Three Alphas, Fated To One, Played By One, But Mated To One-Chapter 61: Consequences

"Encouraging people to improve their lives?"

I asked with some confusion and uncertainty. But my eyes showed determination.

Lady Bernice’s eyes narrowed a bit.

"You’re challenging the structure of this pack." She finally said and I immediately understood something.

It was not that the former Luna didn’t see or know what was happening with those women. She knew but she chose to turn a blind eye.

She chose to remain silent as mates oppressed their female companions. She remained uninvolved when fellow women became doormats for the male mates to trample on.

All in the name of maintaining the structure of the pack.

"That structure was already broken."

The words left my mouth before I could stop them. I realized that nowadays I was lacking a filter for my mouth, but I couldn’t take the words back.

For a moment, the room felt colder. I knew I had overstepped my boundaries and Lady Bernice now felt like I was questioning her authority, but I wasn’t going to back down either.

"What do you mean by that?" Lady Bernice finally asked as the sharp look in her eyes softened a bit.

I set the tea cup down.

"If a structure requires half its population to suppress themselves for the other half to function, then I don’t believe it’s a working structure," I said calmly.

"That is control." I added.

Her eyes remained fixed on me.

"And you believe you can change that?"

It was as if what I had done was just acting as a clown. As if the deep seated structures could not change. But I don’t believe that. Not by a long shot.

"I didn’t change anything," I said. "I only reminded the women that they had choices."

She leaned forward slightly. Looking straight into my eyes.

"You’re very bold for someone who has lived here as a slave."

Her words were very blunt.

But they didn’t sting the way they once would have. I stopped treating myself as a slave a long time ago. Ever since Lizzie showed up. I just treated everything I went through as training.

"I was a slave," I corrected quietly. I just didn’t mention when I stopped being a slave.

"Past tense." I added under my breath. But she is a werewolf and her hearing is sharper than a regular animal.

So, she still heard it and her eyes narrowed a bit.

"And what are you now?" She asked.

I thought about that question for a moment.

"Someone who refuses to live like that again."

Silence filled the room once again.

Lady Bernice picked up her tea cup and took a slow sip. When she set it down again, her gaze had softened slightly.

"You remind me of someone," she said.

"Who?" I asked.

"My younger self."

Now, that answer was a huge surprise to me. I couldn’t understand how me being a slave reminded her of her younger self.

She stood and walked toward the window. Looking outside at the chaos going on.

"When I first became Luna, the pack was very different," she said quietly.

"The men believed women should stay silent. That warriors and other pack executives were the only ones who mattered."

She said with something that I thought was sadness or nostalgia in her voice.

"It was like a legacy passed down by my mate’s father, the former alpha. I didn’t agree."

She glanced back at me.

I blinked.

That wasn’t a story told in the pack about her. In fact, this pack never glorified anything about women.

"I fought my battles differently," she continued.

"They were quiet and strategic. Not loud in libraries." She added.

I shrugged slightly. I hadn’t expected talking to her to be so easy.

She wasn’t as scary as I had expected.

"Different times." I defended my battle in the library.

She laughed softly.

"Yes. Perhaps."

Her gaze returned to the courtyard outside.

"But you’ve created a problem."

I didn’t understand what that meant. So, I asked.

"How?"

"The men feel threatened."

This was something I couldn’t understand but remembering Mike’s reaction, I knew what she was talking about.

"They should feel threatened." I said carelessly.

Her eyes flicked toward me again.

"You are not afraid?" She asked in surprise.

"Why should I?" I asked back.

I had lived like a slave in the pack for almost a decade and there wasn’t something I hadn’t gone through. The scars on my body could prove that. So, what was there to fear?

"Why aren’t you afraid?" Lady Bernice asked curiously.

I thought about how to respond for a while.

"Because I already lived the worst version of this life." I just decided to be honest.

Lady Bernice studied me for a long moment then she smiled softly.

"That’s a dangerous mindset. It will make you reckless." She warned.

"Or maybe it’s a freeing one." I argued back.

"Well, maybe it’s both. You never know." She said while walking back to her chair.

"Mike handled the situation poorly," she admitted. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

I was surprised by her honesty. I thought she would protect him. Cover up his mistakes. After all, he is her son.

"He’s trying to protect his authority," she continued.

"And you’re accidentally undermining it."

"I didn’t intend to." I defended myself.

"I know. But that doesn’t change the impact it caused."

Now I was confused. Was she standing up for her son or not?

"So what do you want me to do?" I sighed softly and asked.

After all, even though the woman was confusing, she had been nice enough to me.

I never repaid kindness with evil.

"Nothing." She replied and that threw me off even more.

"That’s it?" I asked in disbelief.

"Yes." She said calmly.

"But the men are complaining and it might affect Mike." I said

"They always complain when the world changes."

Her lips curved slightly.

"They will survive." She added.

"You’re not angry with me."

"No." She said lightly.

"You are not going to punish me?" I asked once again. Completely confused.