Chapter 71Zara's POV"Who?" Alpha Damon got off of me as I asked."Alpha Alken would like to see you sir," the voice replied from behind the door. The scrunchy voice belonged to a guard, the man that stood by Alpha Damon's door.Alpha Damon reached for his clothes, his anger was evident in his movements. "What does that fat band want now?" He grumbled but left the room nonetheless.I should have been consumed by thoughts of what he had done to me, I could have been ashamed or excited and anticipatory but I was not. My mind was instead focused on one thing, one person- Xavier.I waited until I was sure that Alpha Damon was gone, far enough from the room before reaching for my clothes. I was set to leave after I was done in the bathroom. I suddenly felt unclean, maybe because Xavier's father had his hands all over me a moment ago.We agreed to meet where we first met, near the garden, under a tree in the compound. My heart raced as I walked towards the rendezvous spot. I was unsure tha
Chapter 72Xavier's POVHer face was stuck in a frown for a while. The alcohol was too strong."I'm such an idiot. I should have known to get something less strong."She turned her face to me, half frowning and half feigning a smile. Her expression was funny when she said, "don't be stupid. I wanted this."I laughed because it was obvious that she was a first timer from the look on her face. It reminded me, finally, of the first time I tried alcohol. I was taken back. It was at a friend's house, a friend from school, Brad. I watched him gulp down a glass of his parent's expensive scotch like a drunk, all in one shot while retaining his composure. He even smiled that smile of satisfaction that alcoholics gave when they finally get their hands on a drink after months, maybe years of trying to quit the addiction.I was fooled into believing that it was not terrible, even when the glass was raised to my nose, the thick smell did not discourage me. The taste of the alcohol caught me by s
Chapter 73Riana's POVThe Blood Moon mansion was somewhere I could get used to, I had to get used to. The hallways were huge, it was like walking in a museum. My bedroom, the one I was shown to by one of the omegas in the house, was just as huge, befitting of a princess.I retired to the bedroom after Xavier dismissed me. I loved him, I really did. It was the love at first sight kind of feeling at first. I was just a young girl when I met him. Eager to know love and to be loved but with time I understood that the concept entailed much more than I wanted. This understanding brought with it clarity and a deepened love for Xavier."Nobody must disturb me," I said to the man standing outside my door. He was dressed in a black suit with a brooch that had the colours of the Blood moon pack. I felt safe with him guarding the door. He was a huge man, taller than most. He had an unshakeable expression on his face that looked like he took his job, of guarding me, seriously. He did not even
Chapter 74Riana's POVThe sound of fast falling rain droplets drowned out every other thing. My room was huge so I was sure that nobody on the outside would hear the constant moaning coming from the inside.It was the guard. It was always the tall ones. He groaned and moaned even louder than me. He called out a name that I did not know every now and then, "Lucia," but then again, I knew nothing about him.The intense attraction to him slowly faded. I looked at his body, his bulging biceps, his broad chest and the little hair sprinkled over it, while he was in me. "Lucia, Lucia," he mumbled under his breath but I heard him. It must have been the name of his lover. I did not know and I couldn't care less, why men cheat is their business. I only cared about the fact that I was starting to feel nothing.He plunged deeper and deeper into me, possibly expecting to see more of a reaction from me. Some were like that. They were observant and wanted their partners to feel just as much as the
Chapter 75Zara's POVIt may have been hard to believe but that night with Xavier, the meeting of our lips, the pause, the sudden silence to the rain, everything, it was a first. I felt like a young girl daydreaming about her prince charming the whole day. Alpha Damon left earlier for work, I presumed."I'll be back soon," he said before he disappeared. I hope not. He was dressed in a shirt tucked into grey trousers. It was one of those moments where, if I had forgotten for even a bit, I was reminded of just how handsome he was. His black hair was cut short and neat, perfect for the shape of his face. It left me thinking what he would look like if he left his hair to grow out, maybe he would look even more like his son. I paced around the room, unable to sleep, even though I barely got enough sleep the previous night. I was up until pretty late with Xavier. Somehow time became irrelevant when I was with him. I did not count the seconds, I barely noticed when the minutes and hours
Chapter 76Zara's POVI never really thought much about how I would return to Alpha Damon's room. This was clearly a big mistake.It felt like I just closed my eyes and opened them and morning came. Xavier was lying next to me, he looked peaceful. His mind, unlike mine, was free of the haunting thoughts. I wanted to wake him but it felt like a crime to disturb his peaceful sleep. I went to the bathroom to get changed immediately. I was going to miss that peculiar scent that was etched deep into the fabric of his oversized white shirt. The smell bathed my nostrils and clothed me while I slept. It was calming, just like Xavier.My clothes were dry, thankfully. I had hung them in the bathroom after I took them off. I looked back at Xavier's sleeping face one last time before I turned to go. "You're leaving already?" Xavier's voice was deeper than usual. I found his morning voice very sexy and inviting but I had to go. "I am." His eyes remained shut. I was not sure if he heard me becau
