Chapter 37 Another tip of the iceberg
ZARA’S POV
The hallways felt too quiet when I stepped out of Kai’s room. The silence pressed against my thoughts as if the walls were listening. I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to keep from shaking. It was not from fear. It was from everything else.
I had given myself completely to Kai during my heat. My mind had been wild. My body had been a storm he controlled with one touch. I remembered every sound that left me. Every kiss. Every breath. Every break of restraint. Every moment I surrendered because it was him.
And to think he had told someone. To think he had made me look cheap. Used.
The thought still stung like salt rubbed into an open cut.
But then I saw the truth hang from his skin like something alive. A device. A black parasite that fed on his mind and twisted his voice. Dr. Voss had done that to him. She had stolen his words. She had shaped lies with his mouth. The memory kept replaying in my head and that replay made my chest tighten even more.
I kept walking until my feet carried me into my room. The door shut behind me with a soft thud. The room smelled faintly of lavender. It felt safe, for now. The moonlight touched my sheets and cast long shadows that looked like gentle arms stretching toward me.
I sat on the bed and finally let out the breath I had been holding since I left Kai.
I pressed my palms to my face. My pulse raced. My bones hummed. My wolves paced beneath my skin, restless and angry. A few wanted comfort. Others wanted war.
“You are too quiet,” I whispered to them.
They growled back, low and deep. A warning. A promise. A vow I did not fully understand yet.
I lay back on the bed and stared at the ceiling. My mind kept drifting to Kai. His face when he realized I thought he betrayed me. The panic in his eyes. The way he held me like he was trying to keep me from falling apart.
He did not lie to me.
He did not tell anyone.
He was controlled.
Manipulated.
Used.
Just like me.
My throat tightened again. I blinked up at the ceiling, refusing to cry. I had cried enough for several lifetimes.
A soft knock came from the door.
My heart jumped, but I steadied it.
What if Dr. Voss was at the door.
I didn't think I was ready to face her at the moment.
No! She couldn't be the one.
“Come in,” I said quietly.
The door opened, and Luna stepped in. Her silver hair caught the moonlight and shimmered like something not fully human, not fully spirit. Rex followed behind her, looking unusually tense. His gaze scanned the room as if checking for any hidden eyes or ears.
Mira slipped in last, her fingers tapping against her thigh in rapid, frantic beats. They all looked like they had come straight from a war meeting.
Funny! But at the same time, not funny.
Luna’s eyes settled on me. Calm. Sharp. Ancient.
“You saw the device,” she said gently.
I nodded.
“It was inside him. Like a parasite.”
“He never told anyone what happened between you two,” Mira said, her voice barely above a whisper.
“Every rumor was planted by Dr. Voss. She used his mind like a speaker.”
My chest squeezed. I looked away.
“How do you know that?“ I questioned.
"We asked a few people.“ Mira said.
"Why would she do that?" I asked.
"What's her game play?" I thought to myself.
Luna sat beside me, her energy warm and almost motherly.
“You are not alone in this anymore. You never were.”
I swallowed hard.
“Then tell me everything. No more hints. No more half-truths.”
Rex exchanged a look with Luna. It was quick, but I caught it. A look of hesitation. A look of fear that the truth would change everything.
Luna reached out and touched my hand. Her skin was cool, yet soothing.
“Zara… what we told you before was only a piece.”
Rex stepped forward, his voice steady.
“We did not just come from another place. We came from another version of this world.”
I frowned.
“Another version?”
“Our dimension,” Luna continued.
“It held another Zara and another Kai.”
My stomach twisted. My wolves went still. Completely and unnaturally still.
I sat up straighter.
“What do you mean another Zara?”
Rex exhaled slowly.
“You lived. Kai lived. We all lived. But our world burned because of what you became. Because of what she became.”
He cast a small glance Luna's way.
“The you from our dimension lost control,” Luna said softly.
“Your wolves did not stay three. They multiplied. They consumed. They devoured. They tore holes through reality. You ripped apart the sky itself.”
My hands shook.
Luna held my gaze.
“We came here to stop that from happening again.”
My heart slammed against my ribs.
My wolves growled inside me but not out of anger. Out of recognition. Out of memory.
Luna placed her hand on my knee.
I matched her stare.
"You were me in your own dimension." I blurted out from nowhere.
Her gaze carried a pained look. It was the truth and there was no denying it.
"Yes!" She said.
“We are not here to kill you. We are here to help you. To teach you. To protect you before your power becomes something this world cannot survive.”
The air in the room felt heavy, electric, as if the truth itself altered gravity.
I took a slow breath.
“So that version of me….. You... You... I... destroyed your world.”
“Yes,” Rex answered.
“And you think I will destroy this one.”
Luna lowered her head.
“You carry the same power. The same spark. The same path. You are already changing faster than she did.”
I stared at them. My pulse thundered in my ears. My wolves pressed against my skin like they wanted to claw their way out.
My voice came out calm. Too calm.
“And if I choose not to follow your plan?” I asked.
It sounded like me but it seemed that my wolves were getting quite agitated.
Luna’s breath hitched. Mira froze. Rex tensed.
I rose from the bed slowly, my shadow stretching behind me like a dark crown.
I tilted my head slightly.
“How do you plan on stopping me?”