Chapter 4: No Choice

Cade's grip tightened on Zehra's chin, his fingers painfully pressing on her skin as she tried her best to seem unfazed by it. 

Zehra expected him to yell, hit, or even hurt her, but his face remained expressionless. She noticed how he had one of those most beautiful faces she had ever seen, with a strong jawline, matching plump lips, and eyes darker than a night with specs of gold; girls probably flocked at him. 

His lips curled, and he let out a cold laugh, letting her chin go. Zehra stood there, her face scrunching up in disgust for him. 

"So brave little rabbit," Cade remarked, his eyes looking at her with an intense glare that made her uncomfortable. She was dressed in a big black dress called an abaya to conceal her body curve, which was a tradition in her homeland for unmated females. She made sure she had her hair tucked in her scarf, and there was no way he could see some of her strands. 

"I'm not a little rabbit," she spats back, her eyes glaring at him, making his lips curl into a smirk. 

"You are what I tell you because you are mine and my prize. Who do you belong to?" Cage hissed at her, his eyes challenging her to remark back at it. 

"I don't belong to anyone!" Zehra screamed. 

Cade looked at her dangerously. She could even hear a low growl of warning. 

Zehra looked at him, feeling her stomach tighten at his words. In a sense, he was right, and she knew it. She felt fear crawl into her veins as she looked away instead of answering. This seemed to have angered him more. 

Cade's rough hands wrapped around her thin arms, tugging her up so he could make her face him again. 

Zehra gasped as sudden pain entered her body, causing her to look up at him. 

"You're hurting me," she said, her voice shaky. 

A loud wince left her lips as he tightened his grip instead of setting it free. Ember was about to make a move, but Cade glared at her. 

"Nobody ignored me nor treated me badly, let alone tried to fight me. Like others, I won't tolerate it even if it comes from you," Cade said in a low, cold, and yet full of warning tone. "Don't test my patience, white rabbit."

Cade's other hand gripped the back of her head painfully. His finger held her scarf and then pulled it from her head, letting the white hair curtain fall like a white cloud descending from heaven. Her hair tie came out, along with the harsh pull from the king. He grabbed a handful of her hair and pulled her closer to her face. The pulling pained Zehra, earning another painful gasp from her. 

Zehra's eyes watered as she tried hard not to cry. She knew he wanted her to answer him, but she couldn't because she knew if she did, she would sob, and that was the last thing she wanted. 

"Answer!" he commanded, nerves popping on his forehead. 

"Let go of her, you bastard!" 

A voice thundered from the right, one of the prison cells. Zehra knew who owned the voice, and a thunder of fear struck her heart. 

Cade turned and saw Tyga, Zehra's younger brother, who was held captive in one of his portable cells. He remembered the one cheeky teen boy, probably around seventeen, who sneaked up and tried to behead him with a small kitchen knife. 

Tyga tried to stir his cell, but it was useless. The cell won't budge at all. 

"Zehra! Who told you to surrender?" His voice accused her as he struggled to reach his beloved older sister within the space bar of the cell. 

Tyga sneaked out one night while the battle was raging on. He used some special oil and rubbed it all over him. The oil hid his scent, and he made his way to the enemy's camp. He heard they were Lycans, an extinct species, their forefather, but when one of them shifted, he saw they were like them, a normal wolf slightly larger than them. He thought he was confident with his fighting ability as he tried to find their leader waltzing his way to the enemy's camp. 

When he saw him, he slowly sneaked around and waited for his chance until he found an open spot. Seeing nobody smelled him yet, he slowly emerged from his hiding and jumped onto unsuspecting Cade. But to his surprise, he was caught by the neck before he could even land an attack. 

Cade then opened an empty cell and threw him inside before locking it. 

Because he was still young, Tyga got scared and decided to shut up for two days, not talking about anything despite interrogation. But now that he saw Cade hurting his sister like that when she had been bare with him for a few moments angered him to no extent. 

"Tyga!" Ember and Zehra screamed at the same time. 

Now that Cade remembered it, he almost forgot about the punk who was supposed to ambush him. He smirked at him and let Zehra's head face in his direction. 

"She belongs to me now, punk," Cade said. "She is mine!" he growled loudly. 

And without giving warning, he let go of Zehra so suddenly that she fell down, hitting her head on the side.

Zehra cried out, which made Tyga and Cade turn to her. Cade was about to come by her side, but Ember was already there, helping her to stand up and wipe her tears. 

"Get away from her, you jerk. You are not her mate!" Tyga said, fuming. How dare he hurt her sister? 

"Your mouth is awful, punk. Maybe I'll tell it to your father, and I will have a reason to continue the war," Cade said, looking at Tyga. "I'll crumble your tiny kingdom until nothing is left," Cade said threateningly, which made Zehra realize what was happening. 

"No!" Zehra suddenly spoke and ran towards Tyga's cell. "Please, Tyga stops provoking him," he pleaded.

"Zehra, you don't know. We will-"

She let out her index finger on her brother's lips. 

"Please, brother. Not now, no more war," she pleaded again, crying. 

Tyga never saw her sister crying before, and it broke his heart. And then he realized what Zehra had to sacrifice. 

"It'll be alright, Zehra. Just let's go and pretend this didn't happen."

Zehra hugged his brother one last time. 

"Choose now, white rabbit. Do you want to go with your bother, or this time I'll come into your kingdom, kill who ever in my way, and pierce your father's heart right in front of you," Cade said, his eyes looking at her. "Your choice "