radicalducati Chapter 20
Chapter 20
Cassandra’s POV
The metallic scent of blood still lingered in the air as I stormed toward the Alpha’s chambers, my hands clenched into fists. My heart pounded—not from fear, not from the lingering tension of battle, but from betrayal.
Adolphus had abandoned me.
And my best friend, Katrina, had betrayed me.
I couldn’t believe what I had seen. For a moment, I had truly frozen. My brain couldn’t process it—the way they looked at each other. Were they in love? Was it always there, hiding behind stolen glances and convenient silences? How could he fall for her?
Adolphus was supposed to protect me, serve me. I was the one who welcomed him when he had nothing. The one who convinced my father to give him a position of honor, to make him my personal guard. I had believed in him. And now he had turned his back on me… for her.
Katrina.
I gritted my teeth so hard it hurt, my nails biting into the flesh of my palms. The image wouldn’t leave me—the way he had run to her, not thinking, not hesitating. The way he touched her like she was something precious. Like she mattered more than I did.
That liar. That snake.
I had asked her. I had trusted her. When I confronted her about Adolphus, she had looked me in the eye and denied everything. But I had seen it now, clear as day. The bond between them. The way their bodies drew toward each other like magnets pulled by something unseen. Something… deeper.
No.
I wouldn’t allow it.
If I couldn’t have Adolphus, then neither could she. I wouldn’t be cast aside. I wouldn’t be forgotten. Not by him, and certainly not by my own father.
Pushing past the guards outside my father’s chambers, I marched inside without waiting to be announced.
My father, Alpha Nathaniel, sat at his massive oak desk, surrounded by scrolls and reports—likely sorting through the aftermath of the rogue attack. His silver-streaked hair was damp with sweat, his shoulders broad beneath the weight of leadership. He looked up the moment I entered, his piercing eyes narrowing slightly at my sudden arrival.
“Cassandra,” he said, setting aside the parchment. “I assume you’re here about the rogue attack?”
I barely registered his words. The pressure in my chest was building, boiling over. I refused to let it fade.
“I’m not here for that,” I snapped, folding my arms across my chest. My tone was colder than it needed to be, but I didn’t care. Let him feel my anger. Let him understand what this betrayal meant to me.
That made him pause. His head tilted slightly, studying me like he was already weighing his response. “Then why are you here?”
I exhaled, slow and deliberate, drawing on the pain I’d felt watching Adolphus and Katrina together. I let it coat my features in something raw—something he would recognize.
“It’s Adolphus,” I said, letting the name hang heavy in the air.
My father frowned, already sensing something was wrong. “Did he fail in his duties to protect you?”
I hesitated. The answer was no. I wasn’t hurt. Not a scratch. But that wasn’t the point. What he had done… was worse. He had chosen her over me.
He had exposed where his loyalty truly lay.
I lowered my gaze, letting my voice crack just slightly, crafting the illusion of being both vulnerable and brave. “Not exactly,” I said. “He...he left me, Father. In the middle of the battle.”
The Alpha’s expression shifted in an instant. His jaw tightened, and the room seemed to grow heavier.
“For what reason?” he asked, though I could already hear the warning in his tone.
I lifted my eyes to meet his, summoning every ounce of wounded betrayal I had.
“For Katrina.”