The Alpha's Blind Fate
Chapter 111: I’ll Always Stand By You

Chapter 111: I’ll Always Stand By You

ZINA

Falcon excused himself and left the room to wait for Zina outside the Temple, while Zina faced Seraph squarely, gripping the other woman’s frail shoulders in her fingers.

Zina smiled. "The Alpha King cannot do anything to me without enough cause. Besides, remember I’ve an agreement with him?" She said in an attempt to reassure the maidservant.

Only if Seraph knew that her and Daemon’s lips had been together on two occasions and much more—or perhaps less—was at stake than her life and her position.

Her heart was at stake.

Her mind was at stake.

Seraph didn’t seem convinced. She shook her head vigorously as if battling against a violent image that she had conjured up in her head. "You didn’t see how all those people died under his wolf. The Tiger Wolf’s that went up against his claim, at least a hundred of them, perished under the new Alpha King’s wolf. He is much more brutal than he looks, even much more brutal than his father or Eldric for that matter."

Zina drew back and frowned. She couldn’t believe that Daemon had allowed Seraph to witness such a thing. Despite her own reservations, she was actually curious about what Seraph had seen.

While Zina had heard tales about Unia and the Ripper, she had always thought that tales of the Ripper had been exaggerated at most. Many told about how the Ripper drank from the skull of his enemies, how he preferred ripping out the neck and heart of werewolves in war till every critical point of their bodies were severed and strewn over the battlegrounds...but Zina never thought them true.

Her reluctance to believe such tales didn’t stem out of stupidity or naivety. It stemmed from the fact that the image of Daemon she always saw contrasted heavily with those tales.

Daemon looked like the very image of comportment and control. He was neat in a way that permeated into every thing that he did, and most importantly, he carried himself with a grace that could only have originated from his royal bloodline.

Suffice to say, he didn’t look like a man that ripped people apart and chewed on their flesh. Sure, he could direct such happenings to his subordinates, but doing it himself? It certainly didn’t feel like his style.

But Seraph’s extremely fearful eyes told Zina that the girl had seen something Zina herself had never seen. And seeing that fear first hand took Zina’s mind back to her and Daemon’s first encounter in his tent when his violent nature had brewed at the surface.

The way he had slammed her against the table, the way his eyes had brimmed with intelligence soaked in menace that shone a violent shade of red.

Zina smiled again in spite of herself. "I will be fine." She reassured the maidservant who still did not look convinced.

Zina left regardless, rejoining Falcon who waited by a carriage for her. They entered it, and together, they started their silent journey to the Arctic Palace.

It was Falcon who broke the silence first. "I do not mean to pry, but do you have everything under control?"

Zina stared the man in his eyes and knew immediately what he was referring to.

Falcon was basically asking her if Daemon would come for her head for the lie she told against him six years ago. Falcon had all but found out the details of Zina’s gory journey to becoming Theta of the NorthSteed Pack after they had gotten acquainted from her suicidal affair.

On the day she had attempted suicide and Falcon rescued her, all it had taken was one close look at her guilt to decipher the internal storm that brewed in her. Falcon had always possessed a keen intelligence, so of course, he figured it out although they hardly spoke of it.

Zina smiled. "I appreciate your concern, but the Alpha King won’t do anything to me with regards to that matter."

Another silence.

"Is it because you’re his mate? Or is it because you’ve reinforced the legitimacy of his reign?"

Zina smiled shrewdly, mulling over the question with a smile touching her lips. "He is your brother so I assume you know him well, do you ever think the former would be the answer?"

"I hope so, at the same time, I hope not."

"I am almost hurt by your answer." Zina joked lightly, slightly opening the window of the carriage to peek out at the people that were going about their businesses.

Traders, peddlers, gamblers...the streets were truly alive.

The despair of Eldric’s reign of tyranny still hung in the air, but besides that despair was hope that everything would get better in due time and with the new Alpha King who everyone now chanted as the Great Beast Wolf.

Zina smiled at the scene before her, shutting the window only to be met with Falcon’s serious expression when she turned back to look at him.

It would seem as though her joke was poorly received.

"I hope not," Falcon began to explain, "because I want to assume the worst of my brother and believe that this whole affair of accepting this bond is his idea of trapping you in a bond that he doesn’t wish to wholly accept."

Zina felt bitter as the words rolled off his lips. Indeed, Falcon seemed to know his brother well.

"Why are you saying this to me?" She asked.

Falcon sighed. "I know I’ve not gone about expressing my feelings in the best way. It was wrong of me to ask you not to accept the bond when your first rejection is something I know must have left a scar on you."

Zina smiled, genuinely touched. "Thank you for apologising."

"But..." Falcon cut in almost immediately. "I am not sorry for my feelings, and I would like to express myself better for one last time."

Zina’s smile disappeared as she suddenly wished to be anywhere but there. For someone who claimed she wanted love and affection, she found she was incredibly shy whenever Falcon attempted to bare his heart... an attempt he never performed well in her opinion. But from the way he was looking so serious, like was about to announce the ending of the world, Zina knew this would be his best attempt yet.

She gulped as Falcon began to speak, either unaware of how uncomfortable she suddenly was... or perhaps he simply chose not to care.

"Zina WolfKnight," he said, abandoning formality as he breathed deeply, "I know that you’ve fears you wish to not to bare to anyone, I know they’re things that scare you despite how strong you always appear to be. I wish to be the man who can allay your unspoken fears and chase away your unspoken scares."

Zina said nothing, simply looking at him.

"I know you’ve this bond now, and I know you are afraid of rejection... his rejection. But if ever you want to take the bold step and break away from all of this, I will always be there for you just as I was four years ago that night."

"...."

"I will not deny how much Daemon means to me as my brother and childhood protector," he continued in a raw voice, "but that doesn’t mean that I can’t go against him just for you... and you don’t have to respond to me now."