~Zarek's POV~
As I watched her slip into unconsciousness, something in my heart thawed. Maybe it was the anger, maybe it was the earlier coldness, but I felt something slip away from me. Melt away from my hardened heart.
She looked battered… beaten. Lost. Hell, it seemed as though she's given up… she had talked to me like she wanted me to put her out of her misery; to kill her. And that made my already aching heart tighten even more.
As I watched the steady rise and fall of her chest, knowing that she was probably stuck in a deep slumber, I let out the shaky breath that I had been holding ever since I arrived here and crashed into the wall nearby.
From the moment I walked into these dungeons and found her sprawled on the floor, unmoving and lifeless, my heart broke.
I longed to get her out of here. To bring her out of this suffering, until her harsh words struck me even deeper than any knife would.
She'd told me death was far better than breathing in the same air as I did.
She'd told me she'd leave again. And again. And that made me restless. It made my wolf howl in despair. Made my heart ache with something far worse than a heartbreak.
The Dahlia I used to know was weak. She always cowered in fear but this one was different… darker. It felt as though something had been awakened deep inside of her. Like she had snapped and now, she was no longer that shy pretty omega I had acquired from that auction house, but a monster. A monster just like me.
Her eyes held an indescribable amount of malice in them… all directed at me. And a promise, a promise to subject me to something just as worse as what she'd been through… a fate worse than death.
She hated me.
But I couldn't show weakness. Especially not toward a thief. Especially not toward someone who had planned to leave me just like Nyx had done all those years ago.
And as the thought of Nyx fleeted past my mind, a rage like no other bubbled up within me.
Maybe the rage was supposed to be directed at Dahlia, but I couldn't bring myself to be mad at her. Not when she seemed so helpless, so beaten up. Not when she was mumbling a bunch of incoherent jargons as she slept.
Jennifer had gone too far with the punishment. She'd ensured that Dahlia was paraded around the pack like a lowly criminal. She had ensured that the girl was beaten until she almost lost consciousness; and I didn't know whether to be mad at her or punish her for it.
But why would she do all of these?
That I was unaware of. It wasn't like she knew that Dahlia and I were mates…
Or does she?
I was however pulled out of these thoughts when I heard Dahlia mumble something akin to my name under her breath and with my ears perked up, I shuffled closer and waited. One minute passed and another.
Then four.
"Just kill me, Alpha Zarek." Her voice was louder now, more desperate… shaky. My breath hitched in my chest.
"Kill me so you don't have to be plagued with having an accused Omega thief as your mate."
More heartbreak. My eyelids burned with tears, tears that I refused to let drop.
"Or no, I can help. I can help. Reject me. If you won't do it, I'll reject you." She mumbled, now visibly thrashing in her sleep and I shuddered as a wave of panic and pain hit me hard, causing me to double over as something simmered deep within my chest.
My wolf howled in pain.
Now I finally realised that maybe I had gone too far with it. Maybe this was it. The last of it. She no longer wanted anything to do with me; and maybe I should be glad too… I should be happy that I no longer had to bear the burden of being mated to an omega. But I wasn't.
I was hurt.
In fact, hurt was an understatement. My heart felt like it had been forcefully ripped out of my chest and crushed against a rocky ground. This felt worse… by far worse than how I had felt with Nyx all those years ago.
And do you know what's worse?
She hasn't even said the words yet. She hasn't rejected me yet. And I felt like this.
So what would happen when she finally does?
Deciding that I could no longer stand here and watch while she literally shredded my heart into pieces with her words, I forced myself away from my crouching position and leaned back.
I was just about to step away from her and her cell altogether when I first noticed it— When I saw her shiver.
It was cold… the floor. The thought made my heart feel heavy, and even though I had promised myself not to be affected by her. Even though I had told myself that I wouldn't give a shit about her and everything related to her, I did. I took off my outer robe and threw it against her body.
Due to the cell barricades, I couldn't fully drape it around her body but it covered her nonetheless, and the breathy moan that escaped her lips seconds later was a testament to how good that made her feel.
And despite it all, I smiled.
The smile lasted only for a second before I remembered that I had done this to her. That I had put her in such an uncomfortable position in the first place, and so my smile waned, replaced instead by a scowl.
Without sparing even a glance backward, I strolled out of the dungeons and took in a lungful of air when I stepped into the open; and then I began to make my way to my home.
Now, all I needed was some peaceful slumber. All I wanted was to go to bed and never have to think about today; but I was wrong. Very wrong; for as soon as I stepped into the house, the first person I noticed standing by the doorway was Jennifer, and she seemed like she was waiting—for me— with both of her hands planted on her rounded hips and her face contorted into a frown.
As soon as she saw me, her eyes lit up and she rushed out; "Zarek, I'd like to talk to you about something!"
I was uninterested and for that reason, I didn't stop walking even as she struggled to match up to my pace.
"Please!" She screamed, her voice desperate. "I need to talk to you and it is about that woman and her child, Nyx or whatever she's called."
At the mention of Nyx's name, I stopped— more out of curiosity than interest, and then spun around to face her. "What is it about her?"
"They say that the child with her is yours… is that true?"
From this vantage, I could swear that I had seen Jennifer's eyes darken. She frowned as she clasped both of her hands in front of her body and looked up to me with expectant stormy eyes, as if expecting me to debunk the news.
I didn't.
I nodded. "Yes."
And almost immediately, all the light left Jennifer's face, replacing her usual feminine features with a mask so dark, I had to do a double take. She screamed; "No!"
"Jennifer…?"
"That cannot be possible, Zarek?!" She growled. "You mean to tell me that you've had a child? Outside wedlock? So what happens to me? What happens to our engagement?"
"Nothing." I muttered, my voice distant. "Nothing happens to our engagement. It'll happen just as planned."
I had said that to placate her but she was obviously still dissatisfied. A storm cloud had formed in her eyes and even from this far, I could feel how her body trembled with rage.
"Seems like that pest, Dahlia, isn't the only obstacle between me and you!" She snapped, her voice sharp, "but worry not, I'll deal with each and every one of them! I'll dig them up from their roots! You just watch!"
And with that, she stormed away from me, leaving me watching her retreating body in both shock and worry.
What in Tartarus had she meant by that?