The Alpha's pretend mate

chapter 31

AVELORA

The deem light of my phone casted scary shadow against the fur wall, the low battery signal of my broke the silence, startling me. Something was breathing behind me, the sound was low and impossibly close. I slowly turned on my heel, my heart hammering against my ribs.

I expected tge monstrous beast that had attacked us before. I expected razor-sharp teeth, extended claws, and the predator ready to tear me apart.

Instead, it was a man.

He was impossibly tall, towering over me in the cramped space, dressed in heavy robes of dark unwashed wool that seemed to absorb the pathetic amount of light I had. His face was etched with the frown lines, his eyes were dark and calculating.

My breathe caught in my throat.

I had seen him before in one of the vision with the Chief Priestess. He had been the exact man who stepped out of the cave to collect one of the children from her arms.

It was him. The man from the vision was standing right in front of me.

"You shouldn't be here," he rasped.

I didn't answer. My eyes darted frantically around the damp cavern, searching for anything—a rock, a heavy branch, a stray bone—that I could use to defend myself if he decided to lunge. The cave smelled revolting. It reeke of blood and wet fur that belonged to the rogue wolf that had been hunting us. In fact, the entire cave looked like it belonged to a feral animal with no concept of night or day, cluttered with debris and filth.

He stepped forward, his posture shifting into something predatory. I instinctively took a step backward, keeping my eyes locked on his hands. He took another slow step, moving directly into the beam of light my phone was casting from my other hand. He looked at me. He really looked at me, scanning my face with an intensity that made my skin crawl.

For a split second, the coldness in his eyes completely vanished, replaced by an expression of pure shock. Or maybe it was terror.

It was just something I didn't want to find out right now.

"Aurora?" he breathed, the name slipping from his lips.

His step faltered as he walked towards me, I took a step forward suddenly to try to scare him.

I mean, he should be scared, he shouldn't try to hurt someone who is stupid and crazy enough to enter an isolated cave alone. I might bite him or something.

He didn't even flinch despite my threatening move.

And who the f**k is Aurora? "My name is Avelora," I corrected sharply, my voice trembling but firm once I confirmed he wasn't an actual beast trying to maul me to death on the spot.

"Of course," he said, his tone shifting instantly from paralyzed shock back to a calm. "Avelora. The scholarship student."

My heart skipped a beat. My entire body jerked backward as if his words had physically burned my flesh. A cold sweat broke out. How did he know who I was? How did a man living in a filthy cave know my status at the academy?

He stepped closer, closing the distance between us, and I instinctively backed away again. This time, the heel of my shoe caught on a stray littering the dirt floor.

Oh where were you when I needed a weapon?

I stumbled slightly but kept my footing. The pungent and overwhelming smell of dried herbs was suffocating now, coming directly from the pockets of his heavy wool robes.

"Listen to me very carefully," he said, his unblinking eyes boring directly into mine, stripping away any sense of security I had left. "You are wandering in a part of the forest that does not belong to the Academy."

I shook my head, refusing to buy into his lies. I knew exactly where I was. I knew the sovereign training cave, the very one we had been locked in not too long ago, was just a few hundred steps away from this literal death trap.

And though I couldn't prove it with physical evidence yet, the realization hit me, he was never a rogue, the academy would have done something about it if he were, he was dangerous to students after all

Why were we told terrifying nightmare stories in history class about a beast who went completely rogue after betraying the Moon Goddess, when in reality, he was just like every other werewolf who transformed under the moonlight? The academy was hiding him. Or hiding from him.

"What is behind that door?" I demanded, finding a sudden burst of courage. I pointed a trembling finger toward the heavy iron gate embedded in the cave wall, the mysterious symbol carved into its surface glowing faintly in the dark. "Where are the children?"

He raised an eyebrow, shaking his head "You should leave now."

I slowy backed away towards the door, my eyes never leaving his.

He pounced.

He was too fast, possessing the speed of a wolf even in his human form. Before I could even register the movement to dodge, his hand flew through the air and wrapped around my wrist. His grip was strong, squeezing tightly enough to bruise. He didn't answer my questions. Instead, he leaned in close, his breath hot against my ear as he whispered.

"Run, little girl. Run."

He violently shoved me toward the narrow entrance of the lair.

I stumbled forward, looking around the cavern one last time. I wasn't delusional, he would easily overpower me, mutilate my body, and hang my remains among whatever favorite macabre collection he kept hidden in the back of this cave.

I turned and fled.

I scrambled wildly out of the hole in the hillside, the sharp rocks tearing the silk of my dress even further. My lungs burned, screaming for air as I burst out of the dark cave into the open forest. I didn't dare look back. I ran blindly through thickets, the thorns clawing at my bare skin, but I didn't stop.

Who was Aurora? Why did he think I was her?