The Elder sighed and settled into a chair just beside Zara. “The curse that plagues the Lycan King was never his alone to bear. It was passed through your bloodline, Zara. Your ancestor betrayed the first Lycan King, dooming every ruler that came after him.”
Zara’s pulse pounded. “And now I have to fix it?"
The Elder nodded gravely. “To break the curse, either you or King Draven has to die."
Zara’s throat tightened. “Is there no other way?”
The Elder hesitated, then shook her head.
A lump formed in Zara’s throat as she looked back at Draven's still form.
He had spent his life fighting against this darkness. He had refused to mark her, hoping to spare her from the fate tied to his.
But she was the only one who could save him.
Her life for his.
A future for her pack.
A future for him.
Zara closed her eyes. She had already been rejected six times. Maybe this had been her fate all along.
She reached for the dagger at her belt, her hands steady.
Then Kael’s grip tightened around hers.
Her eyes snapped open as he whispered her name.
And for the first time, Zara saw fear in the eyes of the Lycan King.
He knew.
And he didn’t want her to do it, "please Zara. At least not yet. I haven't gotten the chance to even know you yet and you're going to leave." He said weakly.
Zara's eyes fell on the point where their fingers intertwined.
"I know you might not know this.." His voice broke through her thoughts, "...but you're the first ever mate in my life. There has been no woman before you and I am definitely sure that I do not want any woman after."
Zara's breath hitched in her throat at his words. How she had never known that alpha Draven had not been with any mate before her.
"Your majesty. Please let her get on with this, time is already running out." The elder spoke up, slightly irritated that Zara had not stabbed herself yet.
"Let the man air out his thoughts." The healer beckoned and Alpha Draven went on when the whole place fell silent again.
"I've never experienced genuine love before and the moment I saw you, I knew things would be different. I was just about to mark you when I was reminded of the curse by my wolf."
"It would have been very easy for me to take your life if I had accepted you or just rejected you outrightly but—but I wanted to give our mating bond a chance!" Alpha Draven revealed.
What was the feeling that was swelling Inside Zara? Never had mere words had the potency to conjure up such powerful emotions in her and it made her heart sink into her stomach.
She opened her mouth to say something but hesitated when the words were not forthcoming.
"Your majesty, I beg of you. Let us get on with this. Allow her to do what she must so we can free ourselves from this curse that has held our pack in bondage for decades." The elder spat out in spite.
"Can we not find a way around this, please? Enough lives have been murdered just to get rid of the curse—but not this one life, I cannot let this one life be taken away from me when I haven't even fully grasped it yet." Draven pleaded and tightened his grip on her.
"This 'life' is quite different, your majesty. She is the one to leverage our pack, so let her carry on, now that she has agreed to do it." The elder replied.
"Do you really want to do this, Zara?" Alpha Draven, while his eyes bore deep into her soul.
Zara's wolf stirred, her eyes falling onto the dagger. There was no conviction in her heart that she wanted to back away from this. Even her wolf did not attempt to dispute.
"I—really don't know." Her voice was raspy. Her life has been a roller coaster of events and her latest discovery that she was born just to face so many rejections and then die made her heartache.
"Then let me be the one to die instead..."
"Your majesty!!!" The elder exclaimed in disbelief.
"...hand over the dagger to me, Zara." He continued, ignoring the threatening gaze she shot at Zara if she were to release the dagger to him.
"I cannot let you do this, Your Majesty. I can't let you die just to get rid of a 'curse'. You barely even know me." Zara protested.
"That's more reason why I want to be the one to do this, you don't deserve to die for me, Zara, and I need you to understand."
"Your majesty, please, I cannot let the Lycan King die in my place. What is going to happen then if you die, what is going to be the fate of your pack?" Zara asked with a trembling voice.
"You'll be the one to rule in my place when I'm gone." He replied almost instantly.
"That is an abomination and you know it, Your Majesty. To have a cursed wolf rule over us." The elder spat into the ground with distaste.
"You forget that we are cursed too and once I die, we all will be cleansed," Draven informed her and loosened his hold on Zara's as his body grew weaker—Zara could sense the rapid deterioration of his Body and knew something had to be done.
She couldn't let the King die and as much as she didn't want to admit it, she didn't want to die either—the mere thought of it scared her greatly.
"Hand the dagger over to me, Zara, I will not let you do this. You do not deserve to die this way." Alpha Draven let out.
"And neither do you!" Zara said for the first time, clutching the dagger tightly to her chest.
