Chapter 196: A Public Humiliation
Chapter 196: A Public Humiliation
(Celeste’s POV)
Time slowed as I pushed through the crowd. Matthew was about to reach for the spilled food
on the floor, his face rigid with suppressed humiliation.
I grabbed his arm firmly. “Don’t.”
Matthew looked up, surprise flashing in his silver–gray eyes. The restaurant fell silent.
Eric Reynolds stood nearby, his face twisted in a triumphant smirk–the same one he wore as
a child when he’d nearly killed me with silver.
Without hesitation, I bent down, picked up the scattered food, and shoved it directly into Eric’s
face.
Gasps echoed through the hall. Food dripped down his stunned face, bits sticking to his perfectly styled hair.
“You-” he spluttered, wiping debris from his eyes. “How dare you! Do you know who I am?”
‘I know exactly who you are,” I replied loudly. “I’m your worst nightmare!”
From the corner of my eye, I saw Lucas’s horrified expression from the second–floor balcony.
Alexander stood beside him, his face unreadable.
(Matthew’s POV)
I couldn’t believe it. Celeste Winters had just shoved floor food into Eric Reynolds‘ face–the
son of the Northern Territory’s Beta.
Eric wiped his face, forcing himself to calm down. His expression shifted to practiced politeness.
“Miss Winters,” he said with exaggerated courtesy. “Perhaps we could speak privately? There’s been a misunderstanding.”
I knew what he wanted–to tell Celeste that Lucas had ordered this humiliation to teach me a lesson for showing interest in her. I’d overheard their arrangement earlier.
“Get lost,” Celeste replied flatly.
Eric’s smile faltered. He wasn’t used to rejection.
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Chapter 196: A Public Humiliation
“Miss Winters, I understand you might be upset, but there are things you don’t know about the
situation.”
“I have nothing to say to someone like you,” she stated coldly. “Nothing at all.”
Her dismissal was absolute, delivered with surprising authority.
Eric seemed confused by her hostility. He wouldn’t remember what he’d done to her as a child. To wolves like him, hurting others was too routine to remember.
But Celeste remembered. I could see it in the tension of her shoulders.
(Celeste’s POV)
Eric’s confusion quickly turned to anger.
“Someone like me?” he repeated, voice low. “Let me remind you of who you are, Celeste
Winters.”
He stepped closer, towering over me.
“A silver–scarred wolf who spent four years in Moon Shadow Prison. A disgraced former daughter taken back by the Winter Pack out of charity.”
Each word was chosen to wound. Food still clung to his expensive jacket, making his attempt
at dignity almost funny.
“The only reason I’m showing you any respect is because of the Winter family’s standing,” he
concluded.
Matthew shifted beside me, his wolf radiating aggression. I touched his arm lightly, asking
him to stand down.
“You’re right about one thing,” I admitted calmly. “I am a silver–scarred wolf who spent four years in Moon Shadow Prison. I am an adopted daughter, not blood of the Winter Pack.”
I kept my voice steady.
“But even the lowest omega wolf would be superior to scum like you.”
Eric’s face flushed with fury.
“Scum?” he snarled. “Do you even remember who I am? I nearly killed you with silver when we
were pups.”
His eyes gleamed with malice.
“And now your brother arranges this gathering specifically so I might claim you as a mate?
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Chapter 196: A Public Humiliation
How deliciously ironic.”
I felt the blood drain from my face. My gaze moved up to where Lucas stood watching. The
truth was plain on his face.
He had arranged this.
He had invited Eric Reynolds–the wolf who nearly murdered me as a child–as a potential
mate.
And he had revealed the true purpose of the gathering to everyone present. What I thought was a private evaluation had been announced as a mate selection.
The ultimate humiliation.
(Matthew’s POV)
I watched Celeste’s expression falter briefly as she looked at her brother. The betrayal in her violet eyes was clear before she masked it.
Eric pressed his advantage. “What’s wrong, Celeste? Didn’t your dear brother tell you? Everyone knows why we’ve been invited.”
His voice carried throughout the restaurant.
“We’re all here to consider whether any of us might be desperate enough to claim a disgraced,
silver–scarred outcast as a mate.”
The cruelty hung in the air. My wolf howled beneath my skin, demanding revenge for Celeste’s
pain.
Then other wolves joined in.
“Did you see those silver scars on her hands?” one commented loudly. “Imagine what the rest
of her looks like.”
“I heard she went mad in Moon Shadow Prison,” another added. “Takes silver torture to break
a she–wolf that wild.”
“Lucas Winter must be desperate to be rid of her if he’s offering her to us,” a third chuckled.
Each comment was more vicious than the last. Lucas and Alexander watched from above,
their faces grim.
My hand tightened around Celeste’s arm, knuckles white with restraint. My wolf fought to
break free.
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Chapter 196: A Public Humiliation
Celeste must have sensed my struggle. She turned to me with a gentle, reassuring smile that contained no anger, only warmth. In the midst of humiliation, she was comforting me.
That tenderness soothed my rage but deepened my heartache for her situation.
(Third Person’s POV)
The gathering had descended into chaos. What began as a mate–selection event had become a public humiliation of Celeste Winters.
Yet Celeste maintained remarkable composure. Her violet eyes surveyed the wolves who
continued to mock her.
“Since you all look down on me as a silver–scarred wolf,” she announced clearly, “you’re free to
leave.”
Her dismissal silenced the room before igniting greater outrage.
“Who does she think she is?” one wolf growled.
“The audacity!” another exclaimed. “To dismiss us when she should be grateful any of us
showed up!”
Eric stepped forward again.
“You have no authority to dismiss anyone,” he declared. “You’re merely a disgraced former
daughter of the Winter Pack. Your opinion means nothing.”
The whispers grew nastier.
“I heard she tried to drown her sister in the sacred moon pool…”
“My cousin was a guard at Moon Shadow Prison. Said she begged for mercy every time they applied the silver chains…”
Matthew stood beside Celeste, vibrating with fury. His silver–gray eyes darkened dangerously
with each insult.
Frank Wilson, the restaurant manager, hovered anxiously nearby, torn between protecting his
establishment and fearing the high–ranking wolves.
Lucas watched from above, golden eyes narrowed with concern as the situation spiraled out
of control. Alexander’s white wolf’s aura pulsed with suppressed emotion.
Celeste’s gaze met her brother’s across the distance. No words were needed–this was his
doing. Every humiliation, every cruel word–he had orchestrated it all.
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Chapter 196: A Public Humiliation
A beta wolf near the refreshments made a particularly vulgar comment about “uses” for a
silver–scarred she–wolf.
Matthew’s control snapped.
With lightning speed, he grabbed a nearby wooden chair and smashed it over the beta wolf’s head. The furniture splintered, sending the offender crumpling unconscious to the floor.
The restaurant fell silent, all eyes fixed on Matthew as he stood over the fallen wolf, chest
heaving.
His silver–gray eyes swept over the crowd, feral and dangerous. The warrior beneath the server’s uniform had fully emerged.
“Anyone else?” he challenged, his voice a low growl.
His gaze settled on Eric, who stepped back involuntarily.
“Let me make something perfectly clear,” Matthew continued. “The next person who insults Celeste Winters will leave this gathering horizontally–carried out as a corpse.”
