Chapter 42: A Deadly Mistake

Zarion didn’t say anything. Like me, he was observing the forest too. Alpha Brandon and Hestia are no longer seen in this sun-forsaken place.

Unbeknownst of what might happen, this unexpected visit was not driven by goodwill. It was a twisted web, spun with deceit and malice. I could feel Alpha Brandon’s presence and scent. I knew that it’s possible that they orchestrated a trap, a wicked scheme veiled beneath a thin veneer of familial ties.

Calm down, Cassidy. Calm down.

“Don’t worry, baby. You have me. Zarion’s whisper was enough to let me release the breath I didn’t know I was holding. He’s very protective of me—as if I was his mate.

No. If I was really his mate, I could have died already. He could have killed me without a splinter of hesitation. That’s how Zarion disdained the thought of mating bond.

“Brandon! Hestia! Get the fuck out of there and confront us!” His voice echoed among the green trees. Dark and dangerous, ready to kill anyone that’s going to intervene or invade our protective circle.

Then someone seized my wrist,  with a grip as cold as winter's grasp, dragging me further into the depths of the unknown. Far from prying eyes, Alpha Brandon revealed his true intentions—to end my life, to erase my existence from the world. To kill me.

It was his main objective ever since he found out I was his human mate in the Moon Goddess Temple.

“Stupid human mate,” his venomous whisper slithered through the air, taunting my vulnerability.

“No, please… No!” I pleaded, but my pleas for mercy were swallowed by the forest's eerie silence, as desperation painted my voice in trembling hues.

It was all quick. Zarion didn’t even notice his brother’s fast movement when he lunged at me. I tried to wriggle my wrist just to get away from him, but his hand was already choking the air out of me.

“Zarion!” I screamed at the top of my lungs. “Zarion!”

But Hestia’s siren’s voice lingered in my ears. Her laugh made my skin stand to its tip, and I could feel the ants climbing on my skin because of its itchiness.

I despise her so much that I vowed one day to kill her.

“Oh my Moon Goddess, look at what you did to him!” Hestia sarcastically laughed again. And when I saw what he did to Zarion, I was horrified.

He was frozen. Literally. Like an ice statue.

I figured it was one of Hestia’s powers then. She was laughing like a witch, it was utterly dehumanizing. “Poor man. That is what you get for obsessing over the witch who’s clearly not alive anymore. Desperate bastard!”

“No! No! Zarion!” I shouted, even though the veins in my neck protruded because of my mate’s hand that was choking the air out of me.

“Please… no—” In the face of imminent death, I made a desperate plea, bargaining for my life.

“If you don’t want to accept my rejection, I might as well kill you right now. That would have been an easier task,” Alpha Brandon said, which made my eyes bulge out.

“I will reject you!” I shrieked at the top of my lungs, ignoring my dry throat and crooked voice. “But...but it will be on the full moon.” The words slipped from my lips without Zarion to stop me, a fragile thread of hope clinging to the shadows. Yet, Alpha Brandon’s resolve remained unyielding. His thirst for my demise was absolutely unquenchable.

“I can’t wait for it!” he gritted his teeth. “You need to die now!”

“Please.” I shut my eyes and coughed, begging eyes evident in my expression. “Don’t kill me yet.”

The abyss beckoned, a cliff edge inviting a tragic end. His hands tightened, ready to thrust me into the abyss, to sever the ties that bound me to life. But fate's whims spun anew, as a band of Rogues emerged from the forest's depths. They lunged towards Alpha Brandon, clawing and snarling, their intentions cloaked in enigma.

I was shocked by the sudden turn of events. My hand immediately shot at my throat, where Brandon’s palms were just wrapping a second ago.

I seized the opportunity. I fled from the chaos that ensued, my heart pounding within my chest. But fortune was a fickle companion, as I found myself cornered by a Rogue. His feral gaze stripped away every last string of hope that remained inside me.

Panic surged through my veins, threatening to consume my entirety as the shadows of despair loomed closer. And closer.

Yet salvation arrived in an unexpected guise.

“No, please….” I whispered, shaking my head and crying in despair. The big white wolf was now growling at me, ready to devour me in his mouth, when a figure emerged from the darkness—a mystical healer of ancient tales.

No. It was not just a random healer.

Elliot appeared in front of me, his breathing rugged as he got me on his back. He’s in his wolf form when we ran away.

And Elliot was fast. So fast my head spun and I almost puked. I'm pretty sure this was Elliot, the obsidian necklace around the wolf’s neck proves me right.

Even though I was surprised that we would get away from Alpha Brandon and Luna Hestia’s hold, my mind instantly thought of the man I desperately want to be with.

The Alpha that made me leave my grandmother.

“Elliot, let’s go back! Zarion is still there!” I cried, on the verge of wailing while holding on to my dear life on his back.

We couldn’t let Alpha Zarion just be frozen in there. “We need to rescue him.”

But Elliot remained running straight into the snowy path outside the Misty Forest. When light greeted our eyes, the forest’s darkness finally letting go of us, I climbed down from his back.

“We must go back. You should go back and retrieve Zarion.”

But I already knew Elliot’s answer even before he released a cloudy mist of breath. “We cannot Cassidy. We simply can’t.”

Then I burst to tears.