Chapter 77Zara's POVHe was imposing, the man standing before me. His eyes fixed on me. I must have trembled. I must have shook while he looked. Something was going to go terribly wrong."Where have you been?" He asked. I paused for a little longer than usual. I had no reply, no response for him, nothing to say, nothing appealing enough but the fact in my hands was a plate of his breakfast.He shot me a doubting glare."Your breakfast," I replied. My voice betrayed me. I felt myself trembling."You weren't here when I woke up this morning," his eyes narrowed on me. His blue gaze held me captive, waiting for a confession, a confession that I could not afford to give. "I woke up early to get the food ready. I'm just trying to do my job."A prolonged pause. Hesitation from both of us. I feared he saw through me, I hoped not but his silence attested otherwise."When you put it like that..." he smiled. "It's not your job. It's more of a duty." I could breathe again. I let go of the inha
Chapter 78Zara's POVI had to see him. It was the decision I came to after enough time spent overthinking. The thing about being a prisoner is that escape is never certain, I learnt that the hard way.I waited until the sun came up in the sky. No sign of Alpha Damon. Wherever he went, I hoped he would be there longer. The heat the day after the rain was immense. I felt like my skin would melt on top of me. I picked out my peach coloured gown just for today. Its thin straps and loose fitting allowed me to breathe and fought off the heat, although the heat mostly won but the gown was one of the only things I was allowed to bring from home. It was what I was wearing the day I was carried away and brought to the Bloodmoon pack. "I'll be going to get lunch," I said to guards standing outside the door to the chambers. "Alpha Damon's lunch," I added as if to give it more authenticity. They let me pass and I felt a brief relief. The first hurdle crossed but there was more to come, like ho
Chapter 105Xavier’s POVI watched in fear as Riana left. She said thank you and just left. Her back turned to me, exposing her magnificent body. I knew she knew something, but not enough to conclude or figure out that I was planning an escape.There was something about the way she said thank you, the way she walked in and walked away so quickly. Her eyes had lost their light. They looked like two empty spheres in her wide eye sockets.She didn’t press hard when she asked if I loved her. She didn’t push herself toward me. I found it strange that she never asked for more sex after that day. She became an entirely different person. Changed. I should’ve worried more but I didn’t. I closed my eyes to it because I believed that anything keeping her away from me was a good thing.I’d be lying if I said I didn’t care at all, but I shoved that feeling aside because it was a distraction.That evening, I happened to be outside my room far from it. Thoughts of the wedding suffocated me. How easi
Chapter 104Xavier's POV“She knows!” Lucas burst into my room saying. It was evening when he came. Light was slowly leaving the sky as day transitioned to night. His face held worry in a way that warned onlookers not to look away—not to take his dreadful expression for granted.I was immediately alarmed by this. “What’s wrong?” I asked. The huge man was not much of a talker, I knew from the moment I met him, three days ago. I mean that I really met him three days ago—he had always been around, but we never had any need to speak to each other until we did.His head was balding but he still let it grow out, even though it showed at the trimming edges that formed deep cups that ate into the sides. It was only a matter of years,maybe a year,until all of his hair was gone, or at least most of it.I kept looking at his hair while we spoke, while I told him what I wanted him to do.“I just need you to give these to her. Nothing more,” I said to him. This was three days ago, while he was on
Chapter 103Riana's POVThe shameless look in Brownie’s eyes cleared any doubts I had before. This was her. This whole thing was her plan, her doing. She profited off my squabble with Zara like kings and country rulers profited by selling weapons to warring countries.Did I regret telling her she could have the dress? A slight moment of second guessing, rethinking my hasty decision to trust this scam of a girl with having any reasonable information. Potent weapons are sold by crafty leaders for future patronage, it was a business, just like my interaction with Brownie. She needed to be trusted for future deals, if there would be any, so she would offer only the best, most reliable news to me. This was my reasoning, my consolation as I pondered her trustworthiness.“He slipped a piece of paper between the door and a hand reached out to take it from him. No doubt the girl’s hand,” Brownie said, and I wondered why she referred to Zara that way. “The girl,” she said, and it angered me. I
