“I… Uhm… that is…” I pointed to the bed and withdrew my hand, returning it to my hair. My feeble eyes flickered to his neutral ones and promptly looked down, unable to bear his attitude after what he had just done.
No remorse. No apology.
“Danika, have you been-” he paused and hurried deeper into the room. He went to the bed and bent over it as if searching for something. What is he looking for?
Seemingly not seeing what he was looking for at the bed, he went to the settee and skimmed, same with the vanity table. By now, he was looking highly exacerbated.
He snapped to me, “Close the damn door and come in here.” I quietly shut the door and went to meet him, taking note to maintain eye contact.
“Were you trying to kill yourself?” he demanded in a flat tone, not the least coming off perturbed.
“No, Alpha.”
He pinched his eyes closed and balled his fist, his lips tightened as if he was holding back from doing something awful to me, “Do not fucken lie to me, Danika or I swear to Gad I will… I will…” he trailed off, letting out a deep growl.
“I swear by the moon, I wasn’t trying to kill myself!” I exclaimed for the first time.
He faltered in his motion. And slowly began pivoting toward me.
“I’m sorry for my tone, Alpha. I didn’t mean to yell at you. I was just… I was just. I was hurt when you-”
“I don’t care how you feel, Danika. Don’t you get it? This,” he indicated to us, “means nothing to me. I am the one who deserves pity for having to bear the burden of putting up with a burden like you, don’t you still comprehend it?”
“I am sorry!” I blurted hastily with a heavy heart, “Please don’t say these things, you don’t mean them. What have I done to deserve this?”
“You did everything wrong, Danika. You did everything wrong from the moment you became my mate.”
“Then you should have rejected me,” I deadpanned, “You wouldn’t be first to. Liam did, so you should have spared yourself the burden.” I don’t know where this boldness came from, but I allowed it reign. “You should have left me to die, rather than save me and now you want me to suffer more than I could ever have back there. You slept with another woman!”
“You have gained boldness to challenge me.”
“I am your mate!” I grated, recalling Lance’s admonishment at the lobby.
“Danika!”
“Kill me. Or reject me. I am tired of everything I have to go through because of things I have no control over!”
“Danika!”
“Just do it! I don’t fucken care anymore. I will go out there and face whatever it is. I will rather die out there than remain with someone like you who has no regard for the bond we share. What do I have to live for anyway? My life is already at your mercy. You have no plan of keeping me alive if you are going to go around whoring!”
He was at me the next minute, his oversized hand circling my neck and choking me so hard my eyes swarmed.
I hit his chest, pushed, and pulled, so he would let go. Nothing. I kicked at his calf hoping the pain would bulk him. Still nothing.
I lost the fight as my eyes began fluttering close and my breathing became more labored. I smiled victoriously. Finally, I am going to rest from all this torture. It’s for the best.
However, my life looks like a roller coaster and was starting to feel like one. The goddess is surely having pleasure at my expense. One minute she is bringing death to my doorstep, and then next she is giving me salvation.
I crumpled on the ground as my mate’s hand released me. I heard distant sounds that I didn’t pay attention to since I was still choking on the ground.
A hand soon engulfed me and lifted me. My weary eyes flickered up and caught a blurry sample of what I deduced to be Lance’s sunburned hair. I grinned widely and allowed myself snooze. Finally, I am home.
A shrilling sound was what woke me up. I winced in pain and cringed away when I felt the ache below my jaw. My hand went to it before I heard a deep male baritone and padding feet leaving the room.
I grumbled and opened my eyes, meeting the white roof boards. I shortly snapped it close when the sharp lights hit me.
“Gad damn you, Lance. You want to blind me?” I grilled humorously sitting up from what I assumed to be a bed. In trepidation, I looked about. When did I come back to my room? Our room. And where is that lug of a man?
Lance came back in, his special smile creeping up his mug when he saw me.
“I’m glad you are awake.”
“Were you thinking I will die?” I asked flippantly, standing up to locate my flip-flops. “Newsflash, death is my neighbor and we are cozy.”
“I’m glad too that your sense of humor has returned,” he affirmed, bending to help me produce my slippers.
