Chapter 56: Chapter 56

Zaira's POV

The demon had long since let go of me by the time Aramis reached me, while Devon and Beau were still locked in a tight fight with the rest of the hell warriors.

"Are you okay?" he asked me, after which he ran right up to me and took me in his arms. He inspected every part of my body, and the deep green in his eyes darkened as he looked at the dried blood my ears. He wiped it off gently, then pushed me away. "I'm going to kill them all."

He was about to turn and stand by Devon and Beau in the fight when I caught his arm. He was my mate, my companion, I knew that. But it was as if I was watching my actions far away through a pane of glass and could not influence them. I wanted to pull him towards me, kiss him and reassure myself that he was okay. But I didn't do any of that, instead I remained motionless.

His eyebrows drew together. "What's up? Something is not correct."

What am I doing here?

I did not want that!

Why couldn't I control myself?!

My wolf bared her teeth and I did the same, but as much as I yelled at myself, my hands almost closed around his. Something very, very wrong was happening here, but I didn't know what it was or how to stop it could. My pulse raced as words left my mouth that I would regret forever.

"Nees genetu te ashev."

One moment we were in the field, the next everything went black and when I opened my eyes again, nothing was the same.

Before we realized what had happened, we both had heavy handcuffs on our wrists, feet and necks. I cried out in pain as the metal hit my skin, searing it.

Silber.

This cursed metal burned away any werewolf skin.

"There you are at last, you both took your time." Serdas stood on the other side of the room and looked at us with his head tilted.

Aramis reacted with lightning speed, but he was prepared for it. As soon as Aramis made a move to attack, several soldiers pulled him back with a tug on the metal chains attached to the handcuffs, nearly strangling him.

The air was saturated with a burned odor as Arami's metal shackles glowed, searing his skin so badly that dark smoke rose.

"But Faruuh, brother, what kind of manners are these, if I may ask? The silver metal was forged from hellfire, so don't even try to use your powers, you won't succeed."

"No, stop! You're hurting him!" I leaned against the bonds and tried to get to Aramis, which only got them to violently pull me back.

OH GOOD, OH GOOD!

What would I have done?

The disgust I harbored towards myself could not even be put into words.

I had sent him straight to Hell, on the best way to Serdas and Hades. I... I killed him. My own mate.

A harsh sob escaped as I realized how badly I had betrayed him. He'd been right from the start. I was nothing more than Serda's toy, doomed to cheat on him. My stomach turned and I felt nauseous.

I wanted to turn back time. undo everything If that meant I wasn't his mate, Alpha Blake was still alive and I lived with him, so be it. I would give anything just not to see Aramis die.

Because of me.

Arami's eyes flicked to me. Apparently he jumped to the wrong conclusions and thought Serda's soldiers were the reason for my tears. His fangs flashed and he threw himself against the chains.

"Serdas, let her go, that's between you and me." His ensuing menacing growl echoed off the stone walls, while the blazing torches made his face look even grimmer.

"Oh, is that so?" Serdas scoffed, raising an eyebrow. "Wasn't it Zaira that brought you here?"

"Don't tell shit Serdas!" The shackles clattered loudly across the floor as Aramis continued to struggle against the soldiers.

"I would never dare! Would you rather tell him, honey?" Serdas looked at me with his dirty grin, but I couldn't reply. Neither an insult that wasn't even remotely bad enough to do Serdas justice, nor an explanation for Aramis .

I knew I owed him an apology, but I couldn't. I dreaded the moment he realized what I had done. Who Serdas had made me. I didn't want to see the disgust, rejection, and hate in his eyes again. It would destroy me. So I pressed my lips together.

Meanwhile, Aramis paid no attention to me. He was convinced I had nothing to do with any of this, so he didn't assume I had anything to say about it. His attention was solely on Serdas.

"Then don't stop, your will is up to you. It will be my pleasure to break the news to him myself." He sighed, then made a theatrical gesture before continuing. "Have you never wondered why you suddenly found your mate now after all these years "Or, why do you have one and I don't? Why should Aunt Luna give you one? Well dearest cousin, all the questioning ends at this point. Zaira and I first met over a year ago, just before you gave her met."

