Chapter 3

Ember's POV:

Staying close to each other, the four of us sprinted through the dark and gloomy forest. Even though the castle must have been a chaotic mess right now there was no doubt that a small army of North warriors must be out here by now, searching for us.

None of us dared make any noise because if we got caught now, there would be no going back because I had already deprived my energy reservoir to hypnotise any more of them and it would be impractical to think that the four of us- I cast a gaze at Sophia and sighed. Well, the three of us stood a chance against the army of Alpha Nicholus.

I quickened my pace and glanced over my shoulder. There was no one. And it was even more suspicious.

The path was leading us to the edge of the forest which was actually the border of the North region. As we got closer to it, I opened the mindlink and informed Jake about our status, "There are four of us. We are hardly five minutes away, Jake. Be ready."

"Roger that," came his reply, and a minute later, I could hear the faint whirrs of helicopter blades. My heart thudded loudly in my chest as I was sure that the sound was more than enough to draw attention toward us.

While coming here, it didn't seem suspicious as most of the guests opted for either helicopters or private jets but now the scenario was different.

I grabbed Sophie's hand and sprinted out of the forest.

A mixture of relief and fear coursed through me as a helicopter came into my line of sight.

Finally halting to a stop, I urged my pack mates to rush inside. Once they were all in, I jumped off the ground and landed inside the helicopter. I turned around to close the door when my heart stopped beating and lurched into my throat.

There he was. Standing at the edge of the forest, still inside his territory. My gaze traveled to his tightly coiled fists at his sides and my breathing hitched. He was angry. So very angry.

Of course, he was. I had literally intruded into his highly guarded castle, hypnotized his warriors, broke into his dungeons, freed every deadly prisoner, made them brutally fight his people, and finally escaped with two of his most prized prisoners.

His jaw was set tightly. The muscles were taut. Even from this distance, I could see his nostrils flaring. Rage. Pure rage was rolling off him in waves.

I hated to be affected by his presence but I couldn't resist the hard swallow when my eyes met his. They were set straight at me as if he was peeking deep into my soul. They were dark, so very dark that it made me coil in on myself.

I swallowed again but didn't waver my gaze. Above all, I couldn't help the question constantly nagging in the back of my mind.

Why wasn't he acting on his anger? It was obvious by the way his jaw was twitching and vein bulging in his throat that he was suppressing it, controlling it.

He was alone. Without any warrior in sight. But there was no doubt that he didn't need anyone. Alpha Nicholus was the greatest warrior of the time, the most brutal and ruthless of all. If he had wanted then he could easily approach us, drag us out of the helicopter, and lock us in his dungeons for the rest of our lives.

Then why? Why was he standing there, all silent but still full of rage?

What if...?

I stopped breathing for a moment. No no no. That was not possible. There was no way that he could have known when I was covered in a masking perfume, hiding my scent, and had hypnotized him.

Jake's screaming over the roaring blades pulled me out of my haze, "What are you doing? Shut the door right now."

For one last time, I cast a glance over my shoulder. He was standing there...just a mere feet apart. The person who was made for me, the one fate had destined for me. I was going away from him. Forever, with a promise to never return to these lands of enemies.

But why was I feeling this strange heaviness in my heart? Hadn't I decided to do the exact thing the moment I knew about what the mate bond is? I remembered myself of the time I promised myself to not be rendered weak by this bond. Wasn't that the reason I got my hands on the special masking perfume so that my mate would never be able to recognize me?

His eyes were still set on me, piercing all the way to my soul, searching inside. For what? Only he knew.

I lifted my chin, telling myself over and over that I was doing the right thing. As the daughter of the King of the South, as a future queen of the South, and most importantly as the blood enemies of the North, I was doing right. That is what I was supposed to do...expected to do.

Heaving a heavy sigh, I averted my gaze and once again turned away from him. I shut the door and refused to look at a particular pair of eyes that were surely gonna haunt me in my dreams.