Chapter 222

Third Person POV

Irene had never seen her father so angry at her before. For a second, she feared that he might actually banish her. She was surprised when he didn’t. She nearly got Matt killed and then tried to frame one person while unintentionally framing another. Or at least caused someone to get fired, banished, and potentially killed.

She had been sitting with the guilt for weeks after it had happened, but now she felt even more guilty after her father found out the truth and spent hours reprimanding her for her careless actions. She had been avoiding Matt since it happened, but she knew she couldn’t keep walking around like nothing had happened.

After spending most of the day and night in her room, she left and walked down the hallway the next morning. It was late morning; Irene went straight to Matt’s room. There was a chance he was still sleeping. She knocked on his door.

After a minute, the door opened, and Matt stood before her with curious eyes. It wasn’t often that Irene came to his room for no reason.

“Hey,” she said a bit awkwardly. “Can we talk for a minute?”

He stepped aside for her to enter.

“Sure,” he replied, motioning for one of his chairs.

She sat down and fiddled with her fingers while he climbed onto his bed. Once he was settled, he looked at her, waiting for her to speak. For a long while, she wasn’t sure what to say. How could she possibly tell him that she nearly got him killed and tried to blame Judy for it? He was never going to forgive her once he learned the truth, but he had to know. It would be a lot worse if he found out from someone else.

A tight knot formed in her belly as she nibbled her lower lip.

“You’re making me nervous,” Matt confessed, his brows furrowed as he stared up at the girl he’d known as his sister for his entire life. His eyes were trusting, and Irene felt a ping of worry that the trust in his eyes would soon fade.

“Okay, so here’s the thing. I have to tell you something, and you aren’t going to like it,” Irene blurted, her eyes fixed on her fingers as she fidgeted.

Matt nodded, waiting for her to continue.

“So…” she started and then paused to gather her thoughts, trying to figure out the best way to say this without sounding awful. “Do you remember when you had that allergic reaction last month?”

Matt nodded.

“It’s hard to forget,” he admitted. “I almost died.”

Irene nodded, swallowing the lump in her throat.

“It was my fault,” she said, her voice dropping to nothing but a whisper.

Matt furrowed his brows at her.

“What do you mean?”

“I was the one who slipped the peanut butter into your sandwich, Matt… I was the one who poisoned you,” she whispered, tears filling her eyes as the guilt consumed her.

“Y… you poisoned me?” Matt asked, his little face falling as realization hit him. Irene was the one who hurt him… it was never Judy or the maid. It was his own sister.

“Yes,” Irene said, tears slipping down her cheeks. “But Matt, you have to understand… I never wanted to hurt you—”

“What did you think was going to happen? You know I’m allergic to peanuts…” Matt said, standing to his feet.

“I know, but we have Epi-pens everywhere in this villa and I thought I could get to one quickly… I had one in my pocket and—”

“You weren’t the one who used the Epi-Pen, though. You stood there frozen. It was Dad who saved me. He came home on time and grabbed the pen from the living room. You had one in your pocket the whole time, and you just watched me suffer?”

Irene’s bottom lip quivered, and she bit onto it to keep it steady, though the tears kept falling.

“I was so scared…I didn’t think it was going to be that bad. I thought…” her voice trailed off; truth be told… she wasn’t sure what she thought. She’s only seen him have an allergic reaction once, and she was a little girl. Her father took care of it quickly that time, and Irene had long forgotten about it. “I don’t know… I’m so sorry, Matt.”

“You told Dad that it was Judy who put the peanut butter in the sandwich. You framed her! Why??”

Irene stared back down at her fidgeting fingers.

“It’s complicated…”

“Tell me the truth, Irene,” Matt nearly shouted. “Why would you do that to her? What did she do to deserve that? You nearly got her banished… You got a maid banished!”

Irene nodded.

“I know what I did was wrong… I’m so sorry…”

“Why did you do it? Why did you try to kill me?”

“I wasn’t trying to kill you,” Irene nearly shouted as she stood to her feet. “I promise, Matt. My intention wasn’t to kill you. It was to get rid of Judy. I wanted to frame her because I was jealous of her. I thought she was after Ethan—”

“This was because of Ethan?” Matt asked, shaking his head with disbelief written all over his face. “You hurt me because of a guy?”

Irene let out a sob; she knew this conversation was going to be hard, but she felt utterly gutted.

“I know…” she said with desperation in her tone. “I know what I did was awful. I wasn’t thinking rationally. I had gone mad… I know it. But I Matt, you’re my brother. I love you and—”

“You don’t love me… You tried to kill me!” he shouted, his face red with rage. He looked just like Gavin when he was angry, and it hurt Irene’s heart knowing that Matt’s anger was directed towards her. “Get out of my room!” Matt yelled, his eyes glowing.

Irene’s eyes grew wide… it was impossible. The glowing eyes signified that his wolf was close… possibly even surging forward. But Matt was only almost 8 years old… he wasn’t due to have his wolf for another 10 years. Nobody got their wolves this early in life… he wasn’t ready for his wolf…

Irene took a step away from him as his face started to twist, and a growl escaped his throat. The anger on Matt’s face soon turned into pure agony as the sounds of cracking bones filled the silence that stretched across the room….

“Holy shit…” Irene gasped before she let out a horrified scream.

…..

Judy’s POV

It was mid-morning when I got to the Landry Villa. It was Saturday, so I was planning on getting a morning training session with Matthew to make up for being AWOL this past week. As I walked in through the doors, Gavin was walking down the steps with his hair a mess from sleep and his pajama bottoms hanging low on his waist. He wore no shirt, so his abs were clear as day, and my jaw nearly hit the ground from the sight of him.

He paused when he saw me, and he tilted his head.

“Wasn’t expecting you this morning,” he said, though he didn’t sound displeased. “If you were planning on coming here this morning, you could have just spent the night.”

“I wanted to get some training in with Matt today,” I explained, proud that I didn’t stammer like a fool.

The corner of his lips twitched in a sly smile as he walked towards me.

“Sure you weren’t trying to catch me with my shirt off?” He teased, his tone low and sultry.

I opened my mouth to give him a sly reply in return, but then we heard Irene screaming and the sound of a growl coming from upstairs.

Gavin’s face turned from flirty to alert in seconds. Without wasting another second, we were both running up the stairs, taking two steps at a time. We followed the sounds of the growling and Irene’s panicked screaming.

It was coming from Matt’s room.

Gavin didn’t hesitate to burst through the door, only to freeze at the sight before him.

Irene ran out of the room, her face pale and filled with Panic.

“Hey, what happened?” I asked her, trying to get her to calm down. But she was only sobbing and pointing a shaky finger at Matt’s bedroom, her entire body quivering in fear.

I knew I wasn’t going to get any answers from her, so I followed after Gavin and into Matt’s room, freezing beside him as I stared down at Matt, who was growling and screaming out in agony.

“Holy fuck,” I gasped. “How is that possible?”

Gavin snapped out of his stupor for a moment and knelt to the ground beside Matt, touching his dislocated shoulder.

“Matthew breathed… It’s going to be okay. We are going to get you through this,” Gavin reassured him, though I knew he had no idea what to say or what to do. This situation had never been known to anyone before… It’s never happened.

Gavin looked up at me with almost pleading eyes, and I too snapped out of my stupor, kneeling on the ground.

“Just relax, Matt. Let it happen,” I told him, remembering the words my father had once said to me. “You are shifting into your wolf… You need to let your wolf take over. Just breathe.”