Chapter 6 “The Claim Before the Collapse”
"You should not have come here."
Marco's voice was soft. Too soft, as if this wasn't a locked room in an Alpha's territory.
I stepped backwards. My pulse was beating so hard that it hurts. "You are not supposed to be alive."
He smiled, "And yet, here I am."
My wolf lost it in that moment. It was not out of fear, but recognition and that was far worse.
"You need to leave now, if Vince finds you here...."
"He already knows," Marco cuts in calmly.
My stomach dropped, I stepped back. "No... he would have...."
"He is not the all seeing, Isabella," Marco said, stepping closer. "He is just powerful."
"Stop saying my name like that." I said.
"Like what?" He asked, eye brow raised.
"Stop calling my name like you own it."
He blinked, exhaled and his lips curl backwards. "I don't own you," he said. "Atleast not yet."
My heart thumps hard on my chest. "What do you want?" I demanded.
He stopped just a few steps away from me, close enough that I could see the faint scar across his jaw and close enough that my wolf pressed forward restless inside.
"You already know," he said.
"No....no I don't." I swallowed hard.
"Yes, you do." His gaze dropped to my hands. "You felt it when your blood touched his."
Everywhere starts to feel smaller, while my breath completely stopped. His words echoed in my head again.
"He is going to bind you and turn you into a throne." He continued.
"But...but he said he would stabilize things."
Marco laughed, amused at my words.
" Stability?" He echoed. "Is that what he told you? That turning you into a leash for every Alpha in North America will bring stability?"
I opened my mouth. "That is not...."
But he cuts me with his hand up in the air. "He doesn't want peace," Marco said, cutting me off. "He wants control."
"And you don't?" I snapped.
Something changed in his eyes for a second, just a second. For the first time, I thought I saw honesty.
"I want freedom," he said quietly.
"By burning everything?" My voice shook as I replied. "Rafael said...."
"You should know by now that he is a strategist," Marco interrupted again. "He plays games inside systems."
"And what about you?" I asked, crossing my arms together.
"I break them." He shrug.
A long silence stretched between us. My mind raced through our conversation. Vince wants to bind me, Rafael wants to reshape the system, while Marco wants to destroy it.
And me?
I don't even know what I want.
Again, Marco stepped closer. "Your father did not raise you to be owned by anyone."
I rose my head up. "Don't talk about him."
"But he rewrote the compacts for you," Marco said, ignoring me. "He rewrote it for this moment."
"You are lying!" My throat went dry.
"Why did he hide you?" He pressed further. "Why did he trained you to suppress your scent like you were a weapon instead of his daughter?"
"Stop."
"Why did he promise you to me?"
"Stop!" My voice cracked as I placed my hand on my ear. I hate the fact that he could put me in this condition. Where I am weak and vulnerable.
The walls felt like they were closing in on me.
"He knew what you were," Marco said. "And he knew the only way to protect you was to place you where no power would touch you."
I laughed slightly, "With you? The man everyone fears?"
"Yes."
Another wave of silence fell in that moment. It was tensed and my hand twitched a little from how uncomfortable the silence seemed.
"Why?" I asked, breaking the silence.
"Because I don't pretend that power is kind."
His words hits too hard and deep down I knew he was saying the truth.
A knock slammed hard against the door, it was urgent.
"Alpha!" A voice shouted from outside. "We have got movement on all the boarders..."
Marco did not even look at the door, his eyes held mine with so much intensity.
"Time is not on my side," he said.
"You need to go." I said, while my heart raced.
"I did not come here to run." He replied.
"Then why are you here?"
He held one of my arm and a tingling sensation ran down my spine, while my breathing became heavy because of the absence of air.
"I am here to take you." He said.
Everything in me froze that moment. I let go of my hand and step back a little.
"No," I said instantly.
"You don't belong to him and you know it." He said calmly.
"I don't belong to you either." I countered back.
"That is where you are wrong." He said, the smirk growing wider.
The door shook again and this time it was louder. "Alpha! We need..."
"Go away," Marco said calmly.
The voice outside stopped speaking. It was silence and this was no natural silence, it seemed forced.
My wolf starts to growl low.
"What did you do?" I whispered.
He gave no answer. He stepped even closer, so close that I could feel his heat.
"Listen to me," he said. "If you stay here, he is going to bind you."
"I will not let him." I said.
The ground shook before he could say anything. A distant explosion echoed through the compound and this time, I felt it.
The walls vibrated and the lights hung across the walls starts to flicker.
The alarms went off and Marco eyes moved towards the ceiling. "They are early," he murmured.
"Who?"
He looked back at me but before he could give a response, another explosion rocked through the compound again and it was closer than the last.
The door behind him moved inward. "Alpha DeLuca!" several voices shouted. "They breached the outer wall!"
"Your shield is cracking." He said, pointing forward.
I take a step back and the reality dawn on me immediately.
"You did this...."