Alpha Of Ruin

Elena 

My lungs burn as the wind slaps my skin.

My gown is held up with my left hand so I don’t trip, and my other is holding onto the warm hands I never want to let go of. I grip his wrist as tightly as the invisible hand that grips my heart.

Branches claw at my arms as the forest closes in shadows around me like they are alive, my body screams for me to stop, and if I’m not mistaken, Ezekiel is also speaking as I pull him with me, but I don’t stop. I cannot stop. 

But my hands are twisted now. I’m no longer the one holding on to Ezekiel’s hands; instead, he’s holding onto mine, and he forces me to a stop, a mistake he should have never made. An action that shouldn’t be practiced when a monster is literally chasing us. 

“What’s going on, Elena?” His voice sounds cold, mixed with his ragged breath. He’s provoked,  I know that. His expressions has always been easy to read, and that’s one of the reasons I feel safe with him. I can’t lose him. 

“I-I can’t explain.” I am barely able to speak without coughing, my feet are aching, I can’t tell how long we’ve been running for. But that’s not the important part right now. We need to get out of here before he comes for us. 

“No, Elena, I need an explanation now. First ,you came to me last night begging me to get us married immediately, just after you got disowned by your parents, then there’s this dominant Alpha killing people at our wedding,”

“Ezekiel–” I step closer to him, but he shuts his eyes, shaking his head while he steps away from me. Literally saying Don’t get close to me. It hurts, I don’t want to fight with him, not today, not ever. I love him, I truly do, and I fear losing him. 

“Tell me, Elena, is he the reason I would lose you?” His eyes are on the ground while his hand is pointed at the direction we came from. 

Now I’m the one to pull my hand away from him, aching at the emptiness that comes after letting him go. It feels wrong to be close to him while telling him the truth. 

I nod before speaking. 

“He’s my mate. Other mate”

His gaze snaps at me immediately, brows creased, and expression contorted with confusion, which shifts to betrayal in a second. 

“Ezekiel, I didn’t mean to lie to you–” I reach out for his hands, to plead for his forgiveness, to get him to understand that I am also a victim as he is, but he retreats as if I’m some disease trying to infect him. A nail is drilled right through my chest while I watch him step away from me. Bile rising in my throat, I try to reach out to him again.

“I’m sorry, Ezekiel, I thought if you marked me, he won’t disturb me, he won’t disturb us. I planned to defect my pack after getting married to you. I love you, Ezekiel, please don’t give up on us” I beg, so close to going on my knees to cry at his feet, when the familiar sandalwood scent draws closer, snapping my eyes wide open. I grab Ezekiel’s wrist again. 

“We need to continue running. He’s coming.” Dread washes down my veins when Ezekiel doesn’t move as he stares at me blankly. 

“Ezekiel, please,” I cry out. 

“You lied to me, Elena, you have another mate? And you are trying to use me to escape him. How long have you known?” 

Fucking hell, does he not know this is the wrong time to ask these questions? Yes, I’m wrong, but our lives are at stake here. Why isn’t he just listening to me?

“Ezekiel, we need to leave!” I tug his arm harder, but he doesn’t bulge. The tears are flowing down my cheeks now, the scent is drowning me, stirring my insides into conflict. 

“Come to me, Angel.” The dark voice resonates throughout the forest. I can feel him, he’s so close. It’s impossible how much I can feel him this way when I’ve not been marked by him. It disgusts me.

“Stop trying to run from me. Let’s not make this harder for any of us.”

I need to run, but I can’t face him, I can’t let him lay his hands on Ezekiel, I will lose my mind if Ezekiel gets hurt because of me. 

Ezekiel has been my light in my dark world, he gave me what my parents could not. Happiness. He’s the only one I can ever feel safe with. He has sacrificed a lot for me, he left his family for me, to be with me. I can’t repay him this way. 

“I thought you hated dominant Alpha’s, he seems like one,” Ezekiel says between gritted teeth. 

I brush the strands of hair sticking to my sweaty forehead backward.

“I promise, I will do anything you ask me to do, I will answer all your questions, but we have to leave before he gets to us” 

Ezekiel chuckles bitterly. 

“What do you think I am Elena, just because I am a beta and he’s a dominant Alpha, you think I can’t fight him? Is that your view of me? A weakling?” 

I shake my head in disagreement. It’s a half-truth. But it doesn’t matter, that shouldn’t matter right now. Why isn’t he getting it?

I pat my lips to speak, but before a word can slip out, my legs are becoming weak; it feels as though someone is trying to pull me to themselves. 

“You should have just listened to me, you know.” 

He’s here. It’s late. It’s too late. Ezekiel and I are not officially wedded, we were in the process when Mikhail had walked in, and what’s worse is I have not been marked, I’m vulnerable at this point and with Mikhail’s pheromones, Ezekiel cannot compare, he would submit just like me. 

“I don’t care if you are a dominant, back off, she’s mine.” 

I want to warn Ezekiel, to tell him the dominant Alpha is also the leader of the Blood Moon’s pack, but my lungs are giving out on me. My system is burning from his pheromones. 

Despite my vision that is beginning to blur, I watch dreadfully as Mikhail comes closer to us. With the little control I am trying to hold on to, I step before Ezekiel, eyes glaring at the pair of dark brown eyes. 

“You seem to be eager to test my patience angel. Fortunately, I am in the mood to play your games” 

“Don’t come-” I am yanked to the side, my body hitting the ground as Mikhail lunges at Ezekiel, hands wrapped around my mate’s throat as he’s lifted from the ground. 

“No, let him go!” I yell, struggling to get back on my feet, but a needle pierces into my skin, the skin on my nape burning before darkness takes over.

“Don’t worry I won’t kill him” Is the last words I hear before I lose consciousness.

I don’t know what I was expecting when Mikail had appeared in my wedding, but I am certain no imagination will beat me waking up to being tied to a bed. My clothes nowhere to be found, leaving me naked before no other than my mate. 

“Ezekiel” I gasp, struggling to reach out to him, even with embarassment wrapping itself as a cloth around me. 

But Ezekiel looks different, he’s painted with blood all over. His…his hands. What happened to his hands? His right hand isn’t there anymore. Oh no, what have I done? Why is he not awake, is he dead? 

“No,” I shake my head, disagreeing to the fact laid before me. 

“Took you forever to wake up, Angel.” 

I snarl at the tall, muscular, olive-skinned man who just walked in. 

“What have you done?!” I yell, ignoring the throb in my head. 

“You’ve been bad, Angel, I needed to teach you a lesson,” He begins, voice filled with traces of danger while he hovers over me.

“You must behave this time or else you won’t feel good, I need you to feel good while I mark you and fuck you before this bastard. If you disobey me further, I will have to bathe you in his blood.” 

It can’t be. Tell me I’m still unconscious, tell me I’m still dreaming.