I frowned. “What?”
“Fucking Thalia.” She tipped up her chin, her tears now gone. In their place was steely resolve, a woman scorned. Pain. Soul-shattering pain that would harden her heart against us forever.
“Explain.”
“Rager is fucking Thalia.”
I stood then, paced the small room, ran a hand over my long hair. I wanted to blurt out it was impossible, that Rager wouldn’t do something like that. He thought of Evon’s sister as his own sister. He wasn’t interested in her. If he had been, he would have mated her years ago, the first time she asked him. She’d been after him for years. Her obsession with Rager was well known to everyone at IQC. But Bella was new here, didn’t know the history.
How could Bella not feel Rager’s devotion as her matched mate? Hell, his head had been between her thighs earlier in the day as I worked her ass. How could she question him? A few hours ago, I’d seen something in her eyes that made my entire body sigh with contentment. Love. Trust. Tenderness. Things I’d not had from a woman before. From my woman. Rager and Evon were as entranced as I. I had served with them for years, knew them almost as well as I knew myself. They were devoted to Bella, as I was.
“Bella, there must be some mistake. You are our mate. We would die for you. Kill to protect you. Anything for you, mate. What you are saying is truly impossible.” I glanced at her, looking for doubt in her gaze, for weakness. There was none. Instead I saw pain, the same pain that had begun to twist through my gut at the thought that she might leave me.
“Rager is fucking Thalia.” She said it slowly this time, deliberately pronouncing every word. It wasn’t a question. She had proof.
“You saw them together?” There was no other explanation.
“After Evon dumped me at our quarters, I went into our suite. Rager was in the shower so I walked over to close the door so I could think and…”
“And?” I didn’t want to hear this, I really didn’t, but I would be strong for her.
“I heard Rager and Thalia in the bathroom. Together. So I peeked around the door—” her voice faltered and she wrapped her hands around her stomach as if she were in horrible pain. She bent forward, rocking slightly back and forth like a hurt child.
“You saw them.” I was trying to keep up. Rager and Thalia together in the shower? Evon growing angry with her for her discovery? Leaving her abruptly without explanation? None of this made sense to me, but Bella’s pain was real. The look in her eyes was undeniable. She was not a fool, nor prone to hysterics, as she’d proven in the hearing yesterday. She’d faced off with Evon’s father and held her ground. I had no choice but to believe what she said.
But nothing made sense. Evon had no love for his family, the tension between them had grown for years and came to a peak when Evon chose his new mate, his new family over the old. If Rager hadn’t punched Dravon at the hearing, Evon would have. And Thalia? A traitor? A killer? No.
Rager and Thalia together?
“She was naked, Liam. Rager was in the shower already, and she was naked.” Bella closed her eyes, a fresh tear sliding down her cheek. “And I heard her.” Disgust was so thick on the words it was like acid to my ears.
“You heard them together?”
She nodded. “Thalia said, and I quote, ‘Give me that big cock, Rager. Don’t make me beg.’”
It made no sense. None at all. I was trying to get my mind around all of this as she continued. I dropped back to the chair beside her.
“Evon’s choosing Thalia over me. He forced me to turn off the displays, to shut down my access to the back end. He didn’t want me looking any more into it. He blew me off and told me not to worry about it, to let him handle things, before dropping me off at our suite like I was so much garbage, a terrible inconvenience. And you should have seen his eyes, Liam.” She took a breath, then another, glanced up at me through her damp lashes. “Evon was so angry. I thought he was mad at me, that he was angry at Thalia for getting caught. Maybe he was trying to figure out how to protect her. But then I heard Thalia with Rager, and I figured it out. Everything clicked, you know?
“They’re all working together. Evon and Thalia and Rager. They’re all in on it together.” Bella lifted her small hand and cupped my face, the expression on hers no longer full of rage or anger or even hurt. No, all I saw was pity, and it was directed at me.
“They’re working together. They framed you for murder, and the rest. I had to warn you, Liam. I had to warn you and I’ll tell the commander the truth. I can’t let them execute you. But after that, I can’t stay. I just can’t.”
Pulling her close, I held her for long minutes as she sobbed into my chest, her pain soaking every cell in my body with dread. I ran my hand up and down her back, and when she calmed, I pulled away and took her face in my hands.
“I’m going to find out what’s going on, Bella. I promise you.” I kissed her softly, hoping it wouldn’t be the last time I tasted her sweetness. No. It wouldn’t be.
Decision made, I pulled away and held her gaze. “Stay here until the hearing. I’ll let Warden Vora know that you’re not to be disturbed. I’m going to find out what’s going on. And if what you say is correct, I’ll take you away from here myself, Bella. But you’re mine, and I’m not giving you up.”
Chapter Twelve
Bella
Liam was gone. Evon was gone. Rager was…well, probably still balls deep in that bitch, Thalia.
All the pain I’d felt had hardened inside me into steel. Liam, sweet Liam, still wanted to believe in his friends. I hoped he was right. But I was a realist, right? And there was no arguing with cold, hard evidence.
Evon was prepared to lie and hide the truth to protect his sister, perhaps even to the point of seeing Liam falsely executed.