Chapter 55 - My Omega Queen

POV: Grace

Just as Zain predicted, we arrived at the pack border in less than three minutes. For us, werewolves, the pack border can be compared to an invisible barrier of some sort. You simply get a feeling in your gut when you’re close to endangering your life by crossing it. Sometimes, packs choose to make their borders more obvious to the human eye by leaving out a clear tree line or a marked rock, in order to deter other supernatural beings from entering. However, surprisingly, it seems that the Silver Fangs chose to leave this side of the border with no clear delimiter between their territory and the wilderness.

Hence, the accuracy of Zain’s directions left me surprised. It seems that he had done his homework well on the layouts of the Silver Fangs pack.

Unlike other people.

We crossed the border, hand-in-hand, and continued running down the forest for a while. I was somehow leading the way, despite having no idea of where he wanted to go, driven purely by a kind of angst. My teeth were chewing on the inner side of my lip as we crossed a river to wash away our smells, and then we took several sharp turns through the forest. Basically, covering all the basics of escape.

Raksha’s chuckle echoed in my mind, “The both of us know that’s not why you’re running, Grace”

Her tone and implication stirred my pride, making me halt my feet suddenly, right in a meadow, hidden in the shadows of two tall oak trees, which seemed as old as time. I let go of Zain’s hand, wiping my sweaty palm on my pants, as I turned to look him straight in the eyes. They had returned to their natural color by now, his wolf tempered down.

Though his eyes searched mine frantically for something I couldn’t recognize, his expression was bland, lacking his usual smug grin, or the sly tug of his lips.

I should have felt pleased that I finally managed to wipe it off his face.

Yet, for some reason, I found myself missing the glint in his eyes whenever I meant a challenge to him, his excited smile whenever he managed to tease me into embarrassment, and the wildness to his demeanor that I knew would be impossible to tame.

My ears perked, pretending to listen for any incoming wolves, but only the dead of the night greeted me.

I swallowed a lump in my throat and spoke, breaking the increasingly insupportable silence, “So… I can only assume that you know how to get home from here.”

As soon as the words left my mouth, I berated myself for being unable to leave things on a good note, at least this once.

Zain’s eyes dropped, seemingly thoughtful, but he remained quiet.

By now, my adrenaline was through the roof, so I continued speaking, “Your friends, uhm, subordinates… uhm, or whatever you call them, must be waiting for you.”

Still nothing.

His brows furrowed this time, and his jaw clenched and unclenched multiple times, but he still seemed out of words.

Without realizing it, my mind came to crave our banter, expecting one of his retorts. When none of it came, it began to feel like a rejection. Raksha whimpered and I faked a cough to hide it away, but an ache blossomed in my chest.

I have to get out of here.

Frustrated by his silent treatment, I muttered, “Well, you’re welcome for helping you escape, King of rogues” before I began to return to the village, where most likely a hell of a scolding was waiting for me.

But my heart skipped a beat when my movement was halted, as Zain grasped my wrist in an instant. The spot where our skin touched sent shudders throughout my body, just like when I grabbed his hand previously.

“You’re welcome?” He said in a whisper, but my hearing caught wind of it anyway, “I should be the one saying that. If I weren’t there, that lust-driven brat would have marked you!”

“Huh?”, I turned to face him again, confused by the suddenness of his attitude, “Just so you know, I had everything under control at all times. Actually, I was just on the verge of beating his a*s when you came.”

“Oh, really?”, his Adam’s apple bobbed before he continued, “Were you going to beat his a*s tomorrow, too?”

Though I hated being lectured, a part of me knew that his anger was well-deserved, explaining his lack of words earlier. He was also split in two. My eyes drifted away as I couldn’t find a way to tell him the truth; That I wasn’t sure. The truth was that I had no plan for how to stop the marking ceremony that was soon to come.

And that scared the sh*t out of me.

I always, always had a plan.

By reflex, a snarky retort stood on the tip of my tongue, but the words wouldn’t come out.

Zain scoffed at my silence, his eyes widening in disbelief, “You were going to let him mark you.” He said with incredibility, his voice laced with sadness at the confirmation that he didn’t want to hear, at the implications of my intent.

The blooming ache in my chest was already taking shape into a gorgeous red rose, its thorns spreading toward my limbs and around my heart. My fists clenched at my sides when I spoke, words driven by pride and ego alone, “I wanted to spare you.” I whispered, and then the next words came out louder, with more confidence, “I didn’t want you to suffer, so I intended to reject you.” I paused, “But you wouldn’t even give me your f*cking name!”

Zain’s tone raised to meet mine, “Of course I wouldn’t!”

“Why?!” I asked, not caring anymore that we were shouting at each other, breaking the silence of the forest.

“Because I don’t f*cking want you to reject me!” Zain stepped closer, tightening his grip on my wrist as if scared that I’d back away from him. His chest was rising and falling with the intensity of his feelings, and my eyes lingered a bit too much for my liking on the way his muscles were sculpted.

He took a deep breath before speaking again, “Why are you fighting the mate bond so much, Princess? Tell me.”

“Because,” I swallowed, “your people hate my people, to the point that you mercilessly murder them.”

The thought of how my mother’s late best friend, whom I’ve been named after, had been killed by rogues right in front of her eyes passed my mind.

My eyes drifted closed, unable to look at him as I continued, “I cannot see any way that this” and I gestured with a finger between the two of us, “can bring anything else other than conflict and pain. My people will never accept you as a leader, and I can only assume that applies to yours as well.”

When I opened my eyes again, Zain’s jaw was clenched, but with a determined look, he said, “Come back with me. To my own little rogue pack.”

My left foot bent at the knee to move backward, and Zain noticed the slight movement as he continued to add, “Look, Princess, we can treat this as an experiment. A trip, if you may. I swear not to touch you until you’ve made up your mind. What’s the worst that can happen? Your father will just blame me for kidnapping you and that’s that. “

Oh, sh*t.

Raksha chuckled again, making me much too aware of her presence and how silent she’s been.

“You sly wolf”, I thought as I felt my insides burning with desire, my body urging me to follow him. He offered solutions for my fears, and now my mind was not strong enough to fight the mate bond, the thread of fate pulling taut between us.

His words somehow eased the angst that’s been coiling around my mind and it took me a second before realization dawned on me; I was not anxious about the other wolves finding us.

I was simply dreading letting go of him.