Chapter 7: mate

Exalia's POV

"Hurry, get to the gates now!"

"Secure the Alpha!" 

I watched as all the guards rushed in all directions, their voices sharp with urgency. My heart pounded hard against my chest as I tried to grasp what was happening.

"The rogues are attacking the clinic!" a nurse shouted as she sprinted past the prison, her voice filled with panick. "Move!"  

Rogues? An attack? 

I clenched my stomach as I felt it twist into knots. My father!

Without a second thought, I turned and followed the guards, my steps quick and unsteady. Every moment that dragged by did so with unbearable dread as different thoughts raced through my mind. 

'Please, let it not be as bad as I think.'

"Where is my father?" I called out to a passing guard. The guard didn't even give me listening ear. Instead, he scoffed and kept walking, dismissing me like I didn’t even exist.

"Where’s my family?" I asked as I felt my frustration tighten in my chest. "Where is my father?" I turned again to another guard who stood at the corner but he barely spared me a glance before rolling his eyes.

Why is no one listening to me? Why aren’t they answering? I'm not invisible... am I?

I clenched my fists, trying to reassure myself. But maybe it’s not that bad. My father is the Beta, a skilled warrior. There was no way he would fall so easily. He is strong... he is safe. 

He has to be. 

But what if he wasn't? What if he was injured? His last wounds that he had received from the beating still hadn’t even healed completely. 

Could he survive another battle?

I looked around as the still passing guards. From the sheer number of them, I could tell this was no small attack. 

My breath stilled. Please, let him be okay.

I paced inside my cell, before bending down and curling into the corner, hugging my knees. My breath trembled, and my eyes were red with unshed tears. 

'Dear Goddess, please protect my family. I can’t lose them. Not now. I need them.'

A strange heaviness settled over me and my heartbeat slowed. What was happening?

Suddenly, I felt a strange dark force wrap around me, pulling me under. My vision blurred as the room spun around. Before I could take a hold of myself, my body collapsed to the cold floor.

****************

"Exalia."

I forced my heavy eyelids open, only to find myself floating in the wide emptiness of nothing. I twisted and turned, searching out for light—but all that me me was darkness.

What is this? Where am I? Am I... dead?

"Exalia." a soft voice suddenly said, echoing through the emptiness.

"Who's there?" I asked, squinting into nothing as I tried to turn around.

"You know who I am, Exalia."

I tensed. Know her? How could I, when she stood in darkness?

"I don't know who you are!" I shouted, my face crunched up into a frown. "How am I supposed to recognize someone I can't even see?"

"I am the Moon Goddess," she declared.

A bitter laugh slipped out of me. The Moon Goddess? Oh come on.

"If you're the Moon Goddess, I have to be the Alpha Queen," I snorted, shaking my head.

"You want to rescue your family," she continued.

I gasped. How did she...? Wait. There was no way. Anyone might know that. Even Maria.

Oh. I see. Maria must have orchestrated this.

"Enough questions, Exalia," she suddenly shouted, her voice cold. "If you wish to save your family, you must become one with your wolf."

"But... I... I just—"

"Listen, child. Danger is coming. And as you are already aware, your pack is under attack!"

My heart sank to my stomach.

"Is there danger? What danger?" I asked her, my voice trembling.

"Your mate is coming," she breathed, her voice... grave.

"I don't have a partner," I muttered, the frown of my face deepening. "No—I did," I immediately corrected, "but he turned me down. So who the hell are you speaking of?"

My mind spun, torn between puzzlement about what was happening and worry about my brother and father.

"You've not encountered him yet," she corrected, her voice now closer to me. I could feel her presence make the entire place darken the more, shadows encroaching at the edges of my vision. "But when he comes... he will bring ruin. Doom will follow in his wake, Exalia. He will deceive you, use you, and then discard you."

I shuddered. Why... why would my mate be so cruel? Mates are supposed to love and protect one another! So why is mine like this?

