Chapter 120

Chapter 120
Samara's POV

I sprinted to my room and shut the door behind me, my heart pounding unnaturally, threatening to burst through my rib cage. Alpha George was so damn crazy. How had the goddess thought to make him my second chance mate? He was the very definition of Devil. Hades and all his minstrels were definitely taking lessons from him.

I jumped on my bed and felt my body hit something hard. When I investigated what it was, I rubbed my eyes because I felt like I was dreaming. On my bed lay the copy of the very book I had broken the law to get—the diary of the last dragon wolf.

I picked it up and flipped its pages.

I was not dreaming. It was really the same book.

I looked around the room for any signs that someone else had been in it while I was away but there were none.

So who had dropped this here?

Was someone playing some deadly game with me?

Fuck.

What was I to do with this now?

I had a sickening feeling this was a test and I was going to fail it miserably because more than anything else, I needed to know about Nyla. If this dragon wolf had experienced what I was going through, I needed to know if he had overcome it.

So I went back to my door and made sure the bolt was in place, so there would be no surprises. Then I checked my wardrobe and bathroom to be certain that no one was hiding anywhere I could not see.

When I was sure I was alone, I placed the book in my lap with a rapidly beating heart. I got to the last page I had read and skimmed through several pages, trying to find what resonated with the missing wolf because I knew I did not have much time to spend with the book.

But with my skimming I found nothing helpful until the last page of the book.

They separated my dragon wolf from my body. I had no idea that was possible. It was excruciatingly painful and…

The diary ended there. There was nothing on how to get my wolf back. And I could not fully resonate with what the writer had written. No one had separated Nyla from me. Except if the rogue wolves had the power to do that. Was that why I had fallen into a coma?

No, no, I was losing my mind. That could not have happened.

I tried to search the book more patiently for more clues but there was nothing helpful in it. And how was I to return the book too when I did not know who had placed it in my bed. Or planted it. Because I felt like this had been left here deliberately. But by who?

Lillian?

I crossed her out at once. She would not do that to me. Her sister maybe but certainly not Lillian.

While I tried to think of what to do with the book, I heard a knock on my door.

Oh goddess! If I was caught with the book, I would be severely punished. Executed would probably be the easiest punishment George would grant me. I could just imagine the smirk on Laura's face if that happened.

Knock. Knock.

Whoever was at the door was pretty persistent.

I scanned the room with my eyes, thinking of a secure place to hide it.

I spotted the wardrobe, hastily opened it, and shoved it behind some clothes before going to open the door. I kept a tired expression on my face, as though I had been dozing off when I heard the knock.

The person behind the door was a maid. She looked at me and said, "The Alpha said you dropped this."

In her hand was my grandmother's necklace. Alpha George must have removed it while he was stroking my body. The bastard. Genuinely, George was a devil.

"Thank you," I said, snatching the necklace from her hand.

I waited for her to leave, but she kept standing there stubbornly, staring at me.

I raised an eyebrow. "Is there something more you wanted to ask me?"

"Ah, yes, yes," she said. "The Alpha also mentioned that there will be a council meeting of the various Alphas tomorrow. You are to attend to the needs of the meeting and work with the kitchen staff. You do not need to be by his side at all tomorrow."

That was a relief. At least I would not have to deal with being under his scrutinizing gaze.

She left after that, but as I climbed into my bed for the night, it dawned on me that if there were to be a council meeting of the Alphas, Lucian would be there, too—the mate who had rejected me without saying the words. My heart beat a little faster. What would it be like to see Lucian again? Would he recognize me? Would he even want me? I wondered if he had even searched for me. I highly doubted it, though. But I thought about Rebecca, his mother, who had been nothing but kind to me.

Then my mind wandered off to my grandfather. Would he be there, too? And what about the Alpha who had tried to buy me when they tried to sell me off—would he be present?

I shut my mind to even thinking about it. If I ever saw him I would pretend like I did not know him, or did not recall him at all. To me, he was dead, and I wanted absolutely nothing to do with him. He had treated me like trash, abandoned me, turned me into a slave while I was their child, and still only wanted to use me when I could be of monetary value to them. They were evil, terrible people—worse than even Freya.

I tossed and turned all night, unable to sleep properly, and when I did doze off, my sleep was fretful. I was happy when morning light seeped into my room.

I rose before perhaps every other person and joined the kitchen staff to help prepare for the council meeting. It was clear from the buzz that they were expecting quite a number of people to arrive. As the day dragged on and I was pulled into intense labor, I found myself scurrying through hallways, helping with food, and trying to get the rooms ready for the guests we were expecting—only to catch a brief glimpse of Lucian. But I was so busy that I could not get a proper look at him.

Eventually, I was called to serve in the large council hall where all the Alphas were supposedly gathered. Before I could enter the hall, Lilian found me and pulled me aside to whisper to me.
"So, I've been able to secure a ride out of here," she said to me in a conspiratorial tone.

"Really?" I asked with wide eyes.

"Yes, we can leave tonight. When all the Alphas are trying to get back to their places, we can leave then. There'll be lots of distractions. No one will notice we are gone."

I was still slightly worried about what life would be without the protection of the pack and without Nyla, my wolf. "I don't know, Lilian. I—"

"Oh, come on, don't be chicken now! I promise we'll be fine. I know how to get us to the human realm with no hitches. We won't need to worry about the rogue attacks, and we can put all of this life behind us. Come on, Samara, what do you say?"

I thought about it for a while. Perhaps she was right. After all, George had been mean to me yesterday, building my hopes up only to be a bastard about it all. I was prepared to leave. There was really nothing left for me in this pack.

"Okay, okay, we are going to leave once dusk settles in," I said. "Some of the Alphas will be leaving then."

"But the rogue attacks?" I reminded her.

"Don't worry about it." She was smiling from ear to ear. She really must have a good plan, I thought to myself.

I nodded at her. "All right, I have to serve guests now."

She nodded, and we parted ways.

I carried a large glass tray in my hands and walked toward the council hall. I was going to do my best to avoid anyone I recognized, but as I served meals from table to table, something stirred in me, and I heard a single voice: Samara.

My entire body froze up. It was Nyla's voice.

Nyla? I called back to her, but it was quiet again. Had that been a fluke? What the hell had just happened?

In my distraction, the glass tray slipped from my hands and fell to the marble floor, shattering into tiny fragments. I was so startled that I stepped right into the middle of the broken pieces, causing shards of glass to pierce through my feet, blood spilling all over the floor.

When I looked up, I saw everyone's eyes staring at me intently, but there was one gaze much more heated than all the others. It was Lucian, my first mate, looking at me like he had seen a ghost.