CHAPTER 88
(Giselle's POV)
The sound of the heavy door opening again was like a death knell. I didn’t even have time to process my defiance before Blake was back, and he wasn’t alone. My heart, which had been hammering a frantic rhythm of rebellion, stuttered to a terrifying stop.
Zarkhan.
He stood just behind Blake, caged not by steel bars here, but by two of Blake’s hulking guards who held his arms tight. My eyes drank him in, a painful, desperate relief warring with a fresh wave of fear. He was alive. Pale, his powerful frame looking thinner, shadows carved deep under his stormy eyes. But he was breathing. His gaze locked onto mine, and the connection was a physical jolt, a painful tug deep in my core that the wolfsbane couldn’t completely mute.
“Look who decided to pay a visit,” Blake said, his voice dripping with false cheer. He gestured dismissively at Zarkhan. “I thought you two might appreciate a little chat. A final family discussion before the wedding.”
Zarkhan’s jaw was a hard line, his entire body radiating a tension so sharp I could feel it across the room. He didn’t look at Blake, his focus entirely on me, a silent question blazing in his eyes. Are you hurt?
I gave a tiny, almost imperceptible shake of my head, my own eyes pleading. Don’t do whatever he wants you to do.
Blake clucked his tongue. “Now, now. None of that silent communication. We’re all friends here.” He gave Zarkhan a little push forward. The guards released him, and Zarkhan took a single, unsteady step, his weakened state painfully obvious. It made my chest ache.
“Go on,” Blake urged, leaning against the damp wall and crossing his arms, a spectator at his own twisted play. “Convince her, Zarkhan. For old time’s sake. Tell her why saying ‘I do’ is the smartest move she’ll ever make.”
Zarkhan’s eyes never left mine. I saw the conflict raging in them, the storm of hatred and helplessness. He took another step closer until he was standing right before me, the scent of him—a fading mix of his familiar, comforting musk and the cloying stench of captivity—washing over me.
“Giselle,” he began, his voice a low, rough rasp that scraped against my soul. It was the first time I’d heard it in what felt like a lifetime.
“Don’t,” I whispered, my voice breaking. “Don’t you dare say it. Don’t you fucking dare.”
He flinched almost imperceptibly. His hands, clenched at his sides, trembled. He’s so weak. The realization was a knife to the heart.
“You have to listen to me,” he said, the words sounded forced, unnatural. “This… this is the only way.”
A disbelieving, hysterical laugh bubbled in my throat. I choked it back. “The only way?” I repeated, my voice rising. “The only way to what? To make this monster’s victory complete? I understand why you and Hakkan were treating me like shit—you were confused, the bond was new, you’re both arrogant pricks—but this? You want to just hand me over to him? Why? To save your own skin?”
The accusation hung in the air, ugly and sharp. I saw the flash of raw pain in his eyes before he shuttered it, his expression hardening into a mask of cold pragmatism.
“It’s not about my skin,” he gritted out, the lie so transparent it was an insult. “It’s about yours. It’s about survival. His protection is real. His resources are… extensive. You’ll be safe.”
“Safe?” The word was a shriek. I strained against the ropes, the rough fibers biting into my raw wrists. “You call this safe? Being his property? His trophy? I’d rather be dead! I thought you knew me better than that! I thought…” My voice broke, tears of frustration and betrayal finally spilling over. “I thought what we had was real.”
The mask on his face cracked. For a fraction of a second, I saw the real him—the possessive, furious Alpha who’d claimed me in that hotel room in Omaha. The man who’d vowed to protect me. The man I’d started to… No. Don’t think it. Don’t give it a name.
“It is real,” he whispered, so low I almost didn’t hear it. It was meant only for me. A secret between us in this hellhole. “That’s why you have to do this. Please, Giselle.”
Please. I’d never heard him say that word. It undid me more effectively than any threat from Blake. He was begging. The great, untamable Zarkhan Zaro was begging me to marry our captor.
I stared at him, my mind reeling, trying to see the angle, the plan. There had to be one. This was a performance for Blake. It had to be.
But his eyes… his eyes held a desperate, hopeless truth that chilled me to the bone. He wasn’t playing a long game. He was making a desperate trade. My freedom for… what? His life? A quick death instead of a slow one?
The pieces clicked into place with horrifying clarity. Blake’s smug assurance. Zarkhan’s unnatural weakness. ‘The wolfsbane cocktail… it can become corrosive.’
He wasn’t just asking me to save myself. He was asking me to save him from a fate worse than death. And the price was my soul.
The fight drained out of me, leaving a hollow, cold void. I looked from Zarkhan’s tortured face to Blake’s triumphant smirk. I was a pawn in a game I never asked to play, and the only moves left were catastrophic.
“You truly believe this is the only way?” I asked Zarkhan, my voice now flat and empty.
He gave a single, stiff nod, his throat working as he swallowed hard. He couldn’t even hold my gaze anymore.
I looked past him, to Blake. “Get him his antidote. Now. Then we’ll talk about your damn papers.”
Blake’s smile was brilliant, victorious. “A wise decision.” He nodded to his guards. “Take him back. Administer the first dose.”
The guards moved forward, grabbing Zarkhan’s arms again to lead him away. As they turned him, his eyes finally met mine one last time. And in that fleeting glance, I didn’t see gratitude. I didn’t see relief.
I saw a shame so profound it was like looking into an abyss. And then he was gone, the door closing behind him, leaving me alone with the man who owned us both.
Blake picked up the pen from the floor, holding it out to me with a flourish. “Shall we make it official, my darling future wife?”
I said nothing. I just stared at the door, my heart shattering into a million unrepairable pieces.
Zarkhan turned his back on me.