~Zarek's POV~
I didn't go out to 'join the fun' just like Jennifer had put it as I could not bring myself to, knowing fully well that it would rip my heart apart.
Dahlia's agonized cries alone were enough to unravel me, so I wonder what would become of me… wondered about how I would react when I got to see her suffering firsthand.
I could not.
I shuddered as images of her sprawled across the hot field plagued my mind, and while my wolf howled at me to go save her… to pull our mate out of her misery, I couldn't bring myself to move an inch. Not when I had been the one to do this to her— pass the verdict— in the first place.
My heart ached tremendously and my breathing felt laboured. Truth be told, I wasn't even mad that she had tried to steal from me. Hell, I still didn't believe that she would do a thing like that. However, I was mad at something else entirely and I felt betrayed.
I was mad because she had tried to leave me and it hurt because for some reason, it felt like I was being forced to relive the heartache Nyx had inflicted me with when she chose that butler, Ottai, over me. It felt like my past was repeating itself, only that this time it hurt more, and it had made me feel nothing but rage… to see nothing but darkness.
"Alpha," an annoyingly familiar voice snapped me out of my thoughts and I turned to the doorway, frowning when my eyes met with Pius' brown orbs. He smiled sweetly at me, and as if catching himself, immediately gave a curt bow.
"Good afternoon, your Grace… I am sorry for barging in on you like that but there's a matter of utmost importance that I need you to attend to."
My frown deepened as I crossed my arms over my chest. "And what might that be?" I snarled.
Pius looked around us pointedly, and it wasn't until that moment that I realised I was still standing in the middle of Dahlia's ripped apart room even after everyone had left. The bag of gold coins was still on the foot of her bed, discarded and utterly forgotten and I turned to the last bodyguard standing, waiting for me, and drawled; "Clear that up and make sure you bring it up to my chambers."
"Yes Alpha."
And with that, I turned away and walked out of the room with Pius following closely behind me.
In order to completely avoid Dahlia and whatever Jennifer and the warriors may be putting her up to, I ignored the front doors and stepped out through the back door leading to the back of the house. I then began to walk in the direction of the orchard… the complete opposite of the training grounds, whilst completely aware of the presence of the man who wanted me right behind me.
As if noticing my agitation, he dropped his voice until it was barely above a whisper and muttered; "Alpha… the soldiers sent to fetch Missus Nyx Hawthorne over have returned."
And as soon as those words slipped through his lips, I froze.
Not now, by the gods… not now!
"Oh…" I drawled, feeling the erratic thumping of my heart against my chest and ear. "She was not found, was she?"
"Fortunately, she was. She's now at the pack… at the guesthouse and she won't be ushered into the main house until you allow it."
Anger.
That was the only way to describe how I immediately felt as soon as I discovered that Nyx had been found, and worse, that she was now in my house and being attended to by my servants despite the shitty heartbreak she had put me through!
This was one of the times when I wanted to hate Pius for being too competent. One of the times I hated the fact that he was so hell bent on earning my appraisal, that he had done his job too perfectly.
I nodded. "That was fast… was there any daughter with her?"
"Yes, one. Dark haired. Blue eyed. She looks about four and she's really beautiful." He answered, making the bile that had formed in my throat to increase in size.
I definitely didn't need those descriptions, because now it felt as though he was trying to point out to me that the child was indeed mine.
I shrugged. "Send her to the house now. I want to see both of them… and if they're not who I think they are then we'll need to send them on their way… and quickly."
"Okay, Alpha."
I didn't need to turn around to know that he was bowing. I didn't even need to check to see that he had walked away, and with legs now as heavy as metal bars, I made my way back into the house, heading straight for the throne room.
When I arrived at the throne room, I plopped into the throne and waited.
The last time she'd seen me, I had been weak… I had been a coward but not this time.
A minute passed and then two. Then five.
Just when I had begun to think that she would never come, the heavy doors were suddenly pushed open and my head reeled when I was hit with an all too familiar scent. One that used to make me go mad… one that I had been so insanely obsessed with; but one that had now been replaced with Dahlia's.
Speaking of Dahlia, she was still being tortured. And the thought sent waves of pain simmering through my entire being. I frowned at the thought, hoping to dispel it, but the more I did that, the worse I felt, and the more my wolf thrashed against me, desperate to be let out… antsy to save its mate.
"Zarek?" The familiar voice called out but instead of being hit with the feeling of nostalgia, I was hit with anger and disdain.
I turned to her. "It's Alpha Zarek to you now."
Her mouth hung open— the mouth that I used to kiss so passionately. The mouth that used to easily take my manhood— that used to drive me to ecstasy.
The same one that had promised to always remain by my side...
I clamped down these thoughts as I glared at her, and then to the child hiding shyly by her side; the one whose dark curly mane was the only thing I could make of her. And then, I said;
"It's a pleasure to see you again."
It wasn't.
And I hoped she knew that too.
Nyx looked the same with her slanted hazel eyes, smooth caramel skin and wavy dark hair. Her lush pink lips were still wide and the crease ever present between her eyebrows remained. She looked at me as though she couldn't believe her eyes, but that was understandable. I wouldn't believe my eyes if I was her too.
She stepped closer on wobbly feet, her eyes wide. "Zarek? You're the Alpha who sent for me? But I thought… What about your father? How do you rule Shadow fang pack but your father rules Silvermoon?"
Something about her questions seemed to infuriate me more than her presence as it only seemed to show just how much she cared about rankings… about positions and less about the fact that she'd hurt me terribly several years ago.
Hades, she wasn't even talking about it at all!
Deciding that I didn't want to do this with her and that I should simply get straight to the point, I glanced down at her daughter who was now peeking at me from behind her mother and asked; "Is she mine?"
The question seemed to throw Nyx off for a very brief moment but she was quick to regain her composure. She blinked. "What?"
"Is your daughter mine? My father talked about how I got a maiden pregnant shortly before I left the pack… I want to know, is it you?"
I studied her face carefully while I spoke and I noticed how her lashes dropped. A few drops of tears fell from her eyes but instead of feeling empathy towards her, I felt irritated. Mad. I was beyond pissed.
"Talk to me, Nyx. We don't have all the time in the world."
"Yes." She rushed out breathlessly, almost too quickly that it made my heart drop. I cocked my eyebrows at her.
"Explain what happened that night to me like I am a child, please." I muttered, frowning when she gulped and took another step closer.
I swear by the gods, if she takes another step closer…
"I had gone to see you one last time after I heard of how much the separation hurt you. I even disguised myself as a slave just so that I could easily slip in and out of your chambers… but… but you jumped me. I… I do not blame you though. You w-were drunk as a skunk on wine; and you raped me." She choked out a sob, causing a feeling akin to dread to settle deep within my guts.
I didn't like the sound of this… I didn't like it one bit.
"And?"
"And the next morning, I slipped out of your bed. I wanted to be gone before you'd wake up… I found out I was pregnant a few weeks later and Ottai was mad."
My heart fell.
"And how are you so certain that she is mine? How are you so sure that it wasn't your butler's? Remember you left me for him?" I said, and again, Nyx dropped her gaze to the floor, sniffling before she raised her red puffy eyes to me.
"Yes I did… but at the time, Ottai and I had never made love. It was certainly not his."
And then, as if on cue, the little girl looked up at Nyx and with wide expressive eyes, she asked; "Mommy, is this my daddy?" And I watched in irritation as Nyx nodded softly at the girl.
The scene was so infuriating, so nerve wracking that a headache instantly began to form at the back of my skull and I pinched the bridge of my nose to keep it at bay.
It was ineffective.
"Yes, Leila. He is your father."
Bloody hell!