pulled Carter out of the river. Both of us were wet, but smiling happily.
And now the alpha, freezing and tensing his whole body, so that it was noticeable even through his clothes, stared at the picture. Holding his breath. Changing his face even more.
"Who is this?" Carter asked, running his thumb very slowly over me in the picture in a strange way.
"Her name is Lily Garcia. I know this girl very well, and she once told me that she was friends with you as a child." I leaned my palms on the bench, for some reason feeling a particularly strong desire to immediately run away from Carter. As if it were downright critical. This did not happen even when he said that he wanted to destroy me.
"Lily," the alpha repeated in that voice that made my skin crawl. He still did not take his eyes off the photograph, and now I clearly saw how his fingers trembled several times and clenched a little. At the same time, Carter put his other palm on his temple and winced, as if his head was pierced by a caustic, too powerful pain.
"When you told me that Kely was your friend when you were a kid, I realized there was something wrong with Lily's story. Especially when I found out that Kely was originally from a poor family," I ran my fingernail along the surface of my cup and swirled it, feeling that there wasn't much coffee left.
"Lily was talking about how your circle of friends back then was carefully selected, and she was the only child from the lower classes who was around you. And, you know, I called her recently and asked about Kely. I showed her childhood photos of your girlfriend that I found online.
Lily said that she vaguely remembered her. Kely is the head maid's daughter. You saw her a couple of times when you were kids, but eventually you sent her away. So Kely is lying about you two being best friends."
Some of Carter's features twitched, and he closed his eyes, placing his hand on his face. Dark veins appeared on the back of his hand, and it seemed to me that the alpha was still not breathing.