Chapter 5-ZARA

A loud gasp escaped from my lips as I took in deep breaths of air. My lungs felt as if I had been doused in hot water and was breathing in it the whole time my eyes were closed.

I’d just woken up from a nightmare where I was the mate of an alphawhom I was supposed to kill after he did the same to my brother, and my mate stabbed me with my own knife. But as I looked around at the strangely familiar room I sat in, I stared to wonder if it had been a nightmare after all.

“You’re awake.” I jumped when I heard his prickling voice say to me when he walked in through the door.

It was not a nightmare. From the feelings stirring up in my chest, I realized that I was truly mated to this man who had stabbed me.

I pushed myself against the headboard in my attempt to stay away from him as I asked, “What did you do? That knife… It’s a lethal knife, especially to werewolves. What did you do to keep me alive?”

“That’s something I should be asking you. Do you seriously think I wanted you to survive that?” he asked, the look on his face telling me just how serious he was if his tone wasn’t.

This man really wanted me to die when he stabbed me. It didn’t make any sense to me. Even I had second thoughts about killing him when I found out that I was mated to him.

“Now,” he started, taking a chair and dragging it across the room so he could sit beside the bed, “I have questions, and you’re the only captured rogue I left alive, which means you’re the only one who can answer my questions.”

“What do you mean I’m the only captured rogue you left alive?!” I questioned, my heart dropping at the thought.

“The others are dead. Lucky are the ones who knew they couldn’t win this so they retreated. I left you alive and didn’t finish off the work when you were unconscious because—”

“What is your problem?” I interrupted, watching as he frowned at me. “How dare you brag about killing innocent people!? What did we ever do to you!?”

“You all plotted to attack my pack and kill me, that’s not something I would consider innocent. I’ll have you know that after answering my questions, you’ll also die here. So, let’s start. Who are you and why were you the one picked to come after me?”

“What did you do with my best friend?” I shot back with a question of my own.

“Who are your parents? And what was the real reason for the attack on my pack? Did you all want to overthrow me and take my land without thinking of the consequences?”

“You killed my brother and took my best friend away. You think this was all about taking over your pack?”

“You will answer my questions right now!” he commanded, the same tone that had made me freeze in a position the first night I saw him in his bedroom. It was so compelling that I almost started to answer his questions, but I kicked back against it.

“Where is my best friend, Anna?” I asked again. This time, there was a noticeable hint of surprise on his face at my ability to push through the walls of his command.

“She’s dead,” he said, holding no expression that I could read on his face.

Even though a part of me was expecting that answer, it still crushed me to find out that she really was dead. She had been killed by these people for no reason, and the Moon Goddess was cruel enough to have me tied and mated to my brother’s killer.

“I need to get out of here,” I said, getting out of the bed and realizing that I didn’t even feel a thing in the place where I was stabbed. I was healed.

Almost immediately, Alpha Darius grabbed my hand and pushed me back on the bed, holding me in place with a glare that could have sent daggers straight into my face if looks could kill.

“I answered your question, so you should do well to answer mine. Who are you and what is your real mission here?”

“My name is Zara, and my real mission here was to kill you while the others were out there fighting as well. We had no intention of taking over your pack. Just vengeance,” I spat with so much venom in hopes that he would feel just how much I loathed him.

“It doesn’t matter whether who I killed was your brother or not. I don’t feel regret for any death, as long as it’s a rogue. And yours, I won’t even feel a thing for. I would rather die than accept a rogue as my mate,” he retorted with just as much bitterness in his tone.

“Reject me.”

His brows scrunched in a frown.

“What are you waiting for? Reject me, come on!” I repeated. “Why don’t we just go our separate ways right now? That way, I’ll stay as far away from here as possible, and you’ll try to remain alive after all the people you have wronged.”

“You must really be naïve to think that I’d spare a rogue. No rogue remains alive with me and just leaves. That includes you. After everything you all did to me—”

“What did we ever do to you!?” I asked for what I believed was the umpteenth time since meeting him.

“You destroyed me and my family!” he yelled back. “Your kind attacked my mother, killing her, and making my father die after living with the heartbreak of it for a long time that he couldn’t bear it anymore. My brother and I cannot even look each other eye to eye because of it. And it all happened because of rogues like you. Tell me, am I not justified?”

I stared at him for a moment, gathering what words to say.

“I understand where your anger is coming from,” I started. “Let me be the first to say that I’m sorry for what the others did to you. But I’ll also have you know that not all rogues are the same. We all have different groups, and mine is as peaceful as we can get. The people you killed in the attack had families as well. What do you think they came here to attack you for?”

“A rogue is a rogue,” he argued. “Peaceful or not, you should all be wiped out so that nobody feels threatened by your mere existence. If every other Alpha is too much of a coward to do it, I’m not. I will wipe you all off the surface of this world if it’s the last thing I do.”

He finally let go of me, walking toward the door.

“For killing my brother, don’t be surprised if I make another effort to kill you. I don’t want my people to be threatened by your existence as well,” I repeated his words to him in my own way.

He turned to me with a smile on his face, one that I knew was anything but friendly.

“As the Alpha of Crimson Moon Pack, I hereby sentence you to death by public execution.”