Chapter 7 7

CHAPTER 7

Tessa's POV

I blinked, completely dumbfounded, when he started unzip his pants. For a moment, my gaze fell on his long fingers drawing down the zipper of his tailored slacks.

My heart pounded inside my chest as it beat wildly fast while my eyes followed his lowering pants that revealed his incredibly tight briefs that molded around his-

I caught myself staring, coming back to my senses and turning my face away with an embarrassed flush.

'Damn! Get a hold of yourself, Tessa,' I scolded myself.

"Oh? Does my little omega like what she sees?" Zane mocked, an unmistakable sneer evident in his voice.

The flush on my cheeks deepened but I said nothing. I kept my polite gaze away as I hear his movemnets while changing. All while that, I kept staring at a spot on the wall to the left like its the most intereting thing in the world right now and not that god-like man in the same room with me.

"Turn around." He demanded a few minutes later.

With nervous breath, I did as he asked and I was relieved to see him fully dressed in jeans and a muscle shirt that outlined his well-flexed arms.

"I'm going to ask you a few questions," he said calmly, perching on the armrest of one of the couches with his gray sharp eyes pinning me to place.

"You better answer them, truthfully and eagerly like a good little wolf, or else..."

He let the threat hang in the air between us a moment and I shuddered as tension filled the room.

Despite being an omega, I'm not one to cower away. Yes, I don't possess much courage, but that's it. But at his moment, I was completely and utterly cowed. For now at least.

"Do you understand me, girl?" he snapped, making me flinched from the vivid violence in his tone.

"Y─Yes." I stuttered, drenched in fear.

"Good. Now what is your name?"

"Tessa. Tessa Griffin"

"Tessa, huh? How old are you, Tessa?" he asked, scrutinizing me with hawk eyes, looking at me from head to toe.

I couldn't help but squirm in self consciousness. "I...I turned eighteen a few days ago."

"Well, well, well, isn't that something? Happy belated birthday." The wolfish smile he gave was more scary than well-wishing.

I swallowed and stammered. "T─Thank you."

"What Pack are you from? Eric's Pack?"

I shook my head. "Not exactly. We...We were a smaller pack that joined Eric's. He promised us protection."

Could I pretend like our packs had been joined together through the marriage of Eric and I?

To my consternation, Zane only chuckled.

"Protection huh? How did that work out for you?" He mocked and my face flamed.

"Screw you! How dare you laugh at me when you're the one who put me in the hot seat!"

Of course, I didn't say that to his face but I thought it and it must have shown on my face because he clucked his tongue.

"Don't be such a sore loser. War tends to happen this way," he said and I rolled my eyes in my imagination. "Alright. Welcome to my humble abode, Tess Griffin. Now that I know your name, care to explain who you are?"

"What?" I asked, mind going blank.

He shrugged.

"Well, you're clearly not the Luna. We've already established that. Why then were you given to me as a substitute?" he clarified.

Scoffing, he asked, "What? The Alpha didn't want to let go of his fated mate and you picked the short straw out of all the women in the pack? Or perhaps your family gave you to pay a debt. Or garner a favor?"

He tilted his head at me, his gaze considering me while I gaped at him in shock.

He was off about one little detail, but he'd narrowed the truth down with a startling accuracy. It made me incredibly nervous.

"W─What?" I stammered uselessly, mind running a mile a minute to figure out what I was supposed to say now.

"Do I still deny everything? Or confess and correct his presumption about Eric keeping his Luna because they were fated mates?"

That in fact, I was his fated mate and he hadn't cared enough to protect me at all. Was there any point in keeping up with a ruse that only served him?

I opened my mouth, then hesitated at the mild and expectant look on Zane's face as he sat there, arms folded across his barrel of a chest.

Truth be told, it wasn't Eric's threat that kept my mouth shut. It was the fact that I didn't really want to admit to the Dark Lord of all people that I had tried to fool him.

"Well... I..." I hesitated, wondering if I should lie after all.

