Chapter 36: Chapter 36

[Tyler’s POV]

The words written in the letter seemed to dance before me. I read it again and again, but the more I read, the more shocked I was. Nivera had been kidnapped? Who would dare do such a thing? The worst part was that I couldn’t point a finger at the perpetrator because she had a long line of enemies.

I folded the paper and kept it on the table, thinking of how to bring the criminal to book. Just a few minutes ago, the guard I had sent to find her had sent a letter to me, stating that he had found Nivera locked up in a cave by the riverside. Apparently, she had been deceived that I wanted to meet with her outside the palace and once she was outside, she had been attacked and kidnapped by some unknown people. They had left her to die alone in the cave, but thankfully, he had found her and she was presently recuperating at a stated inn, but he promised to bring her back before twenty-four hours was up.

“So, that’s how little these people think of me. They had the guts to attempt to kill the woman I want to make my Luna, how dare they?! All that’s left for me to do is to prove my authority by really making her my Luna. Let me see the fool who would be brave enough to lay a finger on her then,” I soliloquised.

“Speaking to yourself?” Malia’s familiar voice asked as I heard the door open and she walked in.

I lifted my mind off my thoughts for a minute and turned to face her. “Who let you into my bedroom?” I inquired, not really pleased to see her.

She shrugged. “Do I need permission to enter into your bedroom? The guards already know I frequent here a lot, and you’re the one who told them to always let me in whenever I’m around,” she said, then sat beside me on the sofa.

“Ah, that’s true. I should tell them not to do that anymore, especially as I would soon be a married man. I don’t want Nivera to take it the wrong way,” I said.

She chuckled, obviously believing that I was just being funny. “Are you playing with me right now?” she asked, but on seeing the seriousness on my face, she stopped chuckling and put on a straight face. “Wait, you’re serious?” she inquired.

I nodded in the affirmative. “Yes, I am. Didn’t I already inform you that I will be making Nivera my Luna?” I asked.

She seemed surprised. “Yeah, you mentioned it, but Nivera is nowhere to be found and the time you gave for her to return is almost up,” she said.

“I know, but she’ll be back,” I told her.

“What if… what if she’s not back? There’s every possibility that she is never going to return.

I know you want to show that you believe she’ll come back because you want to prove that you made the right decision, but she’s probably run off to be with someone else or something. That’s why you should never have trusted her in the first place,” Malia said.

“Enough!” I screamed at her, then stood up and pointed my index finger at her. “I will not have you believe that you can sit here and say trash about the future Luna,” I said.

She adjusted uneasily in her seat. “I… I don’t get. Why… why are you yelling at me? I’m not the one that asked her to run away,” she said.

“Fuck! She didn’t run away. Here, read this,” I said, unfolding the letter I had placed on the table and handed it over to her.

She collected it from me with shaky hands and ran her eyes over the letter quickly. As she read, her eyes bulged and nearly popped out of their sockets. “She… was… kidnapped?” Malia dragged the words slowly as she raised her head to look up at me.

“Yes, isn’t that what the letter stated?” I retorted.

“I know, but that’s not what happened. Are you sure the guard didn’t just make this up to have enough time to take his family and flee from the Pack?” she asked.

I stared at her then crouched to look her directly in the face menacingly. “I have warriors surrounding his family’s home, so that’s impossible. Besides, how do you know that’s not what happened? Did you plan this? Were you the orchestrator of this whole thing? Wasn’t it kidnapping you sent the attackers to do? What exactly was it?” I asked, secretly hoping she didn’t have anything to do with it.

As much as I hated the fact that she refused to be my concubine and be by my side, I still cherished what we once shared and didn’t want to execute her.

She bit her lower lip, nervously. “What are you even talking about? Why would you ask me such a question? Do you really believe I can do something to hurt even a fly? Come on, Tee. You know me better than that,” she said.

“Then, why did you make that statement? Do you know something?” I asked.

“Of course not. I wanted to say that I believe that’s not what happened. I mean, it isn’t the first time she’s running off. I thought she must have done the same thing again. I mean, who would want to kidnap her or do something bad to her when they know how much you care for her?” she asked.

“Exactly! It’s hard to believe. Tell me, Malia, is it that I’m not hard on them anymore? Don’t they fear me and hold me in great reverence anymore?” I inquired.

She stood up with a smile, then buttoned my shirt. “I doubt that is the case. Perhaps, the hatred they have for the Omega is much more than the fear they have for you,” she said.

“So, so what am I to do?” I asked.

“I don’t know, my Alpha. Do what you think is best, but I just want to know something. If truly I had been the one to plan the kidnapping, what would you have done to me?” she asked.

I stared softly into her eyes, then touched her cheek warmly. “You’d have paid with your life,” I said, painfully.

“What if it were to be the other way round? What if the Omega had kidnapped and tried to kill me?” she asked.

“She wouldn’t live to see another day,” I said.

“In essence, no one is above the law, right?” she asked.

“Precisely,” I responded.

She smiled even more brightly. “I thought you might have changed, but you’re still the same man I fell in love with. I’m sure you’d make the right decision and prove to your people that you are their Lord and King. You’ll also make them know that whatever decision you make is final and there’s absolutely nothing they can do to change it. You’d affirm that you have an everlasting authority over them. I don’t know how you’ll do that, but I’m sure you will, because you are the love of my life, my Alpha King, Tyler Jefferson,” she said, maintaining our eye contact.

I cupped her face in my palms and just kept looking into her eyes. Her words knew how to touch me in the right way, and my heart was racing just from being in her presence. It was hard to believe that just a few minutes ago, I had been restless and angry at her.

“You can feel it, can’t you?” I asked in a soft tone.

“If you’re talking about our connection, yes, I can feel it,” she said.

“What we share is so unique, Malia. Please, don’t leave my side,” I said, resting my forehead against hers while still cupping her face.

“Nivera will be back like you said and I’m sure you’ll take her as your Luna. I can’t be by your side even if I wanted to,” she said as a drop of tear fell from her eyes.

“But what we share is insane. You are the one for me,” I said.

“Then, make me your Luna, Tee. Let’s be together. Reject the Omega and maybe she can also find love and be with that person. We’ll all be happy that way,” she said.

I thought about what she said for a minute. Malia was right. We would be happy together and Nivera would probably be happy with the vampire, but there was just something about losing that didn’t sit right with me. I couldn’t go back on my word about marrying Nivera, and I also couldn’t allow the man that almost killed me and made me feel inferior for the first time to be with the girl he wanted when I could make her mine and break him forever.

I loved Malia, but apparently, I loved my ego more.

Thus, I let go of her and stepped away from her. “That can not happen, Malia. I’m very sorry,” I said.

“You can’t go back on your word, can you? Even if it means I’ll be miserable forever?” she asked, bitterly.

“I have my pride to protect, my love, and it goes beyond not going back on my word,” I explained.

“And that pride of yours is more important than me, not so?” she asked, as tears rolled down her cheeks.

“Sadly, yes. At the back of my mind though, I’ll always know we were meant to be,” I told her.

“Perhaps, we are,” she said.

“Maybe, but we can’t be together,” I said.

“How can you be so sure about that?”

“I don’t need a soothsayer to tell me. Look at me, I’ll soon be a married man and unfortunately, you have refused to be my concubine. This is the end for us.”

She wiped her tears, then gave a faint smile. “I wouldn’t be too sure about that. Miracles do happen, you know. If there’s ever an opportunity for you to be with me again, just promise me you’d take it,” she said.

“I don’t see that happening, but if it does, of course, I’d take it. I love you, okay?”

She smiled, then tiptoed to give me a peck on the cheek. “I love you, too.”