Exiled By My Mate

The Mark of the Enemy

CHAPTER 7

KUBALA'S POV

I moved swiftly and caught her head as her body collapsed, her eyes shut and her breathing slow. I stared at her for a while, taking in her unconscious form. She didn't look like a threat; if anything, she seemed harmless, like an animal in need of help.

Harmless and... beautiful. I brushed aside the hair covering her face. Her closed eyelids concealed those distracting, enchanting blue eyes I had seen before. And those lips, soft, pink, and...

"Snap out of it!" a voice shouted within me.

A shiver ran down my spine as I snapped back into my senses. I rested her head on the ground and stepped away from her.

What was I thinking? She was a stranger!

I gazed at her face again and felt a jolt of irritation surge through me. She looked too much like Lia. With the same delicate features, it was almost like looking at a ghost.

The sound of footsteps shifted my attention off her.

"Are they all dead?" I asked.

Gerald, the leader of the group, nodded. "Every last one of them."

One of the men walked around to the woman, eyeing her suspiciously as he approached. He crouched down to her side, and his eyes grew wide.

"What is it?" I asked.

He flipped her to her side and pulled back the collar of the shirt she wore. There was a slight gasp from the rest of the men as their eyes locked on my neck. The tattoo on her neck silenced all my thoughts, leaving one word.

The Claw. The memory of them burned in my mind like a festering wound.

The pack that had taken the woman I loved from me, memories of Lia flooded my mind. The pain and anger I had felt back then came rushing back.

"She's still breathing." The man stated.

"Kill her," Gerald ordered the man.

He raised a clawed hand, ready to s***h her throat.

"Stop!" I ordered, and he froze.

What was I doing? Gerald was right. She belonged to that vile pack, but there was something about her, something I couldn't place, that made me wonder if she was truly a part of the Claw Pack.

"We're taking her back with us," I said.

Their eyes snapped to me, surprise obvious on their faces. They looked at each other and then back to me, but no one objected to what I said.

I understood their concern. This was a woman we knew nothing about, found beside a corpse and had the mark of our enemy. I was basically inviting danger into our home. Who knew if this was just some kind of scheme?

As we made our way back to the base, one of the men carried her as I walked in front of them. Gerald caught up to me.

"Alpha?" he said, his tone unsure.

"What is it?" I asked, even though I could make an accurate guess of what was going through his mind. It was the same thing going through mine.

"The woman," he said.

I sighed, "What about her?"

"We owe the Claw Pack nothing but violence; why won't you let us kill her?" he said

I stole a glance at the one carrying her in his arms, her head hung to the side, her wavy white hair blown by the wind. I was almost tempted to call her Lia. I couldn't kill her. Not just because it would be like losing Lia all over again, but because of the strange pull I felt toward her.

***

We were met by confused glances when we arrived at our destination. They were probably wondering who the stranger was.

My mother was the first to greet us, and her eyes instantly shifted to the unconscious woman.

"And who might that be?" She asked,

"Just a stranger we came across on the way back," Gerald said.

Lenaya cast a suspicious glance at me, and without saying another word, she walked to her. I spun around, but it was futile. A look of utter disgust formed on her face as she pulled back her hair, revealing the tattoo.

"What is this?!" Her eyes turned to me.

"It was my decision to bring her along," I said.

"Bring her along?? You brought the enemy home with you, alive?!" she asked.

"I have my reasons," I stated.

She looked at Gerald and said, "Kill this woman, now."

Gerald froze in place. He looked from my mother to me, unsure whose orders to follow. Seeing Gerald hesitate, Lenaya pulled out a blade and raised it without warning.

The blade descended, but my instincts kicked in, and before I knew it, I had grabbed Lenaya by the wrist.

"I said, I have my reasons," I stated firmly.

Her eyes flicked in confusion. She still looked obviously disgusted by the idea, but she withdrew her weapon and took a step back.

"This is madness," she murmured.

"Take her inside," I ordered. The guards obeyed, leaving only Lenaya and me.

"What are you doing?" she asked, her tone soft.

I paused. I didn’t know the answer to that question, but I knew one thing, I wouldn’t let anyone harm her. Even if I wanted to.

"You're just going to have to respect my decision," I said.

"She's one of them," she said.

"There's something off. If she's one of them, then what was she doing out there alone and unprotected?" I voiced my thoughts.

"That is none of my concern; what matters is that she is. How she ended up here is not a question for debate, it's more of a reason to end her," she argued back.

She had made up her mind. And I knew my mother, when she made up her mind on something, it would be near impossible to convince her otherwise. This argument was pointless.

"I'm going back to my room to rest," I said and turned to leave.

"Have you forgotten about Lia?" Lenaya's voice echoed in my head.

Forget? How could I forget my first love? The woman who had made me see the good in the world, and then she was taken away from me.

But this wasn't about Lia. It was about whatever was so different about that woman.

A voice in my mind echoed the name she had told me.

Bella.