The Alpha's Blind Fate
Chapter 273: The Wastelands

Chapter 273: The Wastelands

ZINA

"We have found him."

Zina stilled on hearing the words, her heart beating erratically. The first thought that came to her was that the man threatening Daemon with the missing Ten Million Grams of gold must have been caught, although she was yet to understand why she would be feeling anxious over such a fact that was a thing of glee to say but the least.

Both Theo and Daemon gave Shadow their full attention while the mysterious man tugged down the hood of his cloak revealing his impassive face and eyes that seemed to have seen the worst in the world.

"Who?" Daemon asked sharply.

"The Red Wolf." Came Shadow’s chilly answer that froze Zina for different reasons. The vision she saw while lost in Kairos’ blue eyes slammed into her all at once.

The man had been there too. Even without his masquerade mask, Zina had recognised him from his unnatural red hair. It was a wonder how she had never met the man in reality, but had seen him twice in her visions.

First was in a past vision when he spoke with Freya words that Zina never heard but she imagined were conspiratorially. Second was in a possible future vision where he stood by her side. Well, not her side but by the side of the woman who bore her face and controlled the staff that in turn controlled a vast number of Deformed Werewolves.

The second vision gave her the chill—the fact that that man was possibly related to her. When he had shifted from his red wolf form to his human form, Zina had realised that while he certainly wasn’t young, he was far from old. He was well built, possessing eyes that were both dark and haunting, and he didn’t seem to be more than forty.

But those bleak eyes of his had looked at Zina with a fondness that was truly nauseating. The kind of fondness a master had for his pet. And in that case, Zina... no, the woman that bore her face was the pet, and he the master.

Anger overtook her at her errant thoughts. She needed to stop referring to that woman as her. She was never anything like that, she could never hurt Daemon like that.

Never.

"...Is someone trailing him?" Daemon asked jolting Zina from her wandering thoughts and fears. While lost in her visions, she realised that Daemon had been questioning Shadow all the while.

"Yes, someone is. However this man somehow disappears whenever he is passing through No Man’s Land."

"Somehow disappears?" Daemon asked with a frown.

"I do not know how to explain it, but I believe sorcery is involved. We haven’t been able to track down his base yet."

"Have the Night Mages come see me." Daemon commanded, his expression dark. "Forget about that," he added after a thought, "I have matters to deal with at the wastelands, I shall use the opportunity to go and see them."

Zina swallowed, and before she could stop herself she spoke for the first time. "Must the Night Mages be involved?"

All eyes turned to her, and while she could bear their stares, she could feel Shadow’s particularly weighing her.

It didn’t normally bother her, but with the people close to Daemon, she found that she cared way too much for what they thought about her. It was the same with Yaren, and particularly even worse with Shadow who was so close to Daemon, and at the same time, never seemed to spare her a glance or a shred of his attention in any form.

When she wouldn’t clarify herself any further, Daemon spoke. "Any reason why you think I should not use them?"

"I...I..." she began to stutter, but stopped midway before she embarrassed herself any more than she had already done.

"I don’t mean that. But in view of their greed and uncouth demands, I would think it is better we found a different alternative than to use them."

"We fight sorcery with sorcery, Zina." Daemon said, his voice soft and yet stern, "I have other matters to attend to, we will finish our tour another day. Shadow will escort you back."

What?

"I can return back on my own." Zina said strongly, hoping that her voice didn’t betray her nervousness.

Three pairs of eyes rooted her in place anew, and the feeling that she was being a pest and a bother caused her to sweat.

"I will be taking Malik Zorch with me, Zina." Daemon explained, "Shadow will have to escort you back."

Zina swallowed the remainder of her objections down realising that she was being foolish and a bother at such a serious time.

Even though Daemon hadn’t said it, she was sure that Shadow was also returning back to run some errands for him. And while she might want to escort Daemon, she also knew that he wouldn’t allow her to visit the wastelands. Zina herself didn’t want to be at such a place in fact. After what Sybril told her about the Night Mages, she wasn’t sure she would be able to control herself was she to stand before such a vast number of them.

Mustering a smile, she said. "In that case, please don’t stay out too late. The second tournament is starting tomorrow after all, so you must come back and rest."

Daemon simply nodded, and the fact that he didn’t smirk or show some of his usual shenanigan behaviour slightly unsettled her. She knew that the matter of hunting down the man with the masquerade mask was one that Daemon took seriously ever since Freya Fergus approached them, but Zina was smart enough to know that it was something more than just that.

In fact, she had always had a feeling that the man with the masquerade mask whom Zina believed might be related to her origins somehow might in fact, be related to the case of Daemon’s mother.

Theo shot her a smile while bidding her farewell and telling her that he hoped to see her again. Shadow led her out of the building, while they trekked the long path to where their carriage was stationed.

On getting there, Zina realised that the fifty something guards that escorted them had thinned down to forty guards including Ablanch. Malik herself was nowhere to be found and Ablanch communicated the same, informing Zina that the remaining guards had been summoned by Daemon to the back of the building through the Pack Link.

Shadow must have misread her somber expression for he explained. "The wastelands is a rough place, I believe his majesty should have taken more than just ten of his guardsmen."

Rough place? Zina, indeed, had heard of the Wastelands and how it was a hive for rogues and the worst of miscreants. Then she remembered that Daemon was still adjusting to his two wolves, and as such, couldn’t shift in the meanwhile. She hadn’t even thought that far.

"Then we must let him move with more guards." She said with a voice tinged with slight panic.

What if something bad were to happen to him? She highly distrusted the Night Mages, for all she knew they could be plotting to harm Daemon somehow. Especially Norima Talga, the daughter of the leader. Zina still couldn’t forget the banquet where the lady had worn green and all but made her interest in Daemon known to all.

"His majesty doesn’t like moving with a crowd." Was Shadow’s only response. Zina wondered if the man knew of the fact that Daemon had claimed the Arctic Wolf and was still adjusting to possessing two wolves. Considering how close they were, Zina was almost sure that the man knew. So if he was still this confident of Daemon’s safety, then Zina might just be underestimating Daemon and his small company.

Malik Zorch on her own didn’t seem like an ordinary woman either.

With Ablanch’s help, Zina climbed into the carriage and started the cold journey back to the castle of ice with Ablanch driving the carriage and Shadow leading their steps on his horse.

It was on their way back that Zina realized that she and Daemon had in fact journeyed far away from the Ice Castle to the very outskirts of the city.

Of course, being in the carriage with Daemon meant that time flew past them while she was paying attention only to him.

Now returning back as the only one in the carriage, Zina tried to drift into deep sleep as a way to pass time and put her mind to rest, especially her chaotic thoughts. She was in the middle of doing just that when Ablanch’s routine announcement drifted to her.

"We are approaching the IceSavage Pack lands," The Temple Warrior announced in his normal gruff voice.

Just as his announcement came, a silver arrow was shot through the carriage, narrowly missing her face by a few inches. The arrow nailed the wall of her carriage with a stunning force, while Zina panted hard, staring wide eyed at the weapon that would have maimed her. And then her world dissolved into animated chaos.

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