Help! Five Beast Alphas Want To Breed Me!!(BL)-Chapter 307: Why I’m Here

Liandria;

The creek does not judge me.

That is the first mercy Gravemaw offers.

I watch as water slips over smooth stones with a patient hush. Clear, cold, and reflecting the clear beauty of the sky above. The sound is steady. soothing. It does not become harsh when I kneel at its edge, nor does it recoil when my hands dip into it.

Rhydian’s words ring in my head.

Over and over. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

Each one is like a blade.

You don’t belong here.

You don’t get to claim me.

You failed.

They are all hurtful... They are all right. I press my fingers into the damp earth with my nails biting into soil as if pain might distract me. My chest is so tight I can barely breathe.

I bow my head before the tears start falling, and I don’t even bother to hold them back.

Hot, shameful, and filled with regret.

I clamp a hand over my mouth, and my shoulders shake, as the sound of my own breaking rent the air. Crying has become a recent ritual.

Before, I used to believe that tears were a luxury available only to those who could afford weakness. How does that belief stand when you realise that, in truth, you are nothing but a weakling?

Rhydian looked at me like I was a stranger.

No... Worse.

He looked at me like I was a threat. Maybe that’s because that’s what I taught him to believe.

"I built this life without you."

"I was free." His voice echoes, sharp and shaking with rage.

Free...

The word burns.

I squeeze my eyes shut, and the image comes back. The image of him standing there in that clearing glaring right at me. Taller. Stronger. Hardened in ways I recognize too well. He carries my fire in his bones, my temper, my refusal to bow.

And he carries the wounds wickedly inflicted on him, too.

"I didn’t come to ruin you," I whisper hoarsely to the creek, to the trees, to the guilt and shame that now follow me wherever I go.

"I came because I had to," I add, and my breath shudders.

I replay the way his hands shook. The way his voice cracked despite all that fury. The way he didn’t once ask why.

Because "why" no longer matters to him anymore when it comes to me.

"I know," I whisper with tears dripping from my chin into the water below.

"I know I was cruel. I know I was bitter. I know I taught you to survive instead of teaching you to feel safe." I croak as I drag a sleeve across my face.

"I deserved every word," I admit quietly.

"Every ounce of that hatred. I deserve it."

But goddess help me— It still hurts.

I curl inward, arms hugging my knees, and sobs wrack my chest now that the dam has finally cracked. I think of the child he was. The boy who watched me from doorways, eyes sharp and hopeful, waiting for warmth I did not know how to give.

I think of all the times I chose strength over softness.

All the times I mistook control for protection.

"I thought I was making you strong," I whisper.

"I didn’t realize I was teaching you to die in silence."

My throat tightens painfully.

"I didn’t come to take you away," I say, louder now, as if Rhydian might hear me through the trees.

"I didn’t come to steal your home. I came because the ground is shifting beneath us, and you don’t see it yet." I add, and a sob tears out of me.

"And I don’t know how to save you without becoming the monster you already think I am," I whisper against my knee, and footsteps crunch softly behind me.

The sound is subtle, but it cuts through my grief like a blade through cloth.

I stiffen.

I turn immediately and freeze the moment I see her.

Her presence... is different from mine. It’s warmer.... steadier. Like a hug, where mine feels like a raised hand ready to strike at any time.

"Alpha Liandria." She speaks, with her voice calm.

Too calm. I look up at her face slowly, and she doesn’t even bother to give me a courtesy smile.

She stands a few paces away, hands clasped neatly at her waist, and I notice that her usual warmth, which I always hear about is gone. There is no easy smile on her face, or gentle humour dancing in her eyes.

What looks back at me now is something sharper. Protective... Regal.

The person before me now is a queen who has already buried too many dead.

She studies me the way one studies a storm cloud on the horizon, and her eyes narrow further.

"Why are you here?" she asks, and I swallow as I stand up.

There is no accusation in her tone, but there is no welcome either.

I straighten instinctively, shoulders squaring even as my eyes burn.

"I didn’t intend to disturb your kingdom," I reply, and she raises a brow,

"You arrived without informing me," she says flatly.

"In a kingdom still healing. Still raw." She adds, and her gaze does not waver.

"I know your reputation, Alpha Liandria," She continues.

"I know how you rule. I know how you feel about omegas. And I will not stand by and watch you terrify my people." She adds in a subtle warning, and something sharp twists in my chest.

"We have been through enough," she adds quietly, and I gulp.

"And it is imperative that I let you know that if you are here for Rhydian, I will not allow you to take him. The boy has no intention of returning with you, and you will have to stand against me if you so much as try to force him in anyway." She warns like my son is hers, and she would move mountains to keep him safe.

I stare at her for a long moment, the weight of her words settling into me. She stands like a shield between me and everything I can still lose.

And somehow... unexpectedly... I smile.

It’s a small, sad, and tired one.

"You are an impressive woman," I say honestly, and one of her brows shoots up.

"I see why Koda is the young man he is. I see... why Wilhelm loves you." I add, and at the last words, her eyes roll.

"I’m not here to take Rhydian" I continue, my voice quieter now, and confusion flickers across her face.

"I’m also not here to cause trouble in or for Gravemaw," I add, and she watches me carefully.

I draw in a slow breath, steadying myself.

"I know what I am to people. I earned that image. I know I am seen as a monster... I am..." I speak, and my hands curl into fists at my sides.

"I deserve the hatred," I say simply.

"The distance... The fear." I continue, and Cassia does not interrupt.

"But I did not come to ruin anyone’s peace," I continue.

"I did not come to reclaim control. I did not come to drag my son away from a place that has clearly given him something I could not."

My voice falters despite myself.

"I came because my family is in danger," I confess, and Cassia’s eyes sharpen.

"What do you mean?" she finally speaks, and I meet her gaze.

The truth is heavy on my tongue, dangerous and sharp and incomplete... but it’s there..

Cassia raises a brow, expectant, and I hesitate. Because once I speak what is on my mind...

There’s no going back.

It’s a problem I don’t fully understand myself. Hence, I don’t know how to solve it, and I could be misunderstood.

The creek continues to flow... and the forest seems to lean in to listen.