Gambled to the Rival Alpha

Chapter 3-The Price Of Ruin

The world inside my head shattered into a million pieces.

The air rushed out of my lungs, leaving me suffocating against the pillar. I gripped it until my fingernails threatened to snap. My mind refused to process the monstrous sequence of words that had just spilled from Silas’s mouth.

'He didn't just say that,' I bargained frantically with myself, tears of shock burning behind my eyelids. 'He couldn't have. The bond... he knows the bond is sacred.'

Inside my subconscious, Nyx was going through a meltdown. She paced about, snarling and thrashing against the walls of my chest like a rabid beast.

'Traitor!' her voice echoed. 'He dare sacrifice our bond? He dare sink his teeth into our soul and sell it like cattle?'

Inside the room, the atmosphere was bizarre.

Miguel’s smooth expression had vanished, replaced by a look of sheer disbelief. Even the professional dealer stepped back, dropping his eyes to the floor as if the air in the room had become poisoned.

Gambling land was political.

Gambling gold was foolish.

Gambling a sacred, fate-given mate bond was an abomination against even the Moon Goddess herself.

Diego slowly raised his gaze to Silas.

"You would gamble your mate?" he blurted. The usually smooth and seductive Hispanic cadence was gone. "A woman who trusts you with her life, her soul, and her mark?"

Silas flinched for a second under the weight of Diego’s gaze. But it was clear to all that his desperation was a sickness that had taken complete hold of him. He wiped a trembling hand over his forehead, swallowing hard.

"She's my property until she's marked," he said. "The bond isn't fully sealed yet. She's a high-ranking Scarlet female which is a prize for any Alpha. If I lose, I sever the link right here in front of the elders. She becomes your prize of victory."

He paused, giving the towering Alpha time to ruminate. Diego stroked his chin slowly, his lips pursing into a tight line.

"But if I win," Silas resumed, "I get my land deeds back, plus all the chips on the table."

"Silas..." I gasped out, the sound barely a whisper as it caught in my throat. My knees buckled slightly and my vision seemed hazy for a moment. Shaking my head violently to get rid of the dizziness, I resumed my torturous spying.

Diego stood up slowly. He walked around the table, his leather shoes making slow thuds against the floor, and stopped a few feet from Silas, towering over the shaking heir.

"I have fought dozens of battles, Grey." A sneer twisted his lips as he looked down at Silas as if he were a bug under his boot. "I have killed Alphas who challenged my borders. I have burned territories to protect my people."

His eyes narrowed. "But I have never met a man as utterly worthless as you."

"Do you take the bet or not, Pereira?" Silas glared at him in return. "Or is the great 'Vicious Alpha' too coward to play for the ultimate prize? I don't want to believe your infamous title is a joke."

Diego’s eyes narrowed into sharp, emerald slits. Then a dark smirk touched the corner of his lips—a look that sent a cold wave of dread straight through my chest.

"Deal the cards," he ordered to the dealer, but he kept his eyes locked on Silas. "Let us see how much your fate is worth, chico."

The dealer’s hands trembled violently as he picked up the deck. The card paper snapped through the silent room. One card to Silas. One card to Diego. A second card to Silas. A second card to Diego.

I couldn't move. I couldn't scream. I was paralyzed, watching my existence, freedom, and soul hang by a thread over a poker table.

Silas snatched his cards up, peeling them back. A sudden, hysterical grin burst across his face. The sweat on his cheeks caught the dim light as he let out a breathless, triumphant laugh.

"Ace of Hearts!" he declared, slamming them face up on the table. "King of Hearts. Blackjack. I win. I win everything back."

His hands, trembling with greed, reached out toward the massive pile of land deeds,

"Touch them, and I swear to the moon goddess that you will never use those f*****g hands again." Diego’s voice took the tone of a savage beast. For a moment, judging by the sudden glow in his eyes, I almost thought his wolf was the one speaking.

Silas froze, his hands hovering inches above the paper. "What are you talking about? I have twenty-one. You can't beat twenty-one."

"Are you sure about that, chico?" Diego's eyebrow arched.

"Positive!"

With a smile rivalling a Cheshire cats's Diego slowly raised his right hand. With two long fingers, he turned his cards face up.

An Ace of Spades.

And a Jack of Spades.

A natural Blackjack. The highest hand at the table.

A hush fell upon the room.

Silas stared at the two black cards and the color drained from his face until he looked like a corpse. His eyes went wide, hollow, and lifeless.

"No, that's impossible. that's—"

"Game over," Miguel interjected, stepping forward and gathering the land deeds into his leather briefcase.

Diego didn't look at the cards. He walked right past the table and his gaze zoned in on the doors. On the tiny crack in the wood where I was standing, paralyzed in a deathly terror. Narrowing his eyes for a split second, he turned his attention back to the table.

"The wager is settled." His voice echoed in the room. "Fetch the pack elders, Miguel. It is time for Silas to pay his debt..."

A smile that would make the devil proud, materialized on his face.

"And surrender his prize."