Chapter 50 Zhayad's Choice

Chapter 50 Zhayad's Choice
Aurelia

I let the bond guide me like a rope tied around my heart.

Find him, find him. The bond was screaming, dragging my body against my will.

Nothing else existed. I stepped straight through the open gate and stumbled into the middle of hell.

Zhayad’s white wolf stood massive and terrifying in the center of the courtyard, his fur matted with blood, circling my father like a predator sizing up prey.

Nine OnyxFang warriors fanned out behind him, ready to tear into the line of warlocks and shifters my father had brought with him.

My father looked like a human who reincarnated a demon. His eyes were bloody red. He snarled low when he saw me, baring his teeth at me in triumph.

“Aurelia, my daughter.” He smiled, as if I'd done something he was proud of.

“You’ve dodged me at every turn, but you still delivered me the greatest gift without knowing.”

‘What are you doing outside the gates, Aurelia?’ Zhayad’s voice roared through the bond, edged with fear he was trying to hide.

Did he not realize I’d felt his pain? He was trying to shield me from it, I knew, stubborn, proud Alpha that he was. But he’d called me. He’d needed me. His ego just wouldn’t let him admit it.

“You defeated Lila, I take it?” my father asked, his eyes drilling holes into my face.

‘Were you attacked?!’ Zhayad demanded, his voice bordering on an animalistic growl inside my head.

‘Yes,’ I answered quickly, ‘but I fought back.’

Then I forced my focus on my father.

“You’re weaponizing every single person,” I said, my voice steady despite the chaos around me. “All for what?”

“The Onyx Fang,” he said simply, “and you, of course.”

The bond flared again, pain lancing through my chest.

Zhayad staggered, his wolf form faltering for half a second, blood dripping from a deep gash across his flank.

I hissed, stumbling forward.

My father laughed triumphantly. “You feel it, don’t you? He’s weakening. And when he falls… I’ll take the fang. I’ll take you. And I’ll take everything he built.”

Zhayad snarled, lunging forward, but a small, broken whimper from behind us stopped him cold.

Irina was dragged into view by a warlock I didn’t recognize. 

He must have slipped in the same way Lila did, disguised, blending seamlessly with the shifter warriors until the moment was right.

Irina’s mouth was gagged with a strip of white cloth, soaked red at the edges.

Her wrists and ankles were bound tight, ropes cutting into her skin.

She jerked against her restraints, her wide eyes darting between Zhayad and me, pleading, terrified, trying to communicate something urgent with nothing but frantic glances.

She did this to herself. She fucking let her mother use her. She let Mace use her, hoping she would be able to control him with her seductive prowess.

And now she was here, trapped in the middle of the fire she helped start.

Mace stepped forward a heartbeat later, grinning wide, triumphant, like a cat that finally caught the goldfish. My hate for him grew tenfold.

Zhayad’s wolf raised his hackles, a deep, rolling growl vibrating through the open space.

“Well done, Mace,” my father praised, voice smooth and proud.

Mace nodded, preening. My father must have promised him something huge. 

“It’s going to be a quick process.” Mace began. “Choose between the Onyx Fang in your mouth…”

He pointed at Zhayad’s jaws, and Zhayad bared his teeth to reveal the onyx fang, causing my father's anger to rise more. 

He was flaunting the very thing they wanted.

“…and this whore here.” Mace finished.

His finger swung to Irina, his lips curving in cruel satisfaction.

Irina began to buck against the firm grip holding her in place. 

Her muffled protests made me pity her, for the first time in my life.

Zhayad shifted back to human form in a burst of steam and magic. His clothes were intact (thank the goddess, because it would be fucking awkward if we had to face my father with Zhayad stark naked), but his skin glistened underneath, every muscle taut and lethal.

He stalked forward, his eyes locked on my father, unbothered by the warlocks closing in.

“Let her go, Cassian,” he rolled out the words menacingly, each syllable cutting through the air like a knife. “Order your dog to release her.” 

My father’s frown deepened, lines carving deeper around his mouth as he studied Zhayad with the same cold calculation he’d once used on me.

“The only dogs I see here, Alpha,” he said, voice smooth as oil over steel, “are you and your men. You wrongfully captured one of my men, tortured him, and killed the others. In return, you must surrender one of the two things you cherish most.”

Mace tapped his bruised jaw with mock thoughtfulness. “Your shiny fang…” His finger swung toward Irina, his lips curling. “…or this whore here.”

“You can’t make him choose.” The words burst out of me before I could stop them.

My father’s gaze slid to me, slowly, almost pitying. “Life is all about choices, Aurelia.” He tilted his head, his voice dropping to that familiar, condescending tone he’d used when I was a child. 

“I can cite at least five stupid choices your Alpha has made. Mating with you, a barren witch. Letting his pack matron torture his mate. Letting her daughter walk free even after conspiring with his archenemy…”

“Stop.” 

But he didn't listen to me, he was still talking.

“…He is a weak Alpha who doesn’t know what he wants.”

“It’s not true, Aurelia.” Zhayad’s voice cut through the air. I felt the tremor in the bond, something raw and wounded flickering beneath his calm demeanor.

My heart splintered..Cracked right down the middle.

Zhayad still wouldn’t punish Irina the way she deserved. He’d tied me up, marked me, claimed me in every way that burned, but Irina?

He let her go scot free each time she crossed a line. Even after everything.

I used to shove the question aside whenever it tried to surface. I used to tell myself it didn’t matter.

But now, standing here, listening to my father utter the words I forbade myself to think of, it made sense. All of it.

Did that really make him weak?

The bond pulsed again, like he felt the fracture inside me.

My father’s smile widened, sensing the shift.

“You see it now, don’t you?” he murmured. “Even your mate doubts his own strength when it comes to you. He once saw you as bait, now you're just simply his mate, being fucked over and over for a pups sake. The goddess marked you because you're so gullible. I had beautiful plans for you, but you've always been stubborn headed.”

Every word dug deeper, splintering my armor until I stood bare.

Mace clicked his tongue. “You have only five minutes to decide. Your fang, or this bitch.”

Zhayad clenched his fists. The tattoos on his chest, and mine lit up in silver-black fury, pulsing like twin heartbeats.

Zhayad was unpredictable. I couldn’t tell which path he would choose.

“Zhayad, you don’t have to choose.” I begged him.

I wanted to go to him, to touch him, to remind him, but through the bond he roared for me to stay put.

He hardened his expression, and without so much as a flicker of emotion, he said, “A strong Alpha always makes a choice. Take her.”

My eyes flicked to Irina. She was already crying, sobbing, tears and saliva dripping down to her shoulder blades as the warlock held her in place.

“See?” Mace said to her, voice dripping with mock pity. “You’re worth nothing to your Alpha after all.”

My father ground his teeth. He’d thought Zhayad would surrender the fang. 

“I will be back, Alpha,” he bit out. “The war has just begun.”