The Alpha's Omega Mate-Chapter 34: More lies.

~Zarek’s POV~

"Alpha, the patient... Dahlia, she’s awake now." Doc Ava called out from behind me in her usual chirpy voice, and for the first time in several hours, I let out a ragged breath.

Relief like no other crashed into me and my heart—which had been heavy for most of the night, up until this morning—suddenly felt light.

A smile sneaked up my face as I spun around to face her but quickly deciding that I couldn’t let her see me like this— undoubtedly happy that a slave and an accused criminal was finally awake—I fixed my face and nodded.

"Thank you." I drawled, sounding indifferent, "How is she?"

"She’s fine... for now." Doc Ava shrugged, smiling stiffly, but even from here, I could sense the uncertainty in her voice. I could even notice the way she had begun fidgeting with the hem of her dress, which was something she always did when she felt uncomfortable or cornered— or whenever she had some bad news. She was none of the former so I instantly deduced that it was the latter.

I cocked my eyebrows, feeling a wave of panic surge through me as I said; "Tell me the truth."

"She’s healing fast... a little too fast for usual omegas but the continuous sprain on her body also has its side effects."

"Okay?"

Right now, I could hear the sound of my heart hammering like the sound of the hoofs of several running bulls in my head. Even my palm had suddenly become clammy and a sheen of sweat had now gathered just underneath my eyebrows. I asked; "What else?"

"Omegas usually have very weak wolves, and Dahlia for one, claims to not know if hers even exists because she’s never felt it; but the last time I treated her, I felt it there. Almost nonexistent but there to facilitate her speedy recovery."

"She does have one then." I said, but as soon as I noticed Ava shaking her head, I snapped my mouth shut as dread overcame me.

"Alpha, right now, it isn’t. I can no longer feel it there and it feels like it has suddenly.... disappeared."

My heart dropped. "But that’s not possible. Wolves just don’t exile themselves." I argued, but before the next words would spill from Doc Ava’s lips, I already knew what she was about to say and it hurt beyond words to even imagine it.

She muttered; "it does, but on very rare occasions. And happens usually in omegas— cases just like this one. Dahlia and her wolf have been subjected to so much stress, and right now, I feel that it has exerted all of its strength into healing her."

"And she doesn’t have a strong wolf."

"Yes." Ava answered dimly, "...especially after the kind of week its host has had. Exiling felt like the safer option."

Those words felt like shards of glass to my heart. They felt like thorns in my flesh. A large lump formed in my throat at the thought of all the things my mate has endured in the past week, and right now, it took all of my willpower not to barge into her room, pick her up and hide her somewhere no one would be able to find her— to protect her from the harshness of the world.

Even though I was the epitome of harshness myself.

I saw Doc Ava’s lips moving but due to the fact that I was lost in thoughts, I barely registered what she was saying until she repeated herself, and when I finally stopped to listen to her, my heart stopped.

No.

"She may not be able to heal quickly anymore, and right now she’s no better than a human. Also, I do not know if she’s mated or has found her mate yet but her body shows signs of rejection. It’s probably the reason her wolf retreated."

"No, how’s that... Why would she..?" I stuttered, but quickly catching myself, I cleared my throat and sealed my mouth shut because then I realized that I was about to unknowingly inform her that I was Dahlia’s mate.

But... signs of rejection?

"How’s that even possible?" When we haven’t even said the words yet?

An image of her sprawled on the filthy floor as she whispered hurtful words to me flashed through my mind and I gritted my teeth as an immense fear overcame me. Was it then? Was that even possible?

"I don’t know," Ava shrugged, but then looking away from me to glance at Dahlia’s room door, she added in a hushed voice; "We both know she was nearly raped last night... and we both know how bad something like that affects mated she wolves, and in rare cases, those who’s found their mates too."

"She felt neglected?"

"She was neglected."

I said nothing. I saw red. And my heart tightened with so much ache, and so much anger, I feared it would burst soon from the pressure.

My hands balled to fists as the image of the two bodyguards I had found molesting her flashed across my mind and in barely contained rage, I ground my teeth together, whilst hoping that it was their bones I ground instead.

Someone had to pay for this rage— they both had to, and they will.

"We’ll just give her a day or two to rest." Ava continued, oblivious to my plight, "...and if she’s exposed anytime soon to something averagely close to what she’s been through these past few days, then I do not know what would happen then. She’d heal slowly. She may even die."

It was at this point that my well constructed mask fell and my jaw dropped as something akin to fear buzzed in my chest. My eyes darted between Doc Ava and the still closed door— which was the only thing between Dalia and I— in panic, but just as I made to run towards it, I froze.

Maybe I was the last person she wanted to see right now.

Maybe she didn’t even need to see me at all.

Deep down, I knew that I had hurt her... immensely, and that there was no amount of words that could take back all the pain I’d allowed to be meted on her all in the name of punishment.

—And I was her mate, the one her body was subconsciously rejecting.

Dan and Kane’s puzzled faces as I stepped into her cell last night fleeted past my mind’s eye for the third time in the past minute, and deciding that they were just the best candidates to suffer my wrath, I turned away from Doc Ava and began to storm towards the dungeons.

As I went, my rage flared but I didn’t try to contain it. Instead, I let it simmer.

But just as I was about to round the sharp corner leading away from Doc Ava and Dahlia altogether, I faintly heard her voice call out to me.

She asked; "Dahlia wants to know if she’ll be returned to the cell, and I do not know how to respond to that."

"She wouldn’t. She’s free from all punishment." I answered but I doubt that she heard me. I also didn’t try to repeat myself as I continued to storm away, whilst praying to the goddess that Dan and Kane live long enough to suffer a fate a thousand times worse than what Dahlia had suffered.

And as expected, the moon goddess never heeded that prayer as the first news I got as soon as I arrived at the dungeons was that of Kane’s death.

He’d been found foaming at the mouth with a bottle of poison in hand while Dan, the only one alive, claimed not to know anything.

"He... he told me you paid him a pretty fine sum of money to rape the girl, and he only agreed to share her with me because he wanted me to join in the fun." He had gurgled out with blood in his mouth, whilst crying through eyes so swollen and black, one would think he was blessed by the midnight sky.

My body simmered with uncontrollable rage when I heard those words, and at first, I had thought he was probably making it up until his torture continued for hours nonstop, and those words were the only thing he continued to say.

So now I was certain: He wasn’t lying.

But something didn’t feel right. I’d never pay anyone to lay a finger on Dahlia, especially not in that way, so obviously, he had been lied to.

Maybe Kane had been lied to as well. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

But why?

And most of all, who would be so bold as to commit a crime so malicious with my name?

Who hated Dahlia so much they would do anything to put her in harm’s way?

My body trembled with rage as I let go of Dan’s shaking and badly beaten up body, but I didn’t feel even an ounce of satisfaction.

Not even when his body dropped to the floor, unmoving and lifeless.