My Rib Is Her Guitar Pick Chapter 04

My Rib Is Her Guitar Pick Chapter 04

When I returned to my apartment in the warrior compound, I was about to pack my belongings when the doorbell suddenly rang.

I opened the door in confusion. Two pack enforcers showed me their identification and a search warrant.

“Ms. Ironcrest, you have been accused of stealing the Alpha’s personal token.”

“Please step aside. We need to search your apartment immediately.”

Behind them, Malak leaned against the wall with his arms crossed, watching me with an amused smile.

Within two minutes, they found Malak’s wolf-shaped moonstone pendant inside my bag.

After Malak confirmed that it belonged to him, the enforcers turned to me with cold, severe expressions.

“Ms. Ironcrest, you’ll need to come with us to the disciplinary dungeon for questioning.”

The sheer absurdity of it almost made me laugh.

Back in the lounge, Malak had been worried about losing the pendant and had specifically asked me to keep it safe for him.

Now he was using that favor to frame me as a thief.

“Is this how you’re punishing me for what happened to Seraphina?”

Malak reached out and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear, his voice almost helpless.

“Sera sprained her ankle and cried her heart out. I had to make things right for her somehow. Don’t worry. You’ll only be in there for a few days to cool off. It’s all for show. I’ll stay with Sera until she finishes shooting her music video, and then I’ll come get you out.”

I was locked inside the disciplinary dungeon, where the silver bars surrounding my cell left my wolf frighteningly weak.

The night before the Moon Goddess Festival, Malak had the Elders withdraw the charge after admitting that the pendant’s disappearance had been a misunderstanding. Only then was I released.

From the dungeon, I was taken directly to the private guest lounge in the pack house.

Seraphina was curled up in Malak’s arms, drinking champagne. Several of her most devoted fans sat beside them.

They constantly streamed her songs to push her up the charts, bought concert tickets in bulk, and ran her largest fan account. They had carefully built her public image as the Moon Goddess’s most beloved singer.

The moment Malak saw my pale face and the scratches across my neck, he shot to his feet.

“What happened to you? Did someone hurt you in the dungeon?”

Seraphina scoffed before I could answer.

“Sunniva, did you already know Malak was bringing you here to apologize? Is that why you drew those injuries on yourself to get sympathy? No wonder several temporary tattoo decals went missing while I was filming my music video. You stole them.”

At that, Malak sat back down. Every trace of concern vanished from his eyes.

“Sunniva, I don’t have time for another performance. Sera’s concert at the Moon Goddess Festival is tomorrow. The pictures of you throwing your drink at her have spread throughout the pack. Everyone is calling her a mate-stealer, and the backlash has already made her mess up several times during rehearsal.”

“Apologize to her on camera for the sake of her reputation and career, and we’ll consider this settled.”

I looked at him.

“If I apologize, will that mean I no longer owe you anything?”

Malak hesitated, but he eventually nodded.

Expressionless, I looked into the phone cameras held up by Seraphina’s fans.

“I’m sorry. Seraphina is not a mate-stealer.”

Seraphina smiled disdainfully.

“Sunniva, do you expect my fans to accept an apology delivered with that attitude? Do you think they’re idiots?”

“What do you want, then?”

She pointed at the full bottle of hard liquor on the coffee table.

“I can live with being falsely accused, but I can’t stand seeing my fans called brain-dead just because they defended me.”

“You splashed me with a glass of liquor. It’s only fair that you drink an entire bottle, isn’t it?”

I looked at Malak.

The Healer had warned him that night that I could not touch alcohol while recovering. It would react with my medication, making alcohol as dangerous to me as wolfbane.

But Malak merely frowned impatiently.

“Sunniva, when you do something wrong, you face the consequences. It’s one bottle. It won’t kill you.”

My lips curved into a bitter smile. He had already forgotten.

Or perhaps anything concerning me had never been important enough for him to remember.

He certainly did not care that I had deliberately been placed in the same detention block as several of Seraphina’s fans, who had humiliated and beaten me every day.

The moment I forced down the entire bottle, my stomach cramped violently. Fire seemed to scorch its way down my throat.

I coughed up blood on the spot.

Before Malak could speak, Seraphina let out an exaggerated cry.

“Sunniva, you even stole my packet of stage blood. You really planned this performance down to the last detail. Forget it. Since you’re trying so hard, I’ll let it go this time. From now on, stop using your status as Malak’s mate to bully me. Malak, let’s go. I have to be up early tomorrow.”

Malak took her hand and led her away. As he passed me, he dropped his handkerchief at my feet.

“Clean that up. Stop playing these childish games.”

He treated me like a dog that had embarrassed its owner.

But he failed to notice that the fans Seraphina had brought with her did not leave with them.

They put away their phones, locked the door, and approached me while flexing their hands and cracking their knuckles.

“You think this is over? We’re not letting you off that easily. Sera said you needed to learn your place. You clawed your way out of a common neighborhood, and you think that makes you worthy of competing with her for the Alpha?”

A liquor bottle shattered against my head, and my vision dissolved into a bloody red haze.

Countless fists and feet slammed into me. In the chaos, I managed to call my emergency contact.

Malak’s voice soon came through the phone. “What is it now?”

“Malak, help me. They’re—”

Before I could finish, he roared impatiently.

“Can you stop pretending for once, Sunniva? Sera has to perform tomorrow. I’m busy keeping her company while she rests, and I don’t have time for your games!”

The call ended. A moment later, someone crushed my phone screen beneath their shoe.

Amid the insults and laughter, someone kicked me hard in the chest.

I thought I heard a sharp crack from inside my rib cage.

It felt as though something had pierced straight through my chest. Agony swallowed me whole, and blood poured from my mouth.

Just before I lost consciousness, I thought I saw the door being kicked open and a familiar figure rushing inside.