CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
Darius, the ever dutiful soldier that he is, jumped away from me, running to go help his friend.
“What did you do?!” Nyx shrieked in my head.
“Finished our mission. Now get ready for us to run like hell,” I snapped, grabbing a slab of meat from a nearby table.
We needed the strength.
The chaos in the hall was my perfect chance to escape. My gaze caught Darius’s for the briefest breath of time, as he balanced the alpha weight on his shoulder, before the chaos swallowed him whole.
I didn’t waste another moment before slipping into the tide of panic. I pressed forward, weaving through bodies that shoved and stumbled in confusion. Everyone was too distracted. I noticed the bride, crying quietly at the far end of the hall, as her friends gathered around her, murmuring words of comfort that she seemed too broken to hear. The Belinda girl was the one with a fan, blowing her what I assumed was hot air with how tense everywhere had become.
“That serves her right,” I muttered, seeking the nearest exit as the warriors had doubled, shouting orders around the hall.
The chaos didn't even let me catch their words clearly.
For a terrifying moment, it felt like there was no way out. The doors were blocked, warriors sealing them shut one after another.
It seemed they were scared of an external attack.
Then, at the far end of the stage, I noticed a narrow passage tucked behind the curtains. I immediately rushed over, kept my pace unhurried, as I slipped toward the passage.
“Miss Iris,” a voice called out, one foot barely crossed the line.
I turned with a smile and found myself face-to-face with a man in a dark suit.
He wore a strained smile as he carefully studied me.
“Hey, I was looking for the restroom,” I muttered, faking a smile, “I’ve had too much to drink tonight,” I jokingly laughed.
He curled his lips slightly. “I will escort you to your room, ma’am.”
“Won't that be too stressful for you? I don't wanna be a bother. Just point me in the direction of the –”
“Enforcer Darius asked me to get you back to his quarters, I'm sorry you're gonna have to hold it in,” he said, looking genuinely sorry.
I nodded, acting pleased, before leading the way out of the hall. But inside of me, I was cussing Darius out, he seemed to be a menace in my life, disrupting my plans all the time.
The guard walked me back as he'd been instructed until I walked inside.
I closed the door behind me but I realized that the guard wasn't leaving.
“Fuck, this would be more difficult than I expected,” I muttered under my breath as I took of the shoes that were beginning to hurt.
I'd hoped to be able to leave this room, head to the western border and head into the human town from there but I was currently being guarded like a criminal.
The Northern border was impossible to escape from, Darius's men patrolled it and I could smell them as I paced around the room.
“Maybe we postpone it?” Nyx whispered in my head.
“I've never known you to give up so easily, Nyx. Is this because you're still hoping on this mate crap?”
“I–”
“I've told you, we're not like normal wolves who grow up with loving parents, meet their handsome mates and they ride off into the sunset forever. We're of the Zaneer bloodline, our family and pack were massacred. And if you didn't notice, the men we're mated to already had women in their lives. For the last time, stop hoping!”
She retreated to the back of my mind, sad and miserable.
‘Oh no, I went too far,’ I thought as I began taking off my clothes.
Even if the opportunity presented itself, I'll never be able to escape without my wolf who was currently mourning because of my harsh words.
What hurt the most was that these were facts of my life, not some emotional blackmail I was piling on her. We don't get to be happy, we get to kill alphas, destroy packs and avenge our dead brother.
That thought gave me a bit of a bright bulb in my head. I didn't need to be so upset about not escaping today, their alpha is dead. Escaping would be so easy now.
With joy returning in my heart, I began to smile, heading to the bathroom to freshen up after the wild night I'd had.
For the first time in my entire existence, I felt a fulfillment of purpose. I’d succeeded in putting down the wolf whose father ruined my life. It hurt that he was my mate, but I couldn't care less about my feelings, wolves like me don’t get to have it all.
I’d just fulfilled my plans, and I was elated
The thought of how the Alpha collapsed on the stage filled me with so much joy, but it worsened Nyx’s mood.
But I was done feeling sorry for her.
“We should celebrate, Nyx,” I mocked the sulking wolf in my head. “You saw it, right? I know you did. For a moment I thought it didn’t work, that damn thing took so long to react,” I continued, not minding the pain I felt, not just from my bond with her.
But sometimes, the pain was worth the results.
I got out of the bathroom to smell a scent that I had literally just rejoiced about never smelling again outside the door.
‘Are they burying him already?’ I wondered as I put on Darius's hoody and big shorts that were too big for my waist.
But they were my guilty pleasure, his scent was stronger on them, probably because he trained in them.
But as I tightened the ropes so they don't fall off my small waist, I heard his voice.
“I need to see her,” he growled at the guard.
“But Alpha, you should be resting.”
“I will rest after I see her, move!”
Nyx jumped out of her sullen mood, wagging her tail in my head.
I rushed to the door, needing to make sure I hadn't gone crazy and was imagining him.
As I reached out to the handle, the door pushed back, nearly hitting me in the face.
“It's… you…” I mumbled, gobsmacked but he never let me finish, engulfing me in a hug.