“What are you doing here by the way? Where is the Alpha?” I asked in bewilderment, my eyes still roaming the room as if expecting Alonso to materialize.
He halted his movement and looked up at me, with skepticism. “You don’t remember,” he intoned more than asked.
“Remember what?” I widened my eyes at him.
“What happened last night.” He stood, the flip-flops falling at my feet.
I strained my mind back to yesterday on pretense. I recollect exactly what happened. How could I not remember my mate cheating, and afterward attempting to kill me?
“Danika.”
“What? I don’t remember anything.” I waved him off, shifting to the edge of the bed, meaning to use the restroom. “Look, Lance, whatever it is that happened, I am sure it is in the past now. I don’t care anymore. Maybe there is a reason I can’t recall it.”
“The Dr. said you were having a power attack.”
“What is that?”
“It means you were maybe using your powers, and it affected your mate.”
“Why did it affect him?” I asked out of curiosity.
“Did you use your powers yesterday?” His brows knitted together as they accessed me.
I cocked my head to the side, knowing I couldn’t lie to him even if I wanted to. “It was just a tiny practice. I couldn’t sleep,” I confessed, pouting my lips at him.
He exhaled and sat beside me. “Alonso is an Alpha King who has been without a mate for a very long time. You are a powerful she-wolf that happens to be a Hybrid. You are not mated, and the bond is strong. When you had practiced probably for the first time in your life, it has affected him adversely. That was why he had acted rashly towards you. He would have killed you if I hadn’t come in.”
“You don’t need to tell me.” I sniffed, as tears gathered at the back of my eyes. “I told you he hates me.”
“Which is why I am telling you why he did what he did. He was under manipulations of your powers that has only worked negatively against him because of your bond.”
“So you mean to tell me that anytime I use my powers in the future that he would try to kill me-if not kill me?”
“No!” His eyes drilled holes at me. “I am only telling you that he didn’t mean what he did. He would never hurt you intentionally. He is bound to protect you and not-”
“I am starting to think you are trying to manipulate me too. How can you say that after he cheated on me?”
“It was a moment of relapse, please forgive him.”
“I don’t want to do this anymore, Lance. I want to be happy. I want to go out there and suffer to earn my freedom if I have to. I would prefer that over having to suffer from the very people that are supposed to ‘protect me’ as you said.” I made an air hand gesture to emphasize the ‘protect’.
“A powerful Hybrid like you can’t be by yourself without protection. No latter are you out there before you would be captured by vile people, if not slain. Your demand is on the high side.”
“Then let me take my chances. If I die… then so be it. What do I have to live for anyway?”
“Are you the one speaking like this, Danika. You are strong,” he urged, his eyes intent on mine.
“I am not. I can’t live my life as a strengthener to someone for the rest of my miserable life. Do you know what it feels like to have that one person that you have been fated to without your permission, look at you with so much resentment that it hurts?” The tears were flooding down. “He fucken told me he has a chosen mate.” The tears kept spilling, “He called me a burden,” I finished off, shaking my head to wave off the ache.
“I understand how you feel, Danika. Trust me when I tell you he is doesn’t mean any of that. Both of you can’t survive without each other, I beg you.” He inched closer. “He is sorry,”
“He is sorry? Or you are sorry for him?”
“Alonso is a very proud man. Please for the sake of our friendship, give him another chance,” he implored, his voice becoming distorted.
“Lance-”
“Please, Danika… besides I thought we are supposed to be friends? Now you want to run off on me? What a friend you are!” he drawled, rolling his eyes dramatically.
I snorted and swapped at him playfully. “You will do well in the game room. You are such a manipulator.”
“As far as I have to look at your face every day, I don’t mind doing this ten times over.”
“Why is that?” I asked hoarsely, faintly recognizing the tiny distance between us.
His grey eyes linked to mine twitched as his mouth opened and closed. I wanted to say something but couldn’t form a word. It was as if time ceased to exist, leaving just the two of us.
Then, it looked like he was drawing closer to me. I leaned into him, flapping my eyes closed, and waiting for him to take the first step.
Then, it happened.
…