"This is insane," I growled, shaking my head. "Is the Alpha coming back to me? No... but you said I haven't met him yet. So who?"

"Oh, child," she muttered, sighing in what sounded like pity. "Not every mate is a gift. Some are curses."

I shook my head, not wanting to hear it. "I don't think so. My mate can't be like that! And why would you... why would you give me a cursed mate?"

I felt her presence darken all of a sudden. "Do you question me, Exalia?" she muttered, her voice dropping to a menacing whisper. "Do you question the judgment of the goddess who made you?"

I froze, shaking my head. 

"Obey or pay the price," she warned. "Turn away from your mate, protect yourself, lest you lose everything you hold dear."

I felt her presence begin to falter, dissolving into vapor but as she vanished, her final words still lingered, her voice cold but clear.

"Turn him away... or you will suffer."

~~~~

"Get up, slut," I heard somebody shout as a kick landed on my side. "Alpha Axel wants to see you." 

Shivering, my eyes fluttered open as I heard my aching side with a painful groan. I staggered to my feet, my mind still reeling from what had just happened. Was I dreaming? And what did she mean when she spoke of becoming one with my wolf?

"Come on!" the person that had woken me up growled, shoving me forward. I looked up to see that it was a guard. "Move on, slut." 

I barely had time to steady myself when I was dragged to the meeting hall. Suddenly, he slammed me onto the floor, pain shooting through my bones.

"Al—"

Squelch!

A sickening, wet sound filled my ears, and I watched as a severed head rolled across the ground beside me.

"Ahhh!" I screamed in horror as I crawled backwards. 

"Who dare put his hands on her?!" Alpha Axel thundered as he marched down the corridor, his tone dark and dripping with venom. Veins pulsed beneath his throat as rage blazed in his veins.

For one instant the entire place was filled with silence in the room. Then, as if maddened together, the crowd boiled over again.

"Alpha, we should bring her to trial now!" 

I had barely heard the words when I saw guards begin to approach me. Trial? On me?

"The murderer should be punished! Justice for Alpha John!"

Whispers and slurs tumbled across the hall in a wave of mounting voices, as the crowd began shouting with fury. My heart pounded.

"I didn't do it," I cried out as I knelt down, clasping my hands together. "I'm innocent!"

"Enough!" Axel's low voice cut through the chaos, instantly causing the room to go silent at once. His cold eyes scanned the room. "Who is the number one suspect?"

"She is!"

"The murderer!"

"She should be executed!"

"I saw her kill him with my own eyes!"

I just knelt there, watching as the false accusations kept coming. Each word that was said felt like a stab to me. 

"She shoved a silver rod in his chest!"

"She wanted him to be her man, but he rejected her—so she killed him!"

Lies. All of them.

"I didn't do anything! I'm... innocent!" I bellowed, desperation scratching at my throat.

"You're going to dispute that?" a voice cut through the crowd. "She ought to be a rogue. I'll wager she's still angry that Alpha Jake rejected her."

I hadn't even had time to answer before Axel lifted his hands. His fists were clenched, his entire body quivering with anger. Then, before anyone could even react to what was happening, he rushed behind the man and in swift motion... SLASH!

Blood splattered in my face.

The dead, headless body of the man fell to the ground, never to move again. 

The hall suddenly fell into an unsettling silence. Only the sound of Alpha Axel's labored breathing filled the air, his presence exuding a supremacy.

And then, his voice boomed out, low and definitive.

"Everyone who brought accusations against my mate will be executed," he shouted. 

A unified gasp swept the room. The previously bold faces of my accusers shifted into sheer terror. Hands flew to shaking mouths as his words struck them.

Mate?

My breathing faltered.

This is the man she was talking about. The one the Goddess of the Moon warned me about. Was this... my mate?

No. Not possible.

I stood up as I tried to study him, trying to steady my voice through the fear tightening my chest. "I am not your mate," I muttered under my breath. "I hate you so much. I'd rather die to be bound to you."