Selara's POV
"Our Alpha wants to see you."
The words sent a chill down my spine. So he'd finally returned.
I slowly rose to my feet, the chains rattling. Hope and relief warred in me now, harder and stronger than they had ever done, but I was quick to shove them down to the depths of my soul. There was no guarantee that whoever this Alpha was, he would be kind to a fallen Luna.
They unhooked the chains from the wall, and left the shackles on my wrists, and they dragged me up the stone stairs, out of the dungeon, while I struggled to fight the flaring hope in my chest. Hope brings expectations, and expectations often bring disappointment, and I knew how crushing disappointment would be to me right now.
The sudden brightness of the outside world made my vision blur.
The air was colder here, sharper, I felt it caressing deep in my bones.
The place was alive with the scent of wolves.
They pushed me into the mansion, and then we walked through long stone corridors until we reached a large wooden door.
One of the guards knocked once.
Then pushed it open.
"Alpha Darian," he said. "We brought the girl."
I was shoved forward. Alpha Darian. The name hadn't quite registered yet until I lifted my head. And then I froze.
I recognized the man standing in the center of what seemed like a throne hall, a few feet away from the dais.
Tall. Broad-shouldered. Dark hair falling slightly over sharp, unforgiving eyes, a lock curling like a sinful C, almost covering one eye like a patch--Darian Draxen. The rogue Alpha, the one man who refused to be part of the lycan council and lived to be able to keep that decision.
His eyes met mine as I was shoved into the room, and a faint, amused smile appeared slowly on his lips.
He strolled forward, carrying with him the strength of his powerful body, his strides slow and deliberate, like a predator waiting to pounce. He looked clean in a Henley shirt and jeans, but the wild aura was well reflected in the smile he approached me with.
"Well," he said calmly. "It seems fate has delivered something interesting to my doorstep, a Luna."
I had never really seen him in person, but in The Werewolf Times, the lycan council's equivalent of a newspaper, and always on the front page of every paper was a new headline announcing another of his numerous atrocities and notorieties.
And yet, no one, not the Lycan council, with the strength of a hundred Alphas, could stop him.
He stopped right before me. So close, too close, that his breath warmed my forehead.
And for reasons I didn't know, my voice seemed to falter no matter how hard I tried to force it steady. "Let me go. Alpha Darian." I said to him.
He leaned down to me until his face was directly against mine.
There was a dangerous air around him that startled me, but I fought every need to look startled by him. So I stood firm, while he quietly studied my face, with piercing gray eyes, amusement curling his lips.
When he finally spoke, his voice was calmer than before. "Why should I let you go, Luna Selara, when I can think of a hundred things to do with a slave like you?"
"What do you mean. I am not a slave." I yelled.
The amusement in his lips grew, and he leaned back, nudging his eyes to the chains around my ankles and wrist as if it was supposed to explain something.
"Your men put them on me," I screamed, mortified. How could he call me a slave?
Amusement spread to his eyes, and he brushed his thumb on his lips as he spoke. "Because you are a slave. And I have earned the right to keep you."
"You can't. I am an important member of the council. You lock me up, and you'll have the council to deal with." I swore.
Considering his reputation, that wasn't exactly a threat like I made it seem, but I had to say something.
The lazy twist of his lips told me what he thought of the threat.
"You would have to do better than that, Luna Selara." he paused, a long drawl on my name, while he walked around, circling me, forcing me to turn to keep him in view. "Or shall I say the fallen Luna. You and I know I don't fear the council. And from what I know of those old geezers. They wouldn't bat an eyelid against anything that doesn't affect their pockets or power directly."
I bit down on my lips, brows tight as I watched him. he wasn't wrong. Those old Alphas of the council cared about no one except themselves, and the young Alphas were no better.
His eyes strayed low, to linger at the bloodied gash on my feet. I thought I saw his brows squished for a moment before he released them, and lifted his head to make me a tight smile.
"So what do you want from me, Alpha Darian?" I bit out the words cautiously. From what I have heard of him, that was the only thing he was ever interested in—negotiating, until the other party pawned off his soul.
He brushed up his smile, looking exactly like the devil he was claimed to be. "The question isn't what I want, it is what can a fallen Luna like you offer, Selara, that I might want."
"Money," I didn't think twice about that. I would gladly give back all I had to get back to Sylas and get a chance to bury him. "Take me back to my home, and I will give you all my—"
"You're forgetting something, Selara." He said. He brushed his thumb across his lips slowly, eyes teasing.
"And what is that?" I demanded.
"I don't need your money, or anyone's, for that matter. I have plenty of it." He threw his arms around, gesturing at the luxury in his throne room.
I got the message clearly. He was just like they said he is—a devil. "Then what do you want?" I demanded, almost yelling, my tone bitter.
"You," He said. No pause, no rethink. Just like he meant it. "I want you as my slave."
It took a minute to get my throat cleared and my heart to calm. "I am afraid that isn't going to happen."
His lips parted for a reply, when he suddenly stopped. He staggered back, clutching his chest so tight like he wanted to yank his heart out.
His face contorted in extreme pain. He tried to fight it, holding it down with bulging cheeks, but it rang out, an agonizing scream of pain that soaked into the air in a way that sent shivers rippling through me.
"It's happening again, one of the men around screamed." Rushing in fast to catch Darian. "Get the doctor, get the doctor." He screamed.
Immediately, every guard in the hall dashed out of the place, as if they were being chased.
Suddenly, no one cared about me, no one paid me even a glance. This was the perfect opportunity to escape, yet, like a fool, I remained on the spot I was, watching as the man who had proven impossible to kill, slowly succumbed to death from within him, while I debated with myself... Should I help?