Chapter 13: Cold is the Winter, Wild is the Wolves

Brandon wasn’t the one who shifted, that’s a relief at least.

But once again, I found myself bellowing and thrashing when Brandon reached for my neck, strangling and knocking the breath out of me. I couldn’t move. I could not even think of a way to escape, to live and leave.

I wished there was a hole just beneath my feet that would swallow me in this instant.

No… no—help me!” I forced my voice to be louder. “HELP!”

“Why are you looking for Zarion? What do you want from him?” Brandon growled. He removed his other hand from my neck and instead unsheathed his huge and sharp claws just a few inches from my face. He had all the chance to crush my neck into pieces, but he didn’t. He just kept choking and strangling me. Maybe he wants something from me, or maybe he wants to relish killing me as slow and unbearable as possible.

“I...I... I don't know. There's something about him that I need to do. I feel like I'm obligated to him. I was having these dreams, weird dreams, and I want to stop them. Maybe if I could talk to him, it's going to stop.” It wasn’t just a dream. It was something more…but I wouldn’t tell him about that. “Also, I saved his life. He also saved mine. Once.”

To my shock, Brandon finally let go of my neck and I dropped in the snowy ground with a thud. Stepping back, he faced the crowd. “Impossible,” Brandon whispered, his eyes widening as they looked at me again. My once ragged breathing returned to its normal pace as I coughed multiple times while holding my neck. My other hand found its way to the trunk of the nearby tree for support.

It’s impossible to outsmart Brandon. The man in front of me was too physically powerful, and too mentally unbeatable. It’s as if he could read my thoughts too—or was it my emotions that gave way to his treatment towards me?

I knelt down in front of him—them—still coughing. My chest heaved up and down while regaining my strength back. He almost choked me to death, almost sent me to my grave that hasn’t yet been dug. I’m so far from the Blyth Mountains and I promised my parents that I will take my last breath there, and bury my body in our family crypt.

What did Brandon expect from me? What does he want from me?

I’m not even sure if it was Zarion who carried me into the cabin…

Looking up to the winced faces, my brows knitted when Brandon’s lips formed into a thin line. Amazed and scared at the same time while looking at me. Now, what fucking kind of reaction is this?

“What?”

“Call him.” It didn’t sound like he was being playful. It was an order from him, a command coming from an Alpha—the Alpha.

I searched for something in my pocket. “Uhm, I don't have a cell phone actually—”

He cut me off with a wave of his hand. “Mind link. You're supposed to do that.”

“Mind link?” I did not lower my voice. I don’t understand anything from this conversation in the first place. The man snarled in irritation and Brandon now shifted into a full werewolf, yellowish eyes glinting and moon-white fur as bright as the snow shrouding the place.

Screaming becomes my reflex action, and I cannot do anything about that than shut my eyes forcefully while waiting for my death’s hand to finally take my own. However, it didn’t happen. Slowly opening my eyes, I saw how Alpha Brandon and the rest of his pack started to talk in a different language that I couldn’t fathom.

I forced myself to stand, forced my body to yield a step towards Delilah, whose face still showing astonishment.

“What are they saying?” I gathered all my remaining courage to ask her.

She took a step back, curiosity and worry embedded in her eyes while we shared a stare. “They want to confirm something.” Delilah bit her lower lip and turned her face away from my light of sight. Even her was disgusted by my presence, despised the fact that I am still breathing despite being human.

I was about to walk by her side when she lifted her hand, a signal for me to stop and stay where I was standing. “I have a bad feeling about this,” she whispered in a foreign tongue that I don’t fucking know whether it’s the same language Brandon spoke earlier or what kind of language is she speaking.

I blinked, hoping that everything I’m seeing is just a nightmare. But it wasn’t.

I was still facing Delilah, her face shimmering with what seems to be anxiousness and fear. “If they really want to confirm—”

“Confirm what, Delilah?” I demand, hands quivering as I slowly clench it into a fist. “Please speak in a language that I could understand.” Her hands started fidgeting, and finally, she hoisted her chin up to answer my query. “They want to confirm if you are the former Alpha's mate.”

Then I plunged into a sea of darkness, my head so painful that I thought it was going to split into two. I did not know whether someone hit me or they did that to me in a supernatural manner.

Either way, one thing is certain upon my sudden and strange arrival: winter became colder and the wolves became wilder.