Claiming Emerald: Four Alphas At Her Feet
Chapter 42: Whose Scent???

Chapter 42: Whose Scent???

Pain.

It came first, sharp, slicing through the fog of unconsciousness like a blade. Emerald groaned, her eyelids fluttering open to blinding sunlight and the violent sound of crunching metal and groaning steel.

Her vision swam as she tried to make sense of her surroundings.

Half of her body was dangling out of the shattered passenger-side window, glass embedded in her forearms and the biting wind whipping at her exposed skin.

The car was tilted at a treacherous angle, part of it hanging over the edge of the hill. The trees below looked miles away, and the drop... fatal.

Her heart leapt to her throat.

"Fuckk!" she gasped. "Someone there?!"

A sickening smell made her gag, and she turned her head, only to scream.

The driver was dead, impaled through the chest with a broken metal rod, his lifeless eyes staring ahead in a grotesque silence. Blood soaked through his uniform, pooling under his seat.

Her scream echoed through the woods.

"Emerald! Don’t move!" came a familiar voice, distant but commanding.

She tried to twist around, her arms trembling. "Uncle Darius?!"

"I’m here!" Darius’s voice grew louder as he reached the edge of the drop. "You’re okay, do you hear me? But don’t move. You’re offsetting the balance of the car."

"I—" She gasped, tears streaming down her face. "It’s going to fall. I can feel it sliding..."

"Emerald," he cut her off with that calm Beta voice he used to use when she was a kid with scraped knees. "Look at me. Just look at me. I need you to stay still. I swear we’re going to get you out, but you can’t panic."

Her body was shaking. But she listened, nodding subtly.

She froze in place, one arm hanging limp over the side of the cliff, the other braced awkwardly against the dashboard. "I can’t... Darius, I think this is it."

"It’s not." His voice was firmer now. "Listen to me. I’ve already got men securing a rope. We’re going to tie it around you and get you out. You just have to hold still."

Voices shouted around her. Someone tossed a line down. A soldier slid partially onto the hood, tying the rope around the centre beam before handing the thick length to another guard.

"Catch, Alpha!" one of the scouts called out.

She blinked tears away as a rope dropped beside her. With shaky fingers, she grabbed it, pulling it close and tying it around her waist, securing it just under her arms.

"Ready!" someone shouted.

The car groaned louder, metal shifting beneath her.

"Jump, Emerald!" Darius yelled.

Her breath caught.

Then she pushed.

The instant she left the car, the weight shifted completely. She heard it: metal screeching, glass shattering... and then it fell.

The vehicle plummeted down the cliff, crashing against rock and tree until it vanished in a cloud of dust and snapping branches.

Emerald gasped as she swung hard toward the rock face, but the rope held. Pain laced through her ribs as the tension caught, and then she was rising, slowly, steadily, pulled up by trembling arms and panicked hands.

When they finally got her up and over the ledge, she collapsed to the ground, sobbing in gasps as the adrenaline wore off.

"You’re alright," Darius murmured, kneeling beside her and pressing a bottle of water into her hand. "You’re okay, Emerald. Just breathe."

She drank in slow, greedy gulps, her fingers trembling.

"I want a full sweep," Darius barked to the guards. "Check for tampering. Check for signs. Someone knew where we’d be."

Another scout nodded. "We’ll get another vehicle from the estate immediately."

"Double our perimeter while we wait," he added. "We don’t take chances from here on out."

Emerald didn’t respond. She was too focused on the ringing in her ears. Her head throbbed, her chest ached, and every muscle in her body felt bruised.

Eventually, someone opened the door to one of the backup vehicles, ushering her inside to rest. Emerald slid in slowly, her fingers wrapped around the water bottle like a lifeline.

The door shut quietly behind her, giving her a brief moment of solitude.

Or so she thought.

The opposite door opened.

She turned, expecting Darius.

It wasn’t.

Her entire body locked up as The Rogue King stepped into the car and closed the door behind him, as calmly as if he belonged there.

Emerald’s breath caught. "No. No. No..."

No one outside seemed to notice what was happening. No one paid attention. No one saw him.

She glanced out the window and saw Darius just a few feet away, giving orders, but he didn’t turn to look her way.

No one did.

The Rogue King turned his head toward her, golden eyes already roaming her face. "Rough morning?"

"What are you doing here?" she hissed, her voice still hoarse from screaming. "How are you even here?"

He didn’t answer that. Of course not.

"Get out," she snapped. "Now."

His gaze didn’t move. "You almost died. I warned you to be careful."

"You think that was my fault?" she spat. "You think this is about me?"

His gaze darkened. "Everything about you is about me."

"Just because my father promised something doesn’t mean I’m yours," she growled. "I’m not a prize, or a token..."

"But you are mine," he said simply. He leaned closer, brushing a piece of hair from her face. "Whether your father spoke it or not."

She slapped his hand away. "You don’t own me."

"Don’t I?" he whispered, eyes flaring.

He reached for her again, slower this time, and brushed her hair aside to admire the mark... his mark.

His gaze dropped to it, and his lips curved ever so slightly.

But then, he inhaled, and something shifted.

His eyes sharpened; his fingers froze. His nostrils flared again. "What is that?"

Emerald stiffened.

He leaned in closer. "Whose scent is this?"

"I... I don’t know what you’re talking about."

His hand snapped to her jaw, not hard, but firm. "Don’t play with me, Emerald. I can smell it. Another male. Recent."

She yanked her face away, glaring. "It’s none of your business."

"It is exactly my business," he hissed. "You bear my mark. And yet you let someone else touch you."

Her pulse roared in her ears. She looked toward the front, hoping someone might notice, might intervene. But no one did.

He smiled coldly. "They can’t see me. Not unless I want them to. This moment belongs to us."

Her stomach turned. "You’re insane."

His voice dropped lower, sounding like a threat. "If you let anyone else near you again... you will be responsible for what I do to them."

Her breath caught.

"I will find him," he whispered. "Whoever put his scent on you. And I will tear him apart."