Chapter 2 Zarek Nox
“Who are you?” I asked as he walked in front of me, leading me to only Goddess knows where.
I had thought he was going to take me somewhere private, but instead he walked me out through the thinning crowd toward the viewing rail—the long metal barrier that ran alongside the track where people had been standing to watch the race—and stopped there, right in front of everyone who was left in the warehouse.
My gaze shifted to the people around us, the way they shifted their gaze away from me the moment they noticed the man standing beside me.
I found it very unsettling.
"Who are you?" I asked again, desperate for an answer this time.
He was looking out at the empty track as if watching something only he could see.
"Zarek Nox," he said, still focused on whatever it was he was looking at.
"I got that from the list." I leaned against the rail and looked at him, because I had learnt over the years that being direct unnerved people who expected you to be intimidated. "I mean why is everyone in this building avoiding you like an outbreak."
A smile tugged at the corner of his lips as he shifted his gaze from the track a bit.
"Great strength comes at a cost," he paused and glanced down at me before looking back at the track. "Loneliness."
I didn't say anything.
I had a gift—I had always had it, as a child in a house full of people who didn't really give a shit about me, people who didn't see me—I could read people. Looking at Zarek now, I could see that he had probably been alone for so long that it no longer felt like a problem to him.
"So you're powerful," I said, my gaze fixed on him. "Is that what made those two men back off?"
He looked at me for a moment, and chuckled.
"No," he said softly. "I told them to fuck off."
He straightened up, the amusement leaving his face like it was never there in the first place.
"The men who stopped you," he said, his gaze shifting to me. "They work for a faction, a criminal network and according to the conversation I overheard from them, your brother was connected to their operation." He paused for a moment, his gaze becoming even more stern. “Apparently, they've been tracking you for a long time and now they know where you live.”
My heart dropped. I had spent years running and disconnecting myself from whoever knew me before and just when I thought I was doing a good job, I was finally exposed.
My gaze shifted to the side of the warehouse. I noticed two men, different from the ones that approached me earlier, adjusting their faces away from me the moment I turned to look at them. On the other side, three men also observing me and adjusting their faces the moment I caught them.
"Walking out alone tonight is an option," he continued, also observing the surroundings. "Any moment from now, these people are going to start closing in and believe me,” he took a deep breath, nodding his head. “You're no match for them.”
“So what's going to happen now?” I asked, clenching my fists, readying myself for a fight in case the people spying on me decided to make their move.
“I can help you out.” He said, a smile tugging at his lips like he had something exhilarating up his sleeves. “But you'd have to stay close to me for a while. Publicly of course, long enough for this criminal network to see and understand that you're under my protection, and for this faction to redirect their attention somewhere else." He paused, his expression stern as he spoke. "I'll cover your expenses while the arrangement holds."
"Why?" I asked, looking at him as my mind reeled in confusion. “What do you stand to gain from this?"
There's something else, something this stranger wasn't telling me.
A sharp sound ripped through the air behind me as I felt a presence that wasn't there all night. I felt the hair at the back of my neck tingle, as my heart stopped without knowing why.
I froze. I knew what it was before I turned, that smell, that view large enough that it covered my side eye. What I didn't know was how close it already was.
I made an attempt to turn, unsure whether I was actually going to make it.
Zarek moved—more like he teleported—and the wolf hit the ground. I hadn't caught any visible attack movement from zarek but somehow the wolf, the very enormous wolf which was bigger than any other wolf i had ever seen, was spread lifeless on the ground with blood gushing out of his neck.
My fingers trembled as I stared at it. One second more and my head would have probably been on the ground if Zarek hadn't intervened.
But…something was wrong, I had never seen a wolf move the way Zarek did. One minute he was by my side, and in a millisecond he was behind me, and in that same millisecond, he somehow managed to kill the wolf whose presence froze me to a spot.
“Who…who really are you?” I stammered as I took a step back, my eyes still wide from the shock.
He straightened up and patted absolutely nothing from his jacket.
He looked at me, tilted his head to the side and chuckled. “I'm Alpha Zarek Nox.”
My eyes widened even more as certain things started to fall into place—the way everyone went silent when he walked in, the way those two men abandoned whatever mission they came for and bolted and most of all, how he had just slaughtered the wolf whose blood was spilling close to my feet. I understood everything at that moment.
"To put everything I've been saying in simple terms." He paused again, his gaze piercing into my soul. "Marry me, and become untouchable."