CHAPTER 35: RUN

The red glow of all the alarms blaring out painted everyone in hell’s colors. Valden’s hands, tangled and twisted in mine, felt like the only source of relief, the only thing keeping me standing upright and not kneeling on the ground after all the power that I had just used up.

Darek’s eyes, already glowing crimson and mixing with the lights above him, were locked on our joined hands. And he let out a sound, a growl, so deep and guttural I flinched again thinking it was the Varcolac.

But right now, Darek may just be even more worse than the Varcolac.

I tried to hide my hand and Valden’s away from his line of vision.

"Come here, Maeve. That’s enough of your little reunion," Darek finally spoke, beckoning me to him with his chin.

The air tensed as his order struck chords.

"She will never be yours. It will be better for you to find someone else to satisfy your sick desires. I’m sure there will be more than enough who would be willing," Valden fired back.

"Never mine?" Darek laughed cruelly. "I see you’re not aware of what’s happened after you got your lights knocked out. She cannot survive without me anymore. So whatever is going on between you two can stop now."

Darek turned to me then.

"Maeve, you’re being too stubborn for your own good. Captain Malawitt can’t give you what I can. He’ll make sure you still stay as the same weak rankless rat at the periphery. If you join me, after the mating ceremony, you wouldn’t believe the things we could do together. We can get rid of the mist and all the Varcolacs. We can build a new world together. So just forget about him already. He can’t give you what you want. He’s just there to kneel to my orders and he will betray you again the next second he gets to do it."

"You’re insane," I murmured and backed up again, pulling Valden with me. We were already close up against the wall, and Darek, along with all his guards, was facing us, surrounding us now. The alarm was still blaring and the commotion outside was still raging on.

A loud crash came from the other side of the building and outside, the roaring and screeching of the Varcolacs became more apparent. Even more screams echoed down the hallway, and the glass walls rattled.

Darek stilled as if he was contemplating whether it was worth the trouble to confront me right now, or go off to fight the Varcolacs as was his duty. His face changed as he made his decision. And he sighed, rolling his eyes.

He tore his gaze away from us and towards the door, outside. His fury seemed to sharpen, curving into something more lethal. This was the Darek Korvash, the Alpha Commander that everyone feared. The one who brutally killed anything that stood in his way. He looked every bit the nightmare that the Lycans talked about.

And then he looked back at us, at me regrettably. "Stay here and don’t move. Malawitt can fuck off for all I care but Maeve, I need you here itself when I get back. It’s not safe out there for you right now and you need me just as much."

The last sentence seemed like more of a threat, or a warning. He didn’t need to say it twice, I knew very well how helpless I was without him. Especially now that I had depleted all of my powers and most of my energy fighting the Varcolac.

Darek rushed outside, carrying with him the weight of his power and also the rest of the Delta guards, weapons up and ready. The hurried footsteps lasted another minute until the infirmary door slammed behind them, leaving behind the both of us alone in the large room with one dilapidated wall.

Valden’s thumb moved slowly against the skin on the back of my hand, soothingly as I stood there with my chest heaving and fighting to control my breathing. It was becoming more laboured, the weakness spreading through my body again now that Darek had left.

"Let’s run away," he whispered.

My head whipped up to him, but his face showed only seriousness.

Wait, was he serious?

It didn’t matter; there was no way I could leave anymore, even if I wanted to. I had just made everything way more complicated.

"You see, Valden. Something happened a few days back...I rejected Darek on a blood moon night and now we’re both cursed. If I leave him, my energy gets drained, I’ll be too weak and I might die."

I blurted it all out before I felt like a fool for getting myself into this situation.

"Maeve," Valden said softly. "I already know about it. Kinley filled me in on the details."

I looked at him surprised, as the floor felt like it would give away any minute.

"You knew? Then why would you ask me to run away with you? You would know that I can’t survive without him right now. Not until the day of the Green moon and the mating ceremony."

Valden looked more battered now, and blood had started seeping in through the bandages that bound him, but when he talked, he seemed steadier than ever.

"I’ll find a way to free you from him. Kinley did mention about finding another mate for Darek but that’s going to take too much time and discretion that we don’t already have." He took a deep breath. "I swear it, Maeve. I’ll rip that bond from your skin if that’s what it takes."

Heat bloomed in my chest and I realised I trusted him.

Even after everything, I knew I could.

I swallowed hard and looked deep into his eyes. Eyes that I’d known since I was a child. Eyes that knew my secrets and kept them even under threat of life. Eyes that now promised to free me.

"Let’s run away," I whispered back.