"I won't repeat myself, Tessa. And I will make you regret any lie that comes out of your mouth... immensely. You can count on that," Zane warned.

I lowered my head in a cringe, needing no further encouragement to make the truth spill from my lips.

"Alpha Eric didn't want to part with his Luna and my family volunteered me to garner favor." It was partially the truth, maybe that was why my voice didn't pitch like it usually did when I was outrightly lying. But then I added "That's all there is to it!" a bit too quickly and his eyes narrowed at me.

"Damn it!" I cursed my nerves silently.

"That's all there is to it, eh? When you say it like that, why would I have any reason to doubt you?" he drawled.

"Why did you go along with it?" he probed and I stared at him for a moment before scowling.

What kind of question was that? Did he think I just skipped into his car with no arguments raised or something? Or was I supposed to fight Eric and his men from pushing me to them - the enemy?

"Well, it's not like I had much of a choice. Eric is my alpha after all. And your men did kidnap me for heaven's sake!" I finally snapped, annoyance overpowering my cowardness.

There must have been a little too much sarcasm in my voice because he glared at me. I dropped my gaze again, mumbling an apology and cursing myself for even daring to give him any lip.

He was the Dark Lord for fuck's sake.

He had built the largest wolf pack in the country by going around dominating other packs and taking huge chunks of their lands and Lunas.

He was that powerful that not only was he a Lycan, but he also became the strongest of all, and reigned as the king.

Despite what my impulsive words and actions showed, I really wasn't trying to anger him. I just forgot my place sometimes.

His glittering eyes reminded me immediately, calculating and sharp.

"Watch it, girl. I won't suffer insolence for long," he growled, eyes flashing with the warning.

I shuddered.

Before I could respond, a sharp, shearing pain lanced through my chest, going straight to my heart. It was so intense I doubled over, gasping for breath and unconsciously reaching out as if for help.

"What's wrong?" Zane said, taking a step towards me, alarm flashed on his handsome features.

I could barely speak, only shaking my head over and over again until another cry tore out my throat. My eyes widened and then watered with tears the moment I realized what it was.

It was Eric. He was with Paige right now.

My wolf was acutely and painfully aware, no thanks to the stupid mate bond, and boy did it hurt. He'd never tried to touch Paige when I was at the pack house aside from the first time I've seen them kiss.

The mate bond was like a double-edged sword. Neither of us could easily disrespect it without consequences on ourselves and the other. It was a jealous thing, to the point that it prevented its participants from lying with other people by causing them actual physical, not to mention emotional pain.

When I was back in the pack house, he would have felt the same pain I did every time he went near Paige much less slept with her. With me several miles away, however, whatever harm the bond could do to him was greatly minimized.

He was the stronger wolf after all, so the bond had far less chance of punishing him at this distance. I was now the chosen victim for Eric's transgression and from now henceforth only I would suffer his disloyalty to our bond.

Another stab of white-hot pain went through me, blinding my vision completely. I crumpled to the floor screaming so loudly I was sure the entire house could hear me.

I'd never felt such pain in my entire life.

"It hurts! It hurts!" I sobbed and screamed but the pain didn't stop. All I could do was writhe in agony, praying desperately for it to end.

Vaguely, I sensed Zane hovering over me. He seemed very alarmed, shouting something I could barely make out as the ringing in my ear was too loud.

The pain relented for a few moments, and color returned to my vision and sound to my hearing. The world came back into focus for one odd moment.

"What the hell is happening? Fucking answer me!" I heard Zane demand as he shook my shoulder, tightly holding onto it that it added to pain.

I opened my mouth weakly. To say what? I didn't know.

A scream snatched whatever I would have mumbled out of my lips and I threw my head back making it rap sharply against the tiles.

Pain exploded at the back of my head, and my vision became blurry again.

Darkness slowly descended on my consciousness even as I fought to stay awake. Then, a pair of large hands gripped, surprisingly gently at my shoulders.

"Stay with me, Tessa." I heard even as I slipped into the darkness.