I was only half listening to Serdas, all my senses focused solely on Aramis, who froze. The only thing that moved about him was his chest, which rose and fell irregularly. would he hate me Would he turn away from me? Or would he see that I didn't want all this, that I had resisted it?

A world without Aramis was simply unimaginable, but I couldn't see how it could have ended any other way.

"To my delight, Zaira has yielded to my will and brought you to me. As you can see, your mate band is not real and of course not created by Luna. But don't be sad about it Aramis, Hades tried hard to create it with lots and lots of love as well." His sneering laugh was dripping with sarcasm.

"If you think I'll believe you for even a second, you're dumber than I thought. Everything you say is full of lies and deceit." Aramis countered Serdas, making my heart ache even more. "She's my mate, she would never betray me, but you can't understand that, Serdas ."

"You're a miserable fool cousin! See for yourself!" Serda's hair was already on fire, but until now he had his temper under control and was able to contain it.

As Aramis turned to me, I saw sheer determination and complete trust. "It's okay, I know you have nothing to do with this."

I bit my trembling lip and looked away. I couldn't look him in the eye and see him realize that everything Serdas had said was true.

"Baby, it's okay, I trust you." His voice was soft and gentle like he intended only for me.

my heart broke

"I'm so sorry," I whispered through tears, digging my claws into my palms so hard, wishing this pain would distract me from that of my heart.

“WhatAs soon as his skin met my bare flesh, I flinched and cried out. My claws extended. Pleasure like I had never experienced shot through me.?"

I lifted my head and looked him straight in the face. He deserved a decent apology. "I am so sorry..."

"No. No, that is not correct."

A sob escaped me. "I didn't want any of this, believe me!"

He shook his head over and over again. "Please tell me you're lying.", rough and hoarse - so very vulnerable. "Tell me you're fucking lying! "

How I wish I could fulfill his request.

"I... I can't..."

He didn't say anything for a long time. But then he stared at me. "You..." his finger trembled as he pointed at me. "You... you betrayed me?" He let out a dry laugh and shook his head again, like this was all a bad movie.

Then suddenly he roared at the top of his lungs and slammed his fist against the stone floor. He had already transformed so much that his black fur showed against his skin and his eyes became those of a wolf. But before that I saw the broken expression in them.

Disbelief, disappointment, disgust and pain. All those emotions flashed across his face as he silently stared at me. It was by far the worst moment of my life.

How do you describe falling apart? How do you explain the fact that every single part of yourself shattered into thousands upon thousands of pieces and you couldn't breathe from the pain while your whole body shook?

"Please, let me explain!" I stepped towards him, causing the silver shackles to bite deeper into my skin, throwing me back hard again. The only difference from the last time was that Aramis didn't care and his eyes trembled violently turned away from me.

"Fantastic! Just lovely! I couldn't have imagined it better.", Serdas enthused and clapped. "Zaira, your performance was great, but now I don't need you anymore. Take her to the dungeon."

The chains jingled as the soldiers instantly obeyed Serda's command, roughly dragging me away.

"No, let go of me!" I growled, struggling with everything I had. I didn't care that my skin was already blistering and pressing against the metal. My only thought was this one To get that shaken look off Arami's face. I wanted him to know that I hadn't acted with my full consciousness and that I was honest in everything I'd ever said or done. There was no way I could let him believe that I was going through all of this willingly had.

“Serdas tricked me, he manipulated me. I didn't know anything about all this, I swear to you!" I rattled desperately while still rebelling against the soldiers. They didn't have much mercy, however, roughly grabbed my arms and lifted me up.

Meanwhile, Aramis had his back turned to me, he didn't even look at me and I couldn't even blame him. Maybe reading the disgust in his eyes was better that way, it would be far too painful for me to go through this ordeal again.

"None of it was a lie, not for a single moment. I love you.", I couldn't help my voice from shaking, nor the schlepzers that settled in. I ignored the fact that I was pathetically professing my love in front of everyone else. He was my everything, I would never forgive myself , if I hadn't told him how I really felt. His torso spasmed and the veins on his forearm stood out, but he didn't turn around. "I love you!" , I screamed at last as the soldiers carried me into the corridor and I lost sight of him.