Chapter 171
Reborn Omega: Avenge Herself Like an Alpha
171 No Forgiveness
Aubrey’s POV
ས ཊཱི 74% ॰
Finished
One look into Mariana’s eyes was enough for me to know every vile thought running through her head. The wolves around us didn’t see it, though, and after all her kneeling and bleeding, she had managed to stir a few embers of pity.
“That’s enough, isn’t it, Aubrey? She does look pretty pitiful,” a classmate murmured to me.
Others wore the same sympathetic expression.
“I think so too. She’s already lowered herself like this–she must have learned her lesson.”
“Right, right. Being demoted from beta to omega is punishment enough. Just forgive her. Make her pay some money if you want, but in the end, you’re still classmates.”
Those voices grew louder and more numerous. Anyone else would have buckled under the weight of that pressure long ago and called it off. But not me. I watched her bow her head to the ground, over and over, feeling nothing.
I remembered the first time I contracted the Lupine virus. Desperate to save myself, I confided in Mariana, grateful when she so “kindly” accepted me. I even told her the truth–that although I was infected, I wasn’t contagious–so she wouldn’t be afraid.
But while she smiled and agreed, she turned around and sold me out.
On my first day locked up in the research institute, she came to see me. I didn’t yet know she was the one who’d betrayed me to Bailey. I was flustered, pleading with her to save me.
That was when she smiled down at me, a prisoner condemned to die, wearing the smug look of a victor.
“Blame yourself for being stupid. Who do you think I am? You think you deserve to be my friend? If I hadn’t held back because you were the alpha’s fiancée, I would have gotten rid of you long ago, you lowborn fool.”
The noise around us now was swelling–some calling me cold–blooded, others urging me to forgive her. The school wouldn’t intervene because of my identity, but they still sent a teacher to ask me not to escalate things in public and to settle it at home.
So I nodded and walked toward Mariana.
Her face lit with hope, her posture shrinking into abject humility.
She thought I was coming to lift her up and tell her she was forgiven. I suspected not just her, but every werewolf present, thought the same.
Instead, I crouched down and, rather than help her, simply hooked a finger under her chin and tilted her face up.
She froze, caught in my gaze.
“Aubrey… have you forgiven me?” she asked, forcing an expression of desperate hope. Even her voice was cautious, careful.
In this life and the last, it was the first time she’d been this humble before me.
171 No Forgiveness
74%
Finished
The crowd had fallen silent, waiting for my answer–some perhaps even ready to applaud if I forgave her. After all, we were all students, all barely out of our teens. How deep could the grudge run? Surely reconciliation was best.
I spoke slowly, my tone steady, composed, and utterly cold. Sᴇaʀch Thᴇ FɪndNøvel.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access s of novels early and in the highest quality.
“I will never forgive someone who tried to kill me, and I will never give that person another chance to try. If you want to keep bowing, go ahead. I have exams to prepare for–I won’t waste my time playing with you.”
Gasps rippled through the square.
Istraightened, took a handkerchief from my pocket, and wiped my fingers. Looking down at the stunned Mariana, I smiled faintly.
“In fact, I only came to see you grovel and wag your tail. You didn’t disappoint me. Watching you grit your teeth and hate me while begging for forgiveness–it’s refreshing. Uplifting, even.
“Thank you for the performance. Here’s one dollar, payment for all those bows–a beggar’s tip.”
I tossed the coin to the ground. It spun across the stone, ringing sharply, while all the color drained from Mariana’s face in an instant.
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Reborn Omega Avenge Herself Like an Alpha