Chapter 9: Zemirah.

Zemirah.

Everything paused as Detlef opened the door.

He walked in like the place belonged to him, made me realize with a sickening lurch, maybe he did.

This town, the road, this restaurant, perhaps they were all within his territory, how could I run from one cage to another?

He sighted me immediately, there I laid, on the couch, wrapped in Margaret's blanket, with Nandez kneeling beside me. His eyes raged with hurt and fury.

"Well, well, well." His voice soft, "My runaway slave, and she has company."

Nandez didn't get up. He remained in his position beside me.

"She's not your slave," he said quietly, "she doesn't belong to you at all."

"She's my mate.

" You rejected that the instant you threw her in that fucking dungeon." Nandez's voice was calm but firm.

"You drugged her like she was an animal used for experiment, you tied her to a chair in your dirty little torture room."

Detlef looked shocked.

"Have you been stalking me?"

"Yes, carefully. Nandez replied.

"How long has it been now?"

"Long enough." Said Nandez.

The two Alpha's looked at each other.

The restaurant felt smaller. Margaret and her husband were squeezed together against the wall, I wanted to tell them to run, but my voice wouldn't come out.

Rhode moved first, he came forward reaching for something close to his waist, it was a weapon, before he could pull it out completely, one of Nandez's men already had a blade pointed at his throat.

"Easy," Rhode said, hands up. "Just adjusting my belt."

"Adjust lower." Marco pressed the blade harder. A thin line of blood appeared

Detlef didn't even look at his Beta. His attention was fixed on Fernandez and on me.

"Give her back," Detlef said. "And I'll let you leave here peacefully."

"You'll let me?" Fernandez chuckled hypocritically. "Detlef, I could kill everyone in this room and not miss breakfast, you're aware of that, pretty much everyone knows."

It was true. I remembered the rumors about the Phoenix pack, about it's Alpha, even Detlef, thee ruthless Detlef, had agreed he couldn't go against Fernandez.

So to what end what Detlef not backing down to?

"She belongs to me." Detlef said with a note of finality. "By pack law, he father gave her to me."

"Her father sold her to you, there's a difference." Fernandez insisted.

"She came to my pack willingly."

"She was forced, there's a security footage. I've seen it."

Detlef was shocked.  "You've what?"

"I saw everything, the car ride, when you grabbed her throat, the dungeon, the omega quarters, the red room." Fernandez listed it all out, I saw the drug you gave her yesterday, I watched her almost die on that chair."

My heart shredded into tiny pieces inside. He'd seen it all, but how?

Detlef looked surprised. "You have someone inside my pack."

Fernandez chuckled- "I have several someones inside your pack."

Rhode cleared his throat like he had something to say, Detlef held a hand up, silencing him.

"How long now?"

"Years."

"Who?"

Fernandez smiled "are you dumb? What makes you think I'd tell you?"

Detlef's hands curled into fists, his face screamed defeated, a part of me wanted him broken, disappointed and most of all, I wanted him to lose everything he had, right herez right now. This wicked man who'd tortured the life out of me.

Another part of me was scared of what would happen when he did.

"Nandez." I said unconsciously, until he looked towards me. "Please can we just go?"

The fierce look on his face softened.

"We're going, Bellissima, I promise you."

"Hell yeah, you are." Detlef countered.

It suddenly happened, I couldn't track it. One second he was standing by the door, the next minute he was standing across the room, reaching out for Fernandez's throat, apparently Fernandez was smarter and faster, he caught Detlef by his wrist and twisted it, suddenly Detlef was on his knees, arm bent at an angle, it made me wince.

"Three years," Fernandez said. "Three damn long years I've waited for an excuse to do this."

"Go ahead then." Detlef's voice was strained. "Take my life, see the repercussions."

"What's going to happen if your pack falls apart, your half takes charge, and I absorb the remnants into my territory."

Nandez twisted harder. Detlef grunted. "You aren't irreplaceable, Det."

No one is.”

"Then what's stopping you?"

Fernandez didn't answer.

Detlef laughed, even though he was in pain. "That's what I thought, you're scared of what happens if you step out of your territory, afraid of the council, afraid of-"

"I'm not scared of you."

"No. You're afraid of being me."

The words struck a nerve, I noticed from the way Nandez's grip faltered, for a moment. Detlef use that opportunity to untwist his arm, scrambling backwards, his second hand supporting his injured arm.

Rhode tried to move again, Marco blade pressed harder.

Stop Everyone!" Fernandez caught himself, stepped back, he held up a hand, and his men relaxed slightly. "This isn't how I envisioned this meeting.

"Envisioned what?" Detlef's breath was hitched. "What exactly do you need from me, Fernandez?"

I want her." He pointed at me, barely even looking at me. "I've wanted her since before you even knew about her existence. I want her safe. I want her happy, I need her to you'll never be able to reach."

The two Alpha's stood still, just staring at each other.

Detlef's eyes moved to me, like really looked at me, and for the first time, he looked less cruel.

"Do you know him?" It was a rhetorical question.

A part of wanted to lie, shaken my head and deny, pretend to protect myself. But I was so exhausted from lying, very tired of hiding.

"Yes I do."

"How?"

I didn't respond, but my face gave me away, because Detlef looked at me in a kind of way, I guess he kinda realized or it prolly just dawned on him.

"The nightstand," he breathed. " The one you told a lie about, the zero you claimed, it was him!"

I said nothing.

