Chapter 130: Alnitak Finds A Painful Truth

(Amaia)

With a heavy heart, I leave Rigel’s room when I hear his small snores. He appeared so broken when I found him, so much in pain.

Every time I find him vulnerable, I wish to love him even more. To make him forget everything that he has been enduring.

What are they even doing to him? And who is behind all this?

Aimlessly I wander through the corridor, trying to get to my room so I can put something on my neck. A scarf perhaps.

Alnitak can’t see these puncture wounds. He is going to freak out and a war will break out.

I open my room’s door and almost startle finding Alnitak sitting on the edge of my bed with his hands clasped and his saddened eyes focused on me.

My heart does a crazy flip.

Damnit!

I almost forgot I had promised to meet him in the dining hall. He must have waited for so long.

"Where were you?" He asks, getting up from the bed. "I went to fetch you again from Jamina but you were already gone."

He takes a single step towards me and instantly freezes in his tracks.

He snatches in a deep breath, scenting me, most probably scenting Rigel on me too.

His eyes dip from my face to my neck and fixate on the point from where Rigel has taken my blood.

Alnitak jolts to a halt, his face screwing up in revulsion and shock. Every feature of his handsome face is etched with anger and disgust.

That bond between us is overwhelmed with jealousy and resentment.

The sweat pours out on his temples, and slowly his hand reaches out, and his shaking fingers touch the spot where Rigel’s fangs have pierced me.

The touch is electrifying, possessive even though his fingers shake. The rage that feeds into the bond makes my heart tremble.

"Where is he? How dare he lay his filthy mouth on you?" He roars, the gold in his eyes is obscured by bluish-purple but mostly black.

Not only him but Zevran and Erebus are furious too.

I place both my hands on Alnitak’s strong arms, a futile attempt to calm him down.

"It was my decision. He didn’t hurt me," I tell him the truth.

The lie will only complicate things, and luckily or unluckily, I can openly speak about Rigel.

Now that I am one hundred per cent sure that Rigel is my mate, I am not going to hide this fact.

Alnitak doesn’t calm down; instead, a deep hurt flashes in his eyes. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

’Mine,’ Zevran growls through him, his fangs elongating.

"Why? After he hurt you like that?" He asks in disbelief. His eyes search mine for truth. His fingers refuse to shift from my throat.

"It wasn’t him." I painfully tell him and the shock of the truth registers with him.

"Then why would you let him feed on you? Why are you hiding the truth, Amaia?" His voice thick with his emotions. How his throat dips down and his shoulders sag, tells me he is not ready for the truth.

"Because he is one of my mates and he needed me," I tell him quietly but the pain of my own words hurts deep.

The look of betrayal in his eyes is haunting. His free hand fists tightly at his side. He closes his eyes, hiding away the brutal pain he is going through. His other hand hasn’t budged from my throat, warm and soothing and yet his body is so rigid like touching concrete.

"How are you so sure? I thought you couldn’t sense him as your mate?" He finally asks, opening his eyes and watching me with a pained expression.

"I saw him today in that nightmare and I know in my heart that he is."

He horrendously snorts at my explanation, "You know that those are not real, Amaia. And you forgot to mention it previously when I asked."

I don’t know how to explain to Alnitak because he didn’t witness what I did but that nightmare seemed more like a form of premonition for me.

"You promised to trust me. Trust me on this. I know what I feel."

He lets me go and takes a frustrated step back, combing an agitated hand through his open hair.

Confusion and hurt creep into my heart through the bond.

Taking his face in his hands he bends over as if an unimaginable cramp has crept into his gut.

My instincts kick in, and my arms protectively wrap around his torso.

"I am sorry, I am not trying to hurt you. Please, believe me."

Instead of pushing me away as I had expected, his arms came around me, hugging me to his chest.

"I am too far gone, Lassie. I won’t be able to handle a broken heart, especially from you." The despair in his voice stabs me. His arms protectively and possessively remain around me.

I keep myself glued to him, fighting through the pain that comes with his touch and yet not wanting to part from him.

"Can’t you choose me, instead of him. I won’t hurt you as he did," he continues to speak through his grief.

"He didn’t hurt me and he is not the only one I saw..." My mouth clamps shut, and I can’t speak any further. Such throbbing pain shoots through my thigh that I let out a hiss.

Alnitak’s hold loosens on me and his hands hike up to my shoulders. He takes a step back and watches me with wide, astonished, but a certain clarity-filled eyes. Not only does he watch me, but he also observes my actions and expressions.

"You are not someone ordinary, Amaia. I have felt it from the moment I saw you and now I see it so clearly. That’s exactly why you don’t have a scent. It most likely prevents your mates from scenting you. That means, I could be your mate too."

His words are like a spear which stabs my thigh and I let out a scream even without wanting to. He is recognising me, he is so close to getting there and the curse has decided to act up.

"What’s wrong?" He asks, eyes wide, emotions deep, holding me to his heart and I just shake my head, smiling through the pain.

The curse is so close to being broken. I remember the books said, a selfless act is required. Now that he suspects he is my mate, it won’t take long for us to get there.

"Amaia!" His hands grab my face, his forehead connects with mine in an intimate show of his affection.

"You will be mine, no matter what I need to do. Even if I have to fight that bloodsucking asshole, even if I have to fight the world. I will win you over and then I will claim you by mating with you," he says so possessively that my legs turn to jelly and I completely melt in his arms, not having any strength to fight him, this curse, the pain, the nightmares or the world.

Closing my eyes, I just give myself to him for that moment, I am his and only his.