Zara’s POV
My legs gave way under me as the wolfsbane poison spread through the rest of my body, leaving me in excruciating pain.
“Why are you doing this to me?” I managed to push the words over my lips. My tongue has already swollen in response to the wolfsbane. “I’m mated… and… marked. I… don’t… belong… to you…”
My voice sounded strained and foreign to my ears.
A sinister smile appeared on his lips; he knew it wouldn’t be long until I lost consciousness.
My head suddenly felt heavy, dropping to the side, while my eyes rolled back in their sockets. I was fighting with everything inside me to stay conscious-my mind threatening to give in and drift off to the darkness.
Noah grabbed my chin between his fingers, forcing me to look at him.
“I am your rightful mate,” he hissed. “The Goddess chose you for me, and we will honor her decision! You will soon belong to me!”
Noah moved my shirt from my nape, his fingers sliding over Nicolas’s mark.
“I’m… not your… mate,” I stated. “It was all… a misunderstanding…”
“Misunderstanding?” Noah growled, his grip tightening around my chin. I tried to move my face out of his hold, but that only angered him, and he tightened his hold.
“Tonight, when I have you in my bed, I will resolve our misunderstanding. I will mark you as mine. I will remove the mark from your nape.”
I flinched at his words.
“It’s illegal,” I forced myself to say. “You will be….”
“It will never happen,” he cut me off. “I have friends in high places. Higher than even you have. My friends would stop at nothing to see me mark you-even if it meant defying and destroying the law. Besides…” he chirped, dropping his head and pushing it against mine. “I know you came looking for me… I know you were in my room watching…”
My heart skipped a beat. Noah knew I had seen him fucking that girl.
For a brief moment, Noah stood like that. He closed his eyes. His breathing escalated.
What the hell was he doing?
“I was hoping you would come in and join us,” he said. “The more, the merrier. Lara wouldn’t have minded; she likes licking pussy too…”
If I had mated with him, would my life have consisted of sharing a bed with my mate and his daily whore?
Noah’s eyes snapped open, and he licked the side of my face.
“You taste so f*cking delicious,” he moaned.
Kaya whimpered next to me, and my attention moved to her. She was in pain.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I should have shifted and killed him before he could do anything….”
“Don’t beat yourself up. We are in a human town. If you had shifted, anyone could have spotted you. It’s not your fault that Noah can’t take a hint and leave us alone,” I said.
I guess that’s exactly what Mother Moon went through when she rejected her ex-mate. How on earth am I going to stop him?
A sudden roar echoed down the hallway, interrupting my thoughts.
“Someone sounds a bit pissed,” Kaya said, and I shifted my head toward the sound.
Nicolas was standing at the entrance of the hallway, his hands balled into fists. My worn gaze caught a glimpse of his face. His eyes were black holes, and the muscles in his jaw were jumping under pressure.
“Let go of my mate and step aside!” Nicolas hissed through his teeth. His canines have already been extracted. I could feel the intensity of his anger. I felt every hair on my body rise in caution, as if a hurricane was about to unleash itself.
“Your mate?” Noah spat, suddenly letting go of my hands.
I slid down against the wall to the floor, my body limp from the wolfsbane.
“You must be misrepresenting the facts, Alpha,” Noah’s venomous voice said. “Zara belongs to me. She is mine!”
“That is where you are wrong,” Nicolas growled. “I have marked what belongs to me.”
Noah chuckled, finding Nicolas amusing. He squatted down next to me, grabbed my hair, and pulled my head toward him. I cried out in pain.
Nicolas stepped forward, but Noah smirked, extended a claw, and pressed it against my neck. He would not hesitate to slit my throat.
Nicolas halted abruptly and let out an unhappy growl.
Noah’s smile widened. He moved my hair aside, sliding his finger over Nicolas’s mark, and raised his gaze toward him.
“This mark?” Noah inquired, a taunting smile forming at the corners of his lips. “Mine will soon take its place.”
Nic growled, face twisted in anger and frustration.
“What the hell is going on here?” Someone called from down the hallway.
A pair of footsteps rushed closer, and the person came into view. He appeared to be the restaurant manager, and he smelled human. Neither Noah nor Nicolas would dare take any further action. They wouldn’t take that chance.
“I found the lady on the floor,” Noah said, getting up. “I was just checking for a pulse. She seems fine now.”
Noah’s gaze shifted to Nicolas, his smirk widening as he waited for him to contest his statement.
The manager pushed past Nicolas and came to my side.
“Ma’am, are you hurt?” He asked. “Can you tell me what happened?”
My gaze shifted to Noah, the hatred inside me heating up the blood in my veins. The manager must have noticed the look in my eyes, as he quickly stood up and adopted a protective stance between us.
Noah threw his head back and laughed.
“Do you really think you could protect her?” he asked.
“I can surely try,” the manager said.
“You and what army?” Noah asked, his face hardening.
The manager shivered, but he stood his ground.
“Leave now!” he demanded.
“It wouldn’t be possible without her,” he stated, nudging the manager in the chest.
“That leaves me with no other option but to call the cops!” the manager threatened.
“Go ahead and do that!” Noah hissed. “See if they can do anything to me!”
The manager pulled out his cellphone and started dialing for the police.
“Bloody hell, Zara!” Levi’s worried voice chimed in my ears, but before I could completely turn my head, Levi saw Noah, and his fist connected with his jaw.
“You f*cking asshole!” Levi yelled, his face red. “I should kill you here right now and rip you to shreds!”
Nic saw the rage in Levi, and he quickly intervened before it escalated. He grabbed Levi by his shirt and pulled him away from Noah. Curious onlookers crowded the entrance.
Noah chuckled as he spat the blood from his mouth on the floor.
“Now her Beta is doing your dirty work!” he taunted. “It merely demonstrates your lack of worth for her.”
Nic let go of Levi, and he leaped forward, his hands already balled into fists, but this time a brown-headed wolf stepped in, catching Nic.
“Let me have him,” Nic roared, throwing punches in Noah’s direction.
“You better f*ck off now,” the brown-headed wolf told Noah. “I will not be able to keep him restrained much longer.”
Is that Kyle?
Levi stepped closer, his arms crossed over his chest. He was still red in his face, but he seemed more in control. “Or would you like to relive the beating you received from him a few weeks ago?”
Noah’s jaw tightened, and his eyes shifted black. His wolf didn’t like what Levi just said.
However, darkness overcame me before I could find out Noah’s decision or what would become of me.
****