Detlef laughed a horrible sound, he sounded broken and bitter. "Three years, you've been searching for her, and she ended up with me, of course she did, of course."

"Rate had a crazy sense of humor." Fernandez said, voice flat

"Fate?" Detlef shook his head. "You think this whole bullshit is fate? This is a fucking trap, a setup, someone planned this.

"Watch your damn language!" Fernandez fired back.

Det hissed. "That's what you're bothered about?"

"No one planned-"

"Someone in my pack, someone in yours, this is no coincidence." Detlef eyes were filled with certainty.

"Think about it, she appears at a pack gathering I intended not to attend.

Her father's annoys me, I request for her specifically, even though I'd never met her before in my life. Now you show up, three years after she disappeared from your bed, to claim her."

I badly wanted to tell him he was wrong, that it was just a coincidence, but the way he laid it out made me speechless.

Fernandez was silent for a long moment then: "you think someone's playing us?"

"I think someone's been playing us for many years now. And it's obvious she's the prize."

"That's- " I began, but my voice cracked.

They both turned to look at me. Two Alpha's, two predators, and here I was- the prey, caught in between them.

"She needs medical attention," Fernandez said finally. "The drug you injected her with-"

"It wears off in a few hours. She'll be fine."

"Fine?" Fernandez's voice rose." She was convulsing on that chair, she passed out in the street, that's your definition of fine?"

Detlef looked sober. "I didn't mean for-"

"You didn't mean for what? To hurt her? To leave her broken? Because that's all you've done since she fell into your hands." You took a woman who'd never harmed you in any way and you destroyed her, for what? Validation? To punish her father? To prove you had the will to?

"I had my reasons."

"Tell me then."

"No!"

"Say it now, or I swear to the goddess I'll end you right here."

The atmosphere in the restaurant was tense, Margaret's husband had his arm around her, both of pale and shaking. Rhode stood still, Marco's blade, still pointed at his throat. Fernandez's mean were waiting, all tensed and at alert.

Detlef looked at me again.

"Because I couldn't stop myself from thinking about her."

"What? Fernandez's voice sounded sharp.

"I'd seen her at a gathering, three months ago before her father approached me, she was laughing at something one of her friends said, and I couldn't look away, I tried to stop thinking about her face, her voice, her carefree laughter, the way she gesticulated."

Detlef sounded reluctant, like he was under duress to speak.

" I left for my pack and she was still there, in my mind everyday, I couldn't sleep, I barely focused on anything, I couldn't fuck anyone else without imagining it was her."

I stared at him. I didn't see the ruthless Alpha, this wasn't the monster who once choked me, hit me and locked me in a dungeon. This was someone else, he was almost unrecognizable.

"So her father came pleading," Detlef continued, "I asked for her, not because I wanted to harm her, or punish her father, I just wanted her around me, I wanted to see if being close to her would kill the obsession.

"Well did it?" Fernandez asked calmly.

Detlef let out a hollow laugh, "it worsened it, everything about her- the way she smells, the way she talks back, the way she looks at me like I'm a piece of trash, I can't stop, I can't stop wanting her and I can't even stop hating her for making this want her this bad.

I felt sick, all these while, all the hostility, the cruelty, the violence, was a facade hidden under love? From an attraction he had no power over?

"You're pathetic, you need therapy," Fernandez spat.

"I know."

"And you think that justifies what you've done to her?"

"No, it doesn't." Detlef's eyes met mine. "Nothing justifies it, I'm know that.”

I wanted to say something, wanted to yell at him, hit him, make him feel even a fraction of what I had felt in that dungeon, in that fucking red room, tied to that chair, but I could only move, I could not speak, I just sat there, wrapped in a strangers blanket, caught between these two men who both claimed to want me desperately.

Fernandez moved back to my side, he knelt down, taking my hand.

"Bellissima." Look at me."

I did.

"I'm going to take you out of here, we're going to my pack, my own territory, when he will no touch you, but I need you to be honest with me, is that what you want?"

I looked at Det, he stood alone, with his arm injured, face pale, for a moment, I felt pity for him, he really looked broken and defeated.

"Yes, please," I whispered. " I want to go with you."

Fernandez nodded, he got up, pulled me gently to my feet, Margaret's blanket fell away revealing the lingerie I had on, in front of everyone.

Marco moved without being asked, handing his jacket over to Nandez, Nandez wrapped it around my shoulders, carefully and gently.

"We're leaving now." Fernandez said to Det. "Don't try to stop us."

Detlef didn't respond.

"If you trail us, if you as much as, try to take her back, I'll burn your pack down to the ground, every wolf, every building, there won't be any memory of you left, I'll erase you from the history of wolfdom, do you understand?"

Detlef nodded in consent.

"Say it!"

"I understand."

"Good." Fernandez put his arm around my waist, guiding me towards the door. "We're done here."

We walked past Detlef, past Rhode, the broken windows and the shattered glass, Margaret caught my eye as we passed, and I mouthed "I'm grateful." She nodded once.

Outside, the cool night breeze hit me, it smelled like my freedom. A line of black SUVs waited, engines running, Wolves in black stood on guard

Fernandez helped me into the back one, climbed and sat beside me, the door closed and we moved before I could even catch my breath.

"No need to panic, you're safe now."

I wanted to just believe his words

But as the restaurant disappeared between us, I couldn't shake off, the look on Detlef's face, when I'd chosen Nandez. That broken, Empty look.

It had no difference from what I felt inside me.