Chapter 102.Riana’s POV.Two days until the wedding. I have forced myself to remain quiet and imposed sanity on my raging mind.Two weeks feel like forever when you are stuck in your room with thoughts of a man you are to marry and the woman trying to take him from you.Silence, even though my body ached for adventure and my heart longed for the extermination of a certain person. I have never felt such hate, such anger and jealousy because of a person, not even to the man that raped me as a child.My emotions towards him were conflicting to say the least. I do not know how I feel about the man that harassed me, tore my clothes and opened me up to a world I have come to enjoy. Maybe enjoyment is an overstatement because the thrill that comes with not being tied down to a man was exciting but at the same time the pleasure was satiable unfulfilling.I want to be tied down. I want to be loved by someone, by Xavier. Only two days now.Today is like any other day for the last two weeks, ex
Chapter 101Zara's POVThe intruder pushed again and the door shook but it was hinged too tight to be moved too far from its fixed point. I was too afraid to ask who it was so instead I crouched down on the floor and waited for the intruder to tire himself out and leave. I hoped he would leave.The knocking continued and after a minute or two I knew that he would not go away. Could it be that Alpha Damon was back to inflict more pain or he was going to finish me off properly this time?Each time the handle of the door moved, I felt my heart almost leave my chest. Like I was naked, I felt exposed. The only thing that separated me from the intruder was a door, a relatively small, wooden bathroom door."Open up Zara. It's me," the voice behind the door announced. I know that soothing low pitched voice. I'd recognise it anywhere. Its lustre was distinguishable even in the midst of confusion. Xavier's voice was calming.I opened the door, relieved to see him standing before me because part
Chapter 100Zara's POV"Where is it?" Loud footsteps came before the thunderous voice announced itself in the room and the tall, dark man appeared before me. A sense of danger immediately engulfed me. His deep blue eyes were marked with a hint of boiling red rage."Where have you hidden it?" He repeated himself, a rarity for the alpha of the Bloodmoon pack. His rage was apparent but something lay beneath it, masked and well hidden by the anger but I spotted it. It was one thing I knew too well, fear.Underneath the guise of anger was an intensifying fear. Alpha Damon was afraid. I was afraid. This foreign feeling would no doubt bring with it unpredictable actions. I had never seen Alpha Damon like this, I did not know what to expect, not like I did all the other times he burst in with rage but something was different about him this time, more dangerous."You better tell me where you have kept it," he said and started walking closer towards me. My heartbeat immediately quickened as he
Chapter 99Xavier's POVI shed the false bravado as soon as she left. The truth is I was even more whimpering that she was. I hate to admit the truth, which is the fact that I cower before my father, the man who had been raised high and mighty by the exaggerated stories, endless tales that Lady Rose told of him, of their past together.She said, "our past," when she referred to her and my father's shared experiences, like there was something more to it.I felt pretentious. I asked Zara to put her faith in me. I asked for her trust when I was not even sure of my plan. How could I expect to help somebody else when I could not even help myself. All these years living under my father's wing, under his watchful eye, I had never defied him.I should blame aunt Rose for my compliant behaviour. I like to believe that she was the one that kept me in check."He has his reasons," she would say, making excuses for his unfatherly actions or, "give it time. He'll come around." Her words barricaded
Chapter 98Zara's POVA jab, loud shuffling through books, clothes, possessions, hasty movements. I immediately get disturbed by these. Unconsciously, my heartbeat quickens and my body is reminded of fear. My father is rushing towards me with his hands raised, it strikes me. I can never escape that fear.Alpha Damon is back in the room. He does not look happy. I did not expect him to be. I am just happy that I made it back to the room before he got back.More movement. He is searching for something, rummaging endlessly through his belongings. I dare not to ask, I dare not disturb his search so I sat quiet, frozen. My mind drifted to earlier in the day, with Xavier.He whispered his plan to me, as though we were not alone and someone could sneak up behind us as he spoke. I liked the feel of his breath against my ear."That's it?" I asked, unsatisfied by what he had told me. "What next? We can't possibly..."He raised his finger to my lips and stopped me from talking. "I'll tell you whe
Chapter 97Zara's POVTime existed no more. Seconds, maybe hours, had gone by since I came to Xavier's room. I did not care. Everything was perfect.Xavier lay next to me, quiet and motionless for a while. His fingers had been stroking the side of my cheek very softly and slowly."I love you," he whispered in my ear. Our bodies were mingled under his sheets, just like I had imagined him with Riana.His words sent shivers down my spine. I felt as every syllable travelled from my ear to the rest of my body. Love? Too soon? I barely knew Xavier Elord. There was an undeniable connection between us but that was it. It did not change the fact that I met him a few weeks ago. I did not say it back. Awkwardness and silence lingered in the air, until, like a rotten smell, it dissipated.I looked at him to notice that he was not waiting for a reply, he was not even looking at me. He appeared to be sleeping. His face is peaceful and begging to be left alone."I have a plan to get us out of all t