004

Ember’s POV

The pack hall had never felt this quiet and cold before.

Not even when there was a deadly dispute, an auspicious event or the blood moon casting its enticing glow across every sacred stone in the boundary.

The ceremonious altar reeked of sin, I and Zane's sin.

I barely had time to catch my breath after Zane had claimed me and roughly fucked me for the pack to watch when the pack guards suddenly charged at us, yanking me away from him as they ripped the little torn fabric left I had draped around me.

The mating mark carved deep into my skin burned as it brushed against them but I didn't cry or whimper, not even from the pain.

I had chosen this and didn't regret it one bit, I was ready to burn for him.

The pack became an uproar of chaos, the crowd shouting and throwing curses at us.

“You two defiled the moon's law that united our pack!” A pack member roared.

“From the moment she stepped in here, I knew it! She's a curse!” Another sneered.

“Send her on an exile or else she wouldn't learn!”

“Execute the two of them! They deserve it!”

“She was just marked by an Alpha blood!” Another spat. “Atrocious! Even after what her mother did and her status in this pack!”

The Pack Council shouted loudly and angrily, their voices mixing together. They yelled harsh words that hurt. I fell to my knees in the middle of the room, while Zane was taken away.

They put chains on him and special cuffs that hurt his skin. They were treating him like a traitor, but he's my mate, the person I had chosen.

I shouted his name. "Zane!" He glanced back, his mouth bloody and his eyes showing he wouldn't back down.

His jaw was hurt and cut. But he smiled a little, like the arrogant bastard I loved so much. The mark I left on his neck was painful and sore, but it was clear and real.

Then, Alpha Magnus, my stepfather, stepped forward.

His face was twisted in pure rage and fury, his golden crown was like a blade across his temple, his brows knotted together in authority.

Then, his voice boomed through the hall, it was more like a roar, loud and guttural.

“You!” He sneered, pointing at me with bloodlust anger. “You have soiled out land and went against our laws! Our ancestors weep at the atrocious act you've commited!” He gritted his teeth. “You mated your brother and had the guts to fuck him on the ceremonious altar, in the presence of everyone and for that, you both would pay with your lives!”

Gasps and growls erupted through the crowd, some elders recoiling.

“Her brother, atrocious!”

“They must be killed, such evil would never befall on our pack!”

Their words felt like a slap on the face, my eyes stung with tears, my heart pricking with pain.

“Zane isn't my brother!” I yelled out, crying as I shove past my step father and the two warriors with the last bit of strength I had in me. “We….we never grew as a family, no! You made me hide who I am all these years, what I really felt for what, stepfather? For your selfish self, for your pride?”

My voice faltered, my body shuddering with pain as I shifted my gaze at Zane, my wolf growling inside of me.

He was mine.

He said nothing and just stared at me, I could see it in his eyes. He was weak. Strength had gone out of him the moment he claimed me as his.

But Alpha Magnus didn't flinch a bit, his eyes remaining emotionless even towards his son. Then, his voice binned across the hall again.

“You were never supposed to come back, Ember,” he snarled. “That's why your mother disappeared in the first place. I exiled her, to keep you away from Zane”

As those words left his lips, everything around me momentarily stopped, my words splitting in half. I blinked, tears falling down my cheeks as my feet became wobbly.

“Wh…what?” I whispered. “She….she was innocent all these while? You….you fucking lied to me just to control him, huh?!”

He turned his back at me, not sparing me another word.

Lucien moved forward, watching with a snake-like smirk. "This can be fixed," he said softly, his eyes pretending to be kind. "If I take her as my mate, I can make things right."

I spat in his face. “In your fucking dreams” I sneered as I walked out of the hall, leaving him standing like a fool.

****

I couldn't sleep, thinking about our connection and Zane hurt and alone. So I did something I shouldn't have.

I found the guards working and paid one to help me. I scared another and tricked the third. When the metal door opened, I saw Zane without a shirt, his arms tied up, and his wrists hurt.

But he still looked like mine.

I fell to my knees. "I'm sorry," I said softly, my voice shaking. "I'm really sorry."

He looked up at me, tired, but his eyes still shone bright. "Don't cry, little flame. You picked me, and that's all that counts.”

I climbed into his lap, and he didn’t stop me. He couldn’t even lift his arms. But his smell, the wild pine and dark pull of him dragged me down.

I kissed the blood on his lips. The bruise on his jaw. The sharp line of his throat where his mark burned hot.

My hands trembled as I opened his pants.

"If this is the last time I touch you..." I whispered, tears dripping onto his chest, "let me love you the way you deserve."

Slowly, I began thrusting my hip, his cock stretching me in the best way. My movement wasn't fast, it wasn't needed.

He pressed his forehead to mine, his lips trembling slightly as he spoke up in a cracked, painful tone. “They've kept you away from me for too long, but this bond wouldn't end with me, never!” He sneered. “I'll haunt any creature that dares to touch you!”

My hips gently rocked, his chains clattering against each other and when I came, sobbing into his mouth, he did too, almost immediately.

This wasn't lust, no.

It was love and goodbye.

******

The hall was colder than yesterday, Zane had been dragged out like a criminal to stand at the centre of the court, shirtless and covered in bruises that made my heart ache.

The sentence was read almost immediately.

“Death at moonrise”

My breath hitched, tears falling freely down my cheeks as I stepped forward and without thinking, screamed out.

“I'll take his punishment!” I yelled, looking at my stepfather dead in the eye. “Please. Whatever it is, I'm ready to accept it”

The crowd erupted into chaos but at this moment, I didn't care one bit because I was ready to burn for him and I would do it over and over again.