CHAPTER 215: EXPLAIN

"Damn it!" she screamed, her voice raw. "I hate people who can see the future! I absolutely hate them!"

Zen narrowed his eyes. This was not the kind of reaction he might have expected. It was too emotional. And too rare for Emira. She’d even rationally managed to escape everything from the Moonville Pack. Why did she get so emotional about seers then? He tried to get to her, but she kept pushing him away, muttering about how she hated ’seers’.

He clenched his hands at her words, but tried to keep his mind calm, not letting her words affect him. Instead, he handed her the second glass on the table and held it out to her," HEre."

Emira looked down at the glass and then at his calm expression, realising that she had probably over reacrted. And from his expression, he would be needing an explanation...

Slowly, she took the glass from him but did not throw it against the wall. Instead, she moved to sit down on the chair... But before she could, he picked her up, "You’ll end up cutting your feet. Come here."

Having said that, Zen stepped backwards and onto the bed, settling Emira onto his lap and said," Before you went off the handle about hating seers, I was about to tell you the reason about us not mating Ramona.

Emira blinked as she stared at him. Was he saying that a seer had not been the one to tell them that Ramona was not their mate? She blinked at stared up at him, and asked slowly," So... a seer didn’t tell you?"

Zen hesitated for a moment. He had indeed seen the future but that was not the entirety of it. And that is why he explained, "Someone did see it, yes. There was a vision. And we didn’t ignore that."

Emira stiffened again. "But that wasn’t the only reason. And it wasn’t even the most important reason. Or the first reason for that matter, little fire. When I went with the Great Witch, we walked through the magical forest. A tree there told me that I was touched with Dark magic. I didn’t understand it at first. I thought it meant I had been cursed. Or someone had placed something on me. And that got me thinking and investigating... And we decided to get closer to Ramona.

Emira nodded slowly. That was fair. At least they were not acting just because of some vision that someone had seen.

That also explained why, after his return from the forest, they had suddenly started to get closer to Ramona while pushing her away. And even as this thought came, her own jealousy reminded her of something. Her expression shifted and her brows drew together.

"Then you discovered she was not your mate by sleeping with her?"

Zen froze. Dam* it! This was not the part he wanted to explain...

But Emira wasn’t looking at him anymore; she was staring past him as she thought back to Ramona showing off her love bites on her neck. The smug smile. The confidence. The way she looked straight at Emira, proudly rubbing her face in it.

Emira’s stomach twisted.

Zen immediately shook his head and turned his gaze to her. "No. That is not what happened."

"But she had marks," Emira said in a flat voice as she stared up at him, not wanting to show her own hurt.

Zen exhaled slowly and brushed his nose against her cheek, before taking a deep breath. He would rather jump down a well and climb up without any support than talk about this.

"I made them," he murmured, keeping his voice low. "Not Kael or Lance."

Emira’s entire body went rigid. Her hands, which had been resting loosely on his shoulders, clenched, and she immediately tried to pull back. But he tightened his hold around her waist, keeping her firmly on his lap.

"Emira," he said quietly, "I never really slept with her. Okay. We need to talk things out."

She stopped struggling but didn’t look at him. Her gaze stayed fixed on the far wall, as if the truth would be too hurtful.

"It was just a ruse," Zen continued. "To discover how she did what she did. How she fooled us into believing she was our mate. I... We used to do foreplay and then... Let me just say this, no part of me has been inside her, ever..."

Emira blinked slowly. Then... all those complaints about Ramona being sore... She looked at the box that had been given to her and shuddered, asking," You used that? Why didn’t you tell me? Any of you not tell me?"

Zen grimaced at the question. "I needed her to believe I wanted her. I needed her to be confident and unguarded so we could find the cracks in her lies. And then, we had to push you away to protect you. If you’d known the truth, then things could have changed drastically. Your reactions... We needed you to hurt, Emira. Truly hurt."

Emira looked away then. The worst she had been hurt was the bouquet that Kael had given Ramona only for her to throw it away... "We didn’t know what Ramona planned. Every move had to be precise."

His thumb brushed her cheek, "If I had slept with her, I would tell you. I would never lie to you about that."

"Then why are you still proceeding with the mating ceremony if she is not your mate?" Emira asked directly.

Zen smiled," Because that is when..." No. He would not tell her that they would mate her. So, to divert her, he said, "I’ve told you everything now... And now, before you ask me any more questions, you have to tell me something. Why do you hate Seers?"

Emira looked away at that and her hands clenched. She did not want to tell him the truth, but she did not want to lie to him either. They were sincere to her. So, she took a deep breath, looked up at him and said," My mother is the reason I hate Seers."