Five

Crystal’s POV

I couldn’t breathe. 

My lungs felt as though they were being squeezed by an invisible hand and every shallow gasp from me scraped my throat raw. 

Digging my teeth into my lower lips, I pressed my back against the wall. My wrists were stinging from the iron cuffs that had left angry red marks on my skin. 

The man, no, the Alpha male was still in front of me. His presence which filled the room was like smoke, thick and suffocating.

What am I going to do now? — I yelled in my head as my eyes burned with unshed tears. 

How did I even get here in the first place? And him, how did he end up here too?

“Who are you?” I gawked, my lips trembling. He didn't answer, he just sat there staring at me like I was an alien. 

His silence was piercing through my chest and killing me slowly. 

Moments ago, I had seen something in his eyes. 

It was primal and dangerous but yet, when his wolf had lunged for me, when his hand had touched mine, I had been the one who sent him flying across the room without making an effort. 

If asked, I honestly had no idea how I did it. 

I wasn’t strong, neither was I special. 

I was just a broken omega who had been tossed aside like dirt by the man who I felt was going to choose me to be by his side forever. 

Still trembling, I watched as he slowly pushed himself up from the floor. 

The moonlight spilling through the window traced the hard lines of his face. It highlighted the outline of his jaw and the sharpness of his cheekbones. 

His dark hair had fallen into his storm grey eyes, but even as they were shadowed, they still burned with intensity.

Pursing my lips, I swallowed hard as I pressed myself against the hard wood of the bed. 

Titling his head, he took a step forward. 

“S-Stay back,” I warned, though my voice wavered like a joey attempting to take its first step. “Don’t come near me.”

He didn’t stop, he continued to close the distance between us. His movements were deliberate, calm and controlled. It was as if he was taming a wild storm inside himself. 

When he got to my side, he didn’t lunge at me in retaliation, instead he reached for the cuffs and in a few seconds, the click of metal unlocking broke the tension in the room. 

I blinked, staring at my wrists which were now free. 

For a moment I couldn’t believe it, my arms felt weightless as blood rushed back into them in painful tingles. 

“You…” Before he could go further with his words, I leapt out of the bed.

My bare feet slapped against the floor as I made a run for the door. My heart was pounding so violently that for a split second I thought it might burst through my ribs. 

Grabbing the knob, I was going to yank the door open but then his voice which was deep and commanding, froze me in place.

“Do you even have anywhere to go?” He asked. 

The words slid down my spine like ice water.

My hand hovered over the door as they shook. I didn’t turn around, I couldn’t because he was right. 

I didn’t have anywhere to go. 

No home, no friends, no future.

Alpha Dane had made sure of that. My mate, no, my former mate had not only rejected me but shredded my dignity into pieces for the entire pack to laugh at. 

He had chosen Elle only to humiliate and destroy me.

My throat tightened as memories came rushing in. My wolf whimpered faintly inside, still wounded from the rejection and bleeding where Dane had torn us apart.

I wanted to run. I wanted to vanish into the forest, disappear into the night where no one could ever hurt me again. 

But where would I go? 

Back to Crescent Moon, where they would mock me until the day I died? Back to Elle and her cruel laughter?

“No." I muttered, shaking my head slowly. 

"You're trapped and you know that," he said. 

With my hand still wrapped around the handle, I clenched it so tightly until my knuckles ached. 

His voice came again but this time, it was softer and almost coaxing. “If you leave this room, you’ll be hunted down. You won’t even last a day but if you come with me, I can protect you.”

He was right when he said I wouldn't last a day out there. 

This time, I turned to face him slowly as my chest rose and fell like a trapped bird. 

He was standing a few paces away, hands loose at his sides but I could feel the leashed power rippling under his skin. 

He wasn’t trying to intimidate me, he wasn’t even looking me directly in the eye. It was like he was scared of what might happen if he did.

“Protect me?” I laughed, though it came out broken and bitter. “That’s what Dane promised me too. He promised me safety, love… and look what he did.” I spat out, my eyes reddened in anger. 

His jaw tightened at the mention of Dane. A flicker of anger burned in his eyes but it was quickly smothered.

“I am not Dane.” His voice was low and deadly serious.

After a brief silence, he cleared his throat and said the words that made the blood drain from my face.

“I will take you to my pack, the Shadowlands.”

My stomach plummeted and my legs nearly gave out beneath me.

The Shadowlands. 

Since I was a child, I had heard the whispers. 

There were stories of the cursed Alpha King who ruled in darkness and whose mates all died by his side. 

He was a man feared by every pack across the kingdom, a monster wrapped in a king’s flesh.

My lips parted in horror as realization dawned on me. 

It was him, the Dark King.

“Oh no,” I whimpered, pressing myself against the door, my heart slamming violently against my chest. 

“I will protect you,” he repeated.

"No!” I yelled, pushing my hand forward. "I’m better off dead than coming with you.”