Weak and drained, Selene sat on the floor. Tears streamed down her face but she was no longer sobbing.
She had been pushed in to the same room she had woken in not long ago and still she had no idea how she had gotten here.
She tore a piece of her cloth and wrapped it around her head.
She made no other movement and simply stared sadly in to nothingness as she replayed the words of Rejection, Zephyr had recited.
"But I can't have a mate. Why does he think I used dark magic on him? You know, goddess. I have done nothing wrong but exist." Selene sobbed softly to herself. "Is this your way of telling me that I shall have no light? That a cursed one deserves no satisfaction?"
She pondered for long in sadness and defeat and only when the door opened did she snap out of her depressing thoughts.
She jumped to her feet and moved backwards in fear seeing who it was.
"He sent you, didn't he?" Zephyr's voice was low, a growl rumbling in his chest, yet each word carried the force of a physical blow.
His gaze, dark and intense, pinned her in place.
"He sent you to finish what he started twenty years ago!"
Selene's breath hitched. Her legs threatened to buckle.
"Answer me!" he demanded, advancing on her, the space between them shrinking.
Selene's back pressed against the cool wood of the bed frame. "I-I swear," she stammered, her voice barely a whisper. "No one sent me. I don't know how I got here."
She was telling the truth but it was inadequate against his rage.
He closed the space between them and Selene's breath hitched in her voice as she looked up at him.
In an unpredicted action, his hand shot out and his fingers closed around her arm.
Selene gasped, a small, involuntary sound.
" What is this, then?" he snarled, his other hand pointed a finger at the Royal Mark on her skin.
Selene's tongue went dead and her eyes widened.
"You have ties to the King, don't you?" It was more of a statement than a question.
Selene remained silent. Now that she knew that he was the Alpha of the river pack, there was no way she could tell him who she was. Not when she had an idea of the history between the river pack and her father.
"What are you?" he pressed, his voice laced with disgust. "Some vessel of his dark magic? Did he conjure you from his sorcery? Did he craft you for a mission? To infiltrate, to wreak havoc?"
Selene trembled, not just from his touch, but from the venom in his words. He looked at her with the same revulsion as her stepmother and Coral.
Like she was some kind of strange creature.
"I am a person." She said through gritted teeth.
Zephyr's grip tightened. He hauled her towards a full-length mirror, ripping the cloth from her head to expose her shaved scalp. He held her firmly, forcing her to confront her reflection. "A person, you say? What person looks like this?"
Selene felt her heart shatter as she looked into the mirror. Tears streamed down her cheeks.
Zephyr spun her around to face him. Her tear-filled blue eyes met his, sparking more irritation within him because his body and soul still responded to her. The pain in her eyes threw jabs at him.
He released her abruptly and she crumpled to the floor.
He looked down at her.
"May the moon curse you if you're in league with him," he growled. "Because I will find out. And whatever you are – his vessel, his pawn, his witch, an instrument of his dark magic, his servant…"
"His prisoner?" Selene choked out, the words surprising even herself.
Zephyr's eyes narrowed. "The Dark Lord doesn't keep prisoners."
An uncertain silence enveloped them briefly.
He would extract the truth from her .
He turned, his gaze lingering on her for a moment, then stalked towards the door. His hand rested on the knob, and he paused, his back still to her.
"I will discover your secrets," he promised, his voice low and dangerous. "Where you came from, who sent you, and why you used witchcraft on me. And then… I will kill you." The door slammed shut, the sound echoing through the room.
Selene pushed herself to her feet, her legs shaky and she staggered to the bed.
"Is this all there is to my life?" she sobbed. "Misery? Loneliness? Danger?" Perhaps she had been better off in the Royal Pack, the cursed princess. At least there, in her familiar prison, she knew her tormentors.
Death had rejected her, and now this new world was tearing her apart.
Zephyr could hear her muffled cries with his back still pressed against the door and his fists balled up.
"Let the soldiers take her. Have her chained and thrown in the dark dungeon!" He said to Zeeb.
"Yes, My Alpha." Zeeb answered immediately.
He had never seen Zephyr so angry and he wondered what would become of the strange female.
"I want her tortured mercilessly . She is a source of darkness. She's a witch." Zephyr spoke, his words dripping with venom and hatred. "She's a representation of the Dark King. Treat her as such. Only pause if she's ready to speak the truth."