Chapter 19

Varek

I can’t bring myself to look at Paige because I already know what waits for us back at the glowhollow.

Draxel carries Paige’s friend who looks half dead, the other women are starved, strumbling and holding on to each other as they walk. One of them was kidnapped and taken by the Thachiens.

She will probably never be found.

I never should have made that stupid deal with Paige.

I lied to the council. To my people. And now, the truth is about to come out.

Draxel will be called as a witness against my orders—he’ll do anything to protect himself from punishment now that he has mated with the red-headed one. I don’t blame him. It’s exactly the reason I’m in the position I’m in.

We walk closer to the mountainside and from the southern crack appears a horde of Vrut males. Most of them are hunters, but some harvesters are thrown in the mix. All males I’ve grown up alongside or given orders to.

In front of them is Kylor.

“He must have followed us,” Paige mumbles beside me.

The gathered males watch us with wide stances, deflated shoulders, and hopeful stares. Each male is searching for his own mate amongst the new humans.

None of their chests flare bright.

The rest of the council joins Kylor. Elyra—her features firm and solemn—but Mydros has an infuriating smirk on his face.

“Varek,” Kylor calls out.

We stop in front of the horde of males blocking our way. Paige’s eyes snap in my direction, her brows knitting.

I bow my head in respect. It’s time to face whatever punishment I deserve.

“I will not fight,” I say quietly.

Paige sucks in a sharp breath and leans into my side. She wraps her fingers around my bicep and huddles close. “What’s going on?”

On Kylor’s orders, the males step forward and surround Paige and I. She flinches and my chest flares bright, ready to protect her, but no one dares lay a finger on her.

“Wait, no! No! Varek, what’s happening?”

“It’s okay, Paige,” I murmur. I pull her into my arms and inhale the sweet smell of her. My mate. My reason for living. I suppose I never quite understood what it would be like to throw out everything you know for the happiness of a mate. Do I regret anything?

I can’t say that I do.

“Varek!” She whines into my chest, her voice wavering.

“They are taking me to the mines. The council will decide my fate.”

“Wh-what do you mean?”

I comfort her as best I can without letting my own emotions slip. “I have to pay for what I’ve done.”

The males crowd around us. When one reaches for me, Paige shoves the hand away. “No! You can’t! This is all my fault!”

I hug her tight, squeezing and memorizing the feel of her body. She has her friends now. The clan will protect her. Perhaps, I can’t hope for anything more.

“Mate,” I whisper into her hair. “Be strong for your friends. And know that I did this for you, but my decision was my own.”

She looks up at me, blinking through tears that tear my chest in two. I wipe them off her pretty face and then push her away. The males absorb her and send her outside the circle of bodies before surging in and immobilizing me. The slashes across my back flair in pain as my comrades wrap my arms behind me.

“No!” Paige screams. She tries to slam her way back to me but Kylor grabs her, holding her back.

He steadies her and forces her attention on him. “It has been decided, Human.”

Elyra steps forward and addresses my mate. “Paige, Kylor will lead you and the others to a private chamber. Selvara will be waiting for you there.”

Paige shakes her head.

“We will accept the women into our clan. And we will hold a trial in the Luminary in a week’s time.”

Paige is a wreck. Her color is gone as she stares at me, willing me to do something. Fight back.

I can’t. That will only make this worse.

We’re lucky that the council is accepting the humans at all and not shutting them out to fend for themselves amongst the Thachiens and the strids. With the dangling possibility of more mates, the clan is willing to make room.

I’m yanked forward, a hard shove at my back to get me moving and I hiss. I keep my eyes on Paige, infusing in my gaze all the emotions swirling through my belly.

Love. Strength. Bravery. She needs it all right now.

Paige’s lip trembles as she mouths my name and I fight every instinct to go to her, throw her over my shoulder, and run from here. I just found her. I’m not ready to let her go.

But if I’m exiled, I won’t put her through a life on the run.

Especially not if she is already carrying my spryte.

A warm sense of pride settles in my belly at the idea.

My mate. A family of my own.

It’s what I have always dreamed of.

Betraying the council and my people would always be worth it.

I allow the hunters to drag me through the southern crack and down into the mines. They shove me forward until I’m stumbling into a chamber, devoid of luminite, mined within an inch of collapsing. A hard slap to my back sends me to my hands and knees, but I don’t fight back.

Fighting back will bring a worse punishment.

Some chuckles fill the dark room as the males make their way back above ground. There is no need to watch over me down here and the council knows it. With Paige in the glowhollows, where else would I go?

I cannot leave. I will not leave her like my father left us. She will not suffer as my mother did. But even though my parents suffered so greatly because of their bond and being torn apart from each other, I could not ask for anything else. I would not erase the intensity of my love and adoration for Paige.

That love brought me into this world. The thought of never having held Paige in my arms, never memorizing the beat of her heart, of the shade of her light brown eyes, eclipses the agony of losing my parents.

It is a thought worse than death.

So even if my muscles scream and twitch to search for Paige–to fight every male that would stand between us, or even the council if I needed to– here I’ll wait.

Wait to pay for the sacrifices I made for her.