The Alpha's pretend mate

chapter 14

AVELORA

Avelora, Avelora, Avelora.

The voice called out, it was a sound I had never heard before echoing from somewhere deep and hollow.

"You need to wake up." it whispered.

I looked around. I was back at my village, the air felt familiar and comforting, but something was wrong.

"Wake up, Avelora." This time, the voice was unmistakable. It was my mother, but she wasn’t looking at me, she was hovering over a girl passed out by the riverbank.

"You need to snap out of it," another voice commanded. I spun toward the sound. It was my mother again, but this time she was with the Chief Priestess. The Priestess stood directly behind her, a dagger raised as if ready to strike. My mother didn't mo]ve, she was backing towards the blade, completely unaware of the danger.

"Mom!" I screamed. I tried to run, but i was rooted to the spot. My muscles locked, and my voice felt like it was dying in my throat. I watched as the priestess plunged the daggers downward.

The moment I forced the sound out, both of them snapped their heads toward me. Their eyes locked onto mine, It was cold and vacant, as if they weren't really there. Suddenly, something began pulling me back violently.

I was pulled out of the trance with a violent gasp. I began coughing up water that had filled my mouth and throat, even though there was no body of water anywhere near us. It felt as if I had been drowning in thin air.

"Are you okay?"

A voice broke through the ringing in my ears. It was the first thing I registered as my lungs began to settle and the burning in my chest faded.

"Nobody reacts to the Tree of Life. It’s just an urban legend," another voice argued in the background. I couldn't focus, my mind was still stuck in the village. The Chief Priestess had stabbed my mother. Why? My mother didn't have any stab marks. She didn't even know who the Priestess was. None of this made sense.

"Unless she’s a f*****g seer." a voice whisper.

I looked up and saw Zayn. He didn't show the slightest bit of remorse for what he’d just put me through.

"She isn't a seer," another voice snapped. "Only a seer can birth a seer, and her mother isn't a f*****g seer."

They kept talking about me as if I weren't sitting right there, shivering on the forest floor. They finally walked towards me, beta Zayn with the nicest smile on his face "you are welcome to the group." he extended his hand to me which Khyrix swiped away.

Khyrix was the first to get up. He extended his hand for me to take, his expression unreadable. He didn't say a single word to me as we began the long walk back toward the academy. The silence between us was heavy and suffocating.

We reached the large gates of the academy after the others had already gone inside. Khyrix stopped abruptly.

"You need to learn to control yourself," he said suddenly.

I stopped and looked at him, confused and angry. What did controlling myself have to do with the fact that I had just nearly drowned on dry land?

"This wolves will try to get under your skin. You don't have to take every challenge that comes your way." He scolded, I narrowed my eyes at him, just because he was an alpha doesn't mean he gets to be stupid with precision.

He was the most respected person in the school, perhaps the most respected in the world. He had stood there and watched the whole thing. He could have stopped the initiation at any second, but he didn't.

"You could have stopped the whole process Alpha." I said my voice rising with edge "all you needed to say was no, but you watched because it felt interesting to you, right?" I saw the slight change in his expression which was quickly masked by the unfeeling stoic mask he always had on.

"You have no right to tell me that." My heart was beating rapidly as I completed my speech.

He didn't say anything else. He just turned and proceeded to walk through the gate. I followed him because I had no other options. I had nowhere else to go.

We walked through the halls until we reached his room. I wanted to complain about being hungry. I hadn't eaten a single thing before they decided to 'initiate' me, and now I felt like my organs were fighting each other for survival. The hunger was a sharp, dull ache in my stomach.

But I wasn't going to talk to him first. I had some pride left.

I'd rather starve to death than to do that

.....

Careful what you wish for, because it might come back to bite you in the ass.

After Khyrix led me to the room, he simply turned around and left. He didn't say where he was going or when he would be back. I checked the watch on my wrist. It was already 7 PM.

I paced back and forth, rethinking my decision. I thought about walking down to the kitchen to ask for food, but the idea made my stomach turn for a different reason. Walking into that kitchen would make me feel like I was walking back into a past I had promised to leave behind.

So, I remained stubbornly in the room. I paced until my feet ached. I checked the time every few minutes as if my life depended on it. I thought about my mum and the chief priestess.

When I finally heard a sound coming from the front door, I felt a wave of relief.

I was going to let go of my pride, only this time, to tell him that I was starving.

Khyrix walked in, but he didn't look like the untouchable and arrogant alpha who thought the world revolved around him.

His eyes were unfocused. He looked pale, swaying slightly on his feet. He didn't even acknowledge that I was standing there

Before I could ask him what was wrong, his knees buckled. He fell heavily to the floor, crashing down right in front of me.

What?