Zuri had heard about Alpha Xaden's destined mate being an omega in the pack, but she also heard that he had rejected the poor girl, so this marriage could happen in the first place.
"There is a conflict of interests I'll have to think about here if I reject you now. It will not benefit either of the packs." Xaden was talking about superficial things, while Zuri wanted to talk about her feelings. "It already happened. You will be at a disadvantage too if I were to reject you. Nobody will accept a broken thing. A rejected woman, who had already been mated and marked. So, let's make a deal between the two of us instead."
Zuri wriggled her hand that was still in his grip. This time, Xaden let go of her, but for a moment, they just stared into each other's eyes with mixed feelings.
"What deal do you want to make with me?" Zuri gritted her teeth. She felt humiliated and didn't know what to do anymore. She was trapped in this pack.
She thought she could finally be free from her father, but even the mate that she thought would love her ended up hating her with passion even though they had only met a handful of times.
"Mind our own business." The words came very light, but Zuri could grasp the heavy meaning behind his intention. "Live this life as you want, as long as you don't tarnish the pack name, I will let you have anything that you want and I will not interfere with your life. Ever."
"You just want to get away from me."
"Yes, that's exactly what I want."
"So, you can go back to your omega mate that you have cowardly rejected because she has no benefit to offer you?" Zuri didn't know where she found the courage to say these things, but she found herself staggering back when she saw unadulterated fury erupt in Xaden's eyes. She could feel how strong the hatred the alpha had for her right now was, as if he wanted to kill her and skin her alive there and then.
"That's none of your business." He gritted out the answer.
"Of course, that's my business, because by doing so, you will humiliate me and by extension, you will be the one to tarnish this pack's name." Zuri lifted her head and looked him in the eyes, the alpha's blood ran in her veins too. "I am the Luna of the pack, I have every right to protect the pack's good name now that I belong to this pack."
"You have a way with your words." Xaden glared down at her and then walked away from the room, he seemed not to want to spend another minute with Zuri.
And the moment he stepped out of the room, Zuri's legs gave away, she felt her heart beating so fast when she felt this emptiness without his presence.
The mate bond between them worked wonders, but unfortunately, Xaden was hellbent on denying it. He refused to let the bond control him.
Therefore, it left Zuri with this pain.
She clutched her chest and started to cry. The rejection was so clear, even though he didn't say the words and rejected her directly. Severing the ties between them.
"I can't do this…" Zuri shook her head, she tried to stop herself from crying, but her heart was broken into pieces when Xaden didn't even deny it when she asked whether or not he would meet with his omega.
Meanwhile, outside the door, the alpha didn't immediately leave. He could hear her cries from behind the door and stood there for a while, before he decided to leave. He had important things to handle and the alpha meeting was around the corner. He was going to leave the pack again.
Later on, Zuri slept throughout the night, she skipped both lunch and dinner, while breakfast was long forgotten. She woke up with a headache and called for Esther to bring something for her to eat.
"You look awful, Luna," Esther said, but Zuri didn't say anything. "Do you want me to prepare a bath for you?"
"Yes, please," Zuri replied. She ate her meal and then dipped herself in the warm water to relax her muscles. She felt drained and sleepy. She didn't want to wake up.
"Luna, do you want me to add more warm water?" Sarah asked.
At this moment, she had dipped herself for more than two hours.
"Yes, please." Zuri liked this feeling of warmth, because she couldn't get it anywhere else. Her life was too cold. "I want to stay for a while…"
Zuri felt sleepy, she started to drift off, but was suddenly woken up when boiling hot water was poured on her shoulders. She was too stunned to scream, as the pain rendered her unable to breathe.
Her skin was burning, her ears were ringing and Esther and Sarah freaked out, screaming for help.
"No…" Zuri said weakly, she curled herself inside the tub, trying to hide her nakedness when Esther and Sarah called the guards to help them to get her out of there. "No… don't call them."
It was a humiliation for them to go into her bathroom and find the Luna naked like this. No matter how painful it was or how panicked they were, they shouldn't have called the guards to come and help her when she was naked.
"Help! Come here! Hurry!" Sarah urged the guards to enter the bathroom, but the two of them immediately halted.
"What happened?" They asked vigilantly. They didn't want to see something they shouldn't.
Meanwhile, inside the bathroom, Zuri cried because of the pain and the impending humiliation. The two guards were only a few steps away from seeing her naked. She was unable to get herself out of the tub, her shoulders and chest were burning, it would take some time for them to heal.
"No… don't come. Don't come here..." Zuri said weakly.