“Are you sure about the information?” Alpha Draven roared at Joel.“Yes, Alpha,” Joel replied hastily.He felt very uncomfortable being out here on this expedition with the alpha.Two weeks had passed since the night when Dencie left Zara and since then, things had assumed a semblance of normalcy.Zara never understood why Alpha Draven did not want to mark her but she was too afraid to ask, too scared to do anything that might drive him away from her.So she suffered in silence.They had gotten news that one of the neighboring packs was planning to attack them and had begun breaching their territory, testing the waters.That was why Alpha Draven was out here today, along with Joel and a few of the pack warriors.This was a show of strength, the rumor of his bedridden illness had spread far and wide, giving lots of packs the effrontery and nerve that they previously did not have.If indeed, there were spies in their territory, when they saw the alpha King up and doing, they would know
Zara gasped in disbelief, “What are you saying, D?”Denice fell quiet, she could not bear to look at Zara but from the tone of her friend’s voice, she could tell that she was hurt.She just couldn’t do it anymore. She needed to look after herself right now and now, what was best for her was for her to go far away from Zara.“This is not you talking, this is not you, D,” Zara insisted. There was no way that Denice of all people could be saying this.Denice was there when all her previous mates abandoned her, she knew how much it hurt, There was no way that she would do something like this to her knowing what it did to her, no way.Denice dragged her suitcase and then looked at Zara, “I am sorry,” she dragged it past her and headed to the doorway.Zara was breathing heavily as she watched her friend leave her, This all felt like a bad dream, how was this happening to her again? How was she losing someone else?Once more, this felt like a rejection.Unlike those from her mates which she
Alpha Draven grunted as he fought the debilitating pain that threatened to drop him to his knees.Why was this demon bothering him now? Why now, when he had found the piece of garbage that made his mate cry?Why now when he wanted nothing more but to separate the man’s head from his miserable body?Alpha Draven took another heavy step forward, Veins were bulging in his temples and his body was vibrating dangerously, “If you want to stop me, you will have to kill me,” he muttered.“Don’t dare me, boy!” the disembodied voice boomed within his skull, knocking him off balance.“Boy? How dare you call me that… I am the alpha King!” he yelled as he took another step forward.Brother Gi and Denice were just frozen in fear and confusion watching alpha Draven strain and speak to an unseen enemy.Unlike Denice who was completely in the dark, Brother Gi had a good idea of what was going on.The Shadow King was talking to the alpha King, his heart was pounding in his chest, he could not believe t
Alpha Draven barged into Elder Lysara’s lair and tossed the necklace at her feet, “I need you to find someone, now!”The first time, he had gotten as far as the library before he remembered that he had nothing that belonged to Denice with him.That was why he went back for the necklace and now he was back. No one, no one made his mate cry and got away with it, he would separate their spine from the rest of their body.The White Seer looked at him, “Welcome alpha, –”Alph Draven cut her off, “Spare me the platitude Lysara, and do what I told you.”She sighed and looked at the necklace and then back at him, “Impatience has led many to a quick grave… You would be wise to persevere.”“Find her, now!” he said pointing at the necklace.“If the owner of this trinket is not a wolf or in this pack, I cannot be of help to you.”“She is both, now stop beating around the bush and find her.”“My abilities do not work like that… you can never rush a vision,” she said.Alpha Draven growled and came
Zara’s legs felt weak as she left Aliya’s house.She was so sure when she barged in here and now she was leaving in a state of utter confusion and demoralization.If it wasn’t Elder Aliya then she had no idea who else would take Denice, sure she had enemies all around the pack, but none that would have the nerves to do something like this.Whoever did this, Zara felt that it was an enemy that she hadn’t encountered before.Of all possible requests, why ask her to kill herself?If it was someone from the pack, it would be as Elder Aliya said, the fact that alpha Draven was awake now meant that they didn’t have to answer to her again, there was no reason to want her dead.Unless… unless they didn’t know that Alpha Draven was up and about right now.She walked a few paces before she dropped on the floor, despair all over her face. Denice did not deserve this, she did not deserve this.Why were they doing this to her?Zara felt like yelling but she pushed it down and forced herself to her
First, Zara was flabbergasted, too shocked to understand what she had just read but then she read it again and then again, each time, the message became more and clearer to her.Then she looked at Denice's necklace in her hand.Denice had told her that it was all she had left of her mother… Zara’s palms slowly wrapped around the necklace and her breathing started getting shallow.Anger, bright red anger like she had never experienced before coursed through her veins and she felt as if her body was going to explode from the rage she was feeling.Who?Who would do something like this?Why would someone do something like this? At this point, she was shaking uncontrollably to the point that she caught the attention of some of the members of the tavern as they began to stare at her.Zara walked slowly with deep breaths, out of the tavern, without thinking about it, she headed straight to Elder Aliya’s house.That woman had wanted her dead for a very long time, she had sent assassins after