Ravenna: She who struck back

Chapter 6: Not again

/-Ravenna-/

My entire body trembled, not from fear or the cold but from the feeling that stemmed within me when his deep, rough and disbelieving voice reached me.

He looked to be in as much shock as I was yet the very words that had shaken me to my core, like lightning causing ripples across the surface of a still lake had come from him.

"Mate?" I repeated, uncertainly, unable to digest the word much less bring myself to understand what it meant.

Here before me, stood a man whose identity I had no knowledge of but could feel deep within my bones.

It was like the part of me that had sunken into silence for moons had stirred awake.

The broken howl of my wolf quivered in the recesses of my mind, like the flicker of a candlelight in a roaring, dark abyss.

No.

No, no, no.

This could not be happening, not now, not ever, not again.

Still rooted in disbelief, I stumbled back a step, falling deeper into the snow, arms instinctively wrapping around myself like a cloak, barely covering my blood streaked skin.

I could feel many stares on me, the gazes of the warriors lined behind him but it was him I could not look away from, the man who had killed with terrifying speed and accuracy, who now stood frozen still, thunder-struck.

Tall, brimming with an aura so unfathomable, there was no mistaking it, he was an Alpha.

My throat tightened and my eyes shifted to the glowing mark on his neck, my gaze dropping to the same, immediately distinguishable one that had burned itself into the skin of my wrist the moment I laid my eyes on him.

The burn that had followed it was a sharp contrast to the cold.

My wolf urged me to go to him while all I wanted to do at this moment was run away.

"Alpha Mael, it's her," The man behind him muttered, staring in a penetrating manner at me like I was a prized artifact.

My mate, the one he called 'Alpha Mael' inched forward and my hands tightened around myself, "Don't!"

"Don't come any closer," I said in a raspy voice, hoarse from all the screams, from surviving.

His brows furrowed, like I had spoken in a language he didn't understand, "You are hurt, I'm just trying to help."

"I don't need help," I bared my teeth, too weak to even get to my feet but too stubborn to let him think I was some damsel who had fallen into fate's design.

Gritting my teeth, I gathered my strength, trying to lift myself up and barely rising to my feet, all wobbly.

"What are you doing?" He asked, eyes boring into mine when I backed away.

I hated the look, how it made me want to saunter into his arms, how it felt like a hand scratching at my heart.

"There's a mistake somewhere, I'm not your mate," Even as I said that, I could feel the quiet thrum of the bond, a feeling I was all too familiar with.

Something shifted in his expression. It was hard, but now there was something else- understanding.

"You must be in shock," He stated, like it was a fact he was privy to. "I am Mael, the Alpha king of Aeloria," His voice lowered, almost to a whisper like it wasn't a woman before him but a weak, cornered wolf.

"I don't know what happened to you," He paused, tone softening, "but you look hurt. I just want to help you."

"Why?" The word tumbled out of my lips before I could stop myself.

"Because you are mine."

Mine.

That word made my stomach twist, bile rising up my throat.

Nolan had said the same, a time that seemed too long ago.

He had claimed me, then turned my world upside down, thrown it into an upheaval that had no reversal.

I stared at him for a minute then threw my head back, letting out a cold laughter, one devoid of mirth, just as cold as the snow surrounding us, "What sick sense of irony the moon Goddess has."

The man behind him shifted, face twisting uncomfortably and then he whispered something to Mael who took another step forward, "You should come back with me."

My already cautious gaze turned even more guarded and my steps traced backwards, putting even more distance between us, "I'm not going anywhere, not with you, not with anyone."

What I needed to do was to leave.

To keep running, as far away as I could.

Not only from the dredges of my past but the fresh architecture of fate that stood before me.

"You can't leave," His eyes narrowed, almost as if he had read through my thoughts, like he had seen through my intentions.

I took another step backwards, unaware of the log of wood that stood in my path until I stumbled over it, falling into the snow again.

Not a cry left my lips, even though I hit the ground hard and the man's brows knotted even more tightly, like he was trying to fathom why I was being so stubborn.

I scanned my surroundings, saw the dead rogues whose bodies littered the ground then met his eyes again, "You helped me, I thank you for that. You should leave now."

Silence stretched between us for a really long time before he spoke again, "Not without you."

It was firm, with a note of finality, like the order of a ruler that could not be rescinded.

He had said so too, hadn't he?

That he was the Alpha of Aeloria and if anything, he possessed the regal authority of one.

My vision clouded suddenly, the cold biting deeper into my bones, an odd dizziness creeping in. My body has been stretched to its limits, battered and bruised.

I blinked, watching as the world began to fade in my vision, like it was dimming.

"No," I whispered, the word as fluttery as the last breath I took.

My knees gave out.

Mael surged forward to catch me and the last thing I saw was his face, etched with many emotions.

I caught one.

Fear.