Chapter 47 Worth it
ZORA
I was probably in the worst place and position anyone could be at the moment.
Surrounded by a pack of angry-looking women who were clearly offended by my absence in the suite yesterday and even more annoyed by my presence in the suite.
They didn't think I should be in the event at all or even breathing the same air as them.
More lunas joined in, enlargening the circle and increasing the number of lunas who were out for my blood. I was here because I wanted to know more about Grace, but that didn't mean that I wanted to get willingly battered by them.
So I scanned the circle for any loophole, any slim space to escape. Even if I was yet to tour the area, anywhere was better than being enclosed in their middle.
"Why on earth would Ryker bring a witch to an all wolf event?"
"I'm afraid he isn't in his right senses. She must have bewitched him, of course." Another lady replied. A gingerhead with a mean look. She had one of these gowns whose neckline was adorned by expensive mink.
"Come on, you really think Ryker would fall for her charm?" Another said in a very distinct accent from the gingerhead.
"There's a reason the wolf before us placed a ban on her kind." A calm voice with a powerful chilling impact spoke up from the back.
She didn't have to be loud to command attention. The group of Luna parted ways for the owner of the voice. A slender, slightly older woman dressed in black and silver heels approached me. She had a glass of red wine in her hand. If I thought the gingerhead looked mean, this woman looked unsettling.
She carried her shoulder with some air of haugtiness. A pride that was wicked and dominating. And condescending with the way she looked at me. I felt all of me recoil and recognized a feeling that wasn't there before start to creep up on me.
Fear.
It had to be fear. It was fear.
Her high-arched thin eyebrows seemed to never come any lower as if it had been taught to stay that way over many years of looking down on people.
"You shouldn't be here, and you shouldn't be standing!" Red wine splashed all over my face without warning. Before I could catch my breath, she shoved my shoulders forcibly, and I landed on the floor.
"You are an abomination. Ryker may have gone lenient with witches, but not me. Not the rest of us."
Someone dug their fingers into my hair and pulled the strands in an iron-like hold.
My scalp burned.
I reached for the hand that held my hair. "I'm not a witch!" I protested. "I'm not a witch!!"
"Oh, she dares to speak!" Gingerhead walked up to me and landed a slap across my face.
It resounded in my ears as the assaulted area tingled terribly.
Tears stung the back of my eyes. What I had done to piss everyone off? I wasn't a witch, but they wouldn't listen.
"Seems like it's up to us to put her in her place. Poor Ryker, who knows what she's done to him."
Hearing them talk in that manner caused some level of fury to ignite in me.
I was the victim here and not Ryker. I was the beimg held captive to a place that never saw me as their own. I was the one who's been stomped upon, rejected, and dealt a pathetic fate to suffer for no reason. Rejected by mate, hated by my family and scorned by everyone in the pack and forced to live away from the ones who showed me love at first sight.
I was the victim here and not Ryker. So, poor me!
I yanked myself from whoever was holding my hair, wincing at the pain.
Some strands might have torn off my scalp, but it was better than being held in place. I rolled off to the side and managed to stop myself from colliding into any one of them. I was still in their midst, but I was away from the ginger head, the one that had gripped my hair and the woman with the unsettling look.
Taking a wide stance, the one similar to a fight or flight mode, I glowered at each of one of them. "You do not know me. You know nothing but rumors. You have no right to call me names."
Stunned wide-eyed stares were exchanged.
The woman with the unsettling look gave me a long stare, then she burst into sudden laughter. It had not even the slightest amusement.
"Jayna," she said, taking a step towards me. "Luna Jayna."
She took another step. "Do you know why I'm telling you my name?" She asked and took another step towards me. Something flashed in her eyes, her pupil radiating a faint yellowish glow.
The rest of the lunas seemed to be moving close to me, inch by inch. The atmosphere has changed, and my instincts were picking up danger signals.
"Hmmm?" Jayna smiled. It was devilis, and it sent those danger signals blaring loudly in my head. A swift movement in her foream muscle caught my eye. It took just one blink. Yes, all I did was blin, and the next thing that happened after drove me into the wall with Jayna's half-shifted hand around my throat, crushing it.
I struggled against great strength, my eyes tearing up at my futile attempt. Life was slowly slipping out of me, I was fading in and out of blackness.
Then it stopped.
I fell to the floor with a thud, gasping for breath.
Few moments later, the Lunas dragged me across the floor and out through a back door.
I couldn't struggle with them. I was fighting to win back my consciousness. Suddenly, my feet was lifted off the floor, and my body dumped into water.
It was a confusing moment. I wasn't even given the chance to get out of near-unconsciousness before being thrown...
Off? Into?
I wasn't certain if the Lunas had thrown me off a cliff or just into a massive body of water but I fought to stay afloat, flailing my arms wildly around as I looked for something to grab onto and pull myself out.
Drenched to the bones, Jayna's far-off cackle rang in ceaselessly in my ear.
Perhaps I should have let Ryker cut them off. It was better with him. Safer. But I had a curiosity I wanted to satisfy.
Needed to.
But was Grace worth all this trouble?