Chapter 5: Free Fall

Pov: Zade

Dante's brows dipped. “The Moonmere Alpha’s son?”

“Yes.”

He pushed away from the door and stepped forward. “He left for official duty right when he arrived, which was hours before the incident.”

“And where was he before then?” I probed further.

“Training with the other future Alphas at the camp for all week before that day.”

I still went.

He hadn’t been there.

“Damn it,” I muttered.

“Zade?”

I turned to the window. 

“Cole hadn’t been there.”

Silence.

“We were both drugged,” I turned back to him.

Realization dawned on his face.

“Then the pup—”

“Is mine.”

The words tasted possessive, but the moment they left my mouth, I believed every bit.

He blew out a breath. 

“Well…damn,” he rubbed the back of his neck. “The prophecy is even worse now, your bloodline—”

“I won't let it happen,” I snapped. “I’ll never mark her. If I remain a villain in her eyes, the prophecy can’t trigger.”

“You’re going to be a villain in her story to keep from being her executioner?” Dante asked, his voice softening. “That’s a lonely road, brother.”

“I’ve been alone for twenty-four years, Dante. I can handle it.”

“I guess that means you won’t be telling her about your theory of the pup?” He raised a brow at me.

“No,” I responded flatly.

“And the pup? You'll let it grow up thinking its father is someone else?”

“I'll make sure they both live.”

He sighed and nodded. “By the way, don’t you think you’d be torturing yourself with her room next to your study? It might drive you nuts.”

“I don’t care,” I lied through my teeth.

He was right. Every second was becoming harder to endure as the scent of her wasn't contained to the room alone.

Dante gave me a final, knowing look before bowing. “I'll handle the Marrok issue until you come down. Pretty sure the council must be gathering right now.”

As he left, I walked back to her room, needing to see her.

My hands had only gripped the handle when a faint crash came from inside the room.

I froze.

Another sound followed.

Movement.

I threw the door open.

Asha was awake. 

She had backed herself into the corner of the bed. The flower vase that had been on the bedside table lay on the floor, still intact.

I moved closer.

She backed up even more. Fear flashed across her face.

Why is she staying away? Xavier grew gruff in annoyance.

Like I was to have an answer to that.

“Where…where am I?” She rasped.

“In my home,” I responded, my voice cold as ice as I placed the vase back on the table. “Where you will remain.”

Her gaze darted to the dark markings on my arms, then back to my eyes. “Remain?”

I leaned over her, the scent of her fear mixing with the jasmine and rain of hers. “About the pup. Are you sure it’s the Moonmere Alpha’s boy?”

She hesitated for a few seconds.

“Yes.”

Xavier snarled in the back of my mind. She is ours. The pup is ours.

“He was my mate,” she whispered. “Not that it matters now that we’ve both rejected the bond.”

I’m not sure I was supposed to hear the last bit as her voice had reduced to a whisper. But I still caught it. 

Her calling another male her mate shouldn’t have mattered. But it made Xavier go unnaturally quiet.

“You’re not to leave this room,” I stated.

The words sounded harsh even to my own ears.

“I am a prisoner again?” Her voice broke. “Why don’t you just kill me?”

My teeth ground together. 

Kill her? Xavier snarled, the thought alone nearly driving him mad.

Without a response, I walked out.

Staying another minute felt dangerous for reasons I refused to think about.

Hera stood at the entrance of the wing with crossed arms. Her piercing blue eyes tracked my movements.

"She’s in the West Suite," I said, my voice tight. "Guard the door. Don't let her out."

I moved past her waiting for a response to find Dante. Marrok had already smelled blood, and the council would be gathering.

I took the stairs two at a time. My mind was filled with the prophecy, Asha's jasmine scent and the terrifying reality of the pup growing inside her.

Xavier began pacing at the back of my mind once again, his hackles raised.

We shouldn't leave mate, he growled.

Quiet, I snapped back. She’s behind an oak door on the third floor, with Hera, in my wing. No one dares enter it. She's safe.

I was halfway to the council room when Hera’s panicked voice exploded in my mind through the link. 

[Zade! She locked herself in and I just heard glass break!]

My heart stopped. [Hera, what?]

[I can’t get in!]

A roar that was purely Xavier, tore from my throat.

Mate! Pup! Xavier growled.

I leapt over the banister, my body half-shifting mid-air. My claws extended and my vision turned red as I raced back.

I smashed through the oak door of the suite, the wood splintering like paper.

The curtains were whipping in the wind. 

Asha stood on the narrow stone ledge outside the shattered window. 

Three stories. The wolfsbane. She can't shift. She can't heal.

She looked back at me, her let-down hair tangling in the wind as her eyes met mine.

“Let me leave or els—” 

Her foot slipped on the damp stone.

I lunged forward.

But I was too far.

Her fingers left the frame. She tipped backward into the empty air, and the world went into slow motion.