Chapter 4-ZARA

“Who are you?” Alpha Darius questioned, his eyes narrowed at me as he didn’t acknowledge the warrior who was still standing at the door in a panicked state.

All I could do was lay there with nothing to say but a lot to say at the same time. What was the Moon Goddess thinking, pairing me in a mate bond with the man who had killed my brother?

On one hand, I was livid. My brother’s murderer was right there, in front of me, and all I wanted to do was grab him by the neck and strangle him until the life would drain from his eyes. On the other hand, he was my mate, and that was the only thing I knew. The proximity between us was more than enough for me to go feral, but I knew I couldn’t.

“ Just let me go, and I’ll explain everything,” I said as calmly as I could manage, hoping that the distinct scent that made me known as a rogue would not give me away. He probably had not realized it because of the mate bond. He most likely had another scent of me embedded in his brain.

“I will only ask this one more time as I hate repeating myself—who are you?” he asked again, getting off of me this time. The angry look on his face was not missed on me. “I know every single member of my pack, and I have never seen you before.”

Before I could say anything, the warrior who had come to warn him started to sniff so loudly that it was enough to distract even Alpha Darius.

“What are you doing?” Alpha Darius demanded from him.

“Alpha Darius!” the soldier called out with alarm in his voice. “You have to get away from her. She’s a rogue! I don’t know how she’s managing to conceal her scent from you, but it’s all over the room.”

I shot him a glare, hoping that looks could kill this once. From the way Alpha Darius turned to look at me, I was suddenly snapped back to reality and reminded that this was the man who had attacked us and killed my brother.

I started to struggle in an attempt to get away from the room, but he held me in place. If anything, it only made me struggle even more. Now, it was fight or flight, and I was attempting to do both.

“Get away from me!” I ordered, my words doing nothing to stop him from slamming me into the wall behind me to make sure I didn’t go anywhere.

“She’s the one who killed all the guards in front of the house. I believe she’s the one who was sent here to kill you, Alpha,” the soldier said, approaching us with a small dagger aimed at me. “Admit it—your mission here is to kill him.”

I started to struggle again, the bag that was slung over my shoulder snapping and falling to the ground to gain attention.

“Stay right there!” Alpha Darius yelled at me in such a compelling tone as he slammed me against the wall once again, my feet were glued to the ground.

He stared at me, and I stared back at him. We each had the same look of surprise on our faces, me because I was wondering how he managed to keep me in place with just a command and him… I wasn’t exactly sure what he was surprised about. He had said those words with intention, which meant that he knew that he could do it.

“We have to talk about this,” I said in an attempt to distract him from the bag that had fallen to the floor. “We’re mates, remember? We have to talk about the mate bond and how this affects—”

“You’re mated to…” the warrior trailed off, his eyes widened in shock.

“There are warriors out there risking their lives for the sake of this pack. I believe you have informed me on what you’re to inform me about. Get out,” Alpha Darius snapped at the warrior.

The warrior glared at me, turning around to leave after a moment of reluctance. I didn’t feel relieved about being left alone in that room with my brother’s killer.

“We really don’t have to make this awkward. We can talk once this is all over—after the fight between the rogues and your pack.”

My breath hitched in my throat as he slowly bent over to grab the bag, unzipping it open, his brows raised as he pulled the knife out of the bag with what resembled a scowl on his face.

“Is he right? Were you sent here to kill me?” he asked, staring at the knife with a look that only made me want to sink into the wall behind me, never to be seen again. “Are you seriously a rogue?”

I looked between him and the door as I wondered just how fast I would have to be to get out of there. Unfortunately, he caught my eye movement extremely fast and warned, “The moment you take a step in an attempt to get out of this room, I will take nothing into account. I’ll simply kill you.”

There was no need to overanalyze his words to know that he was telling the truth.

There was now a lie at the tip of my tongue, but something was holding me back from telling that lie. I had no idea what it was, but it held my tongue like a cat. I opened my mouth, but all he got in response was a deep, shaky breath.

He pulled the knife out of its sheath, pressing the silver tip against my throat. The coldness of it caused me to gasp and shiver, my hand grasping his so tightly that I feared I would hurt him.

“I asked you a question,” he reminded. “Are you a rogue who was sent here to kill me? Make me repeat myself one more time and you’ll regret it.”

There was silence, but just enough for me to tell myself that it was of no use.

“Yes,” I admitted with a low voice.

“Yes, what?” he questioned. The knife was now pressing even harder against my skin. I could feel the sizzling heat of the silver against my skin. The wolfsbane was now having an effect on me as my eyes watered.

“I’m a rogue. You killed my brother, and you brought my best friend over to your pack. We never did anything to you. It’s completely unfair for you to attack us when all we have done is exist on our own! Being outcasts doesn’t put us in the position to get hunted.”

I let out a sigh of relief when the knife was taken away from my skin.

Once again, I glanced at the door. All I had to do was—

I let out a loud gasp as a sharp pain tore through my chest, as if a million claws were trying to take my heart out. As I looked down to see what had just happened, my knees buckled and caused me to fall to the floor.

“You…” I wheezed from lack of breath as I raised my head to look at the man the Moon Goddess had cursed me with as a mate.

He had stabbed me with the knife.