Marked Mate

26

SCARLETT

Everyone looked at me as if I'd grown a second head, and I could practically feel the rage and confusion radiating off Roman, the feeling hitting me slap bang in the face, causing my heart to falter.

"What?" he snapped, gritting his teeth, his nostrils flaring. His fists were clenched beside him, and he stood tall, intimidation oozing from him.

"I know it sounds crazy, but-"

"Yeah, it sounds crazy," Roman chuckled, but there was no humour in it. He was laughing in disbelief. "Scarlett, why would you want to go anywhere near Nyx? There's no way. He'll kill you."

This was what I was afraid of. I knew Roman wasn't going to agree with me - no matter what. He didn't see this situation the same as I did. We were in different boats, here, but I didn't blame him for reacting in such a way. If I were him, I would feel the exact same.

Erica took a worrying glance up towards Roman before stepping towards me, holding out her hands. "Okay, okay," she said, trying to cut the tension in the room. "Although you sound crazy right now, we owe it to you to at least hear your reasonings."

"No." Roman shook his head, his tone leaving no room for argument. "There's no need to listen to the reasonings because it's not happening."

Brandon remained quiet in the corner of the room, seated in a leather chair. He held a calm aura, with his thumb touching his lip as he cocked his head, intensely listening to the conversation.

"Roman, please," I said, taking a step forward, sighing. "Please. You don't have to agree with me, but at least listen to me."

He clicked his door shut, his chest puffing out as he exhaled, cursing under his breath.

"Thank you." I knew better than to touch him at a time like this. I didn't want it to come across like I was attempting to cloud his judgement with our mate bond. "We want to get to know Nyx's way of thinking and how he works. We want to know all about how he treats the gifted wolves and what he does with them, so what better way to do that than be on the inside?"

"You-"

Erica turned to Roman with a stern look, silencing him with her hand. "Let her continue, Roman. Please."

"Thank you." I smiled at her, and she inhaled a shaky breath.

She didn't seem too excited about what I was saying, but it appeared she wanted to give me the benefit of the doubt and allow me to plead my case. She knew how important this was to me.

"You hand me over to Nyx, claiming you've discovered what I am and, although you don't want me as a mate, you want me safe, hence why you trust Nyx with me. It'll prove your loyalty to him. I can speak to other gifted wolves there and get the information on the inside. Then, I can feed it back to you guys."

"And how do you expect to do that?" Brandon said, finally speaking, causing his brother to snap his gaze to him, both of their jaws taut. "There's no way you'll be allowed out to be able to meet us. Knowing Nyx, you'll be under lock and key, chained up in a dirty cellar."

I chewed on my cheek. "I'll find someone who's willing to get to you guys. Me escaping won't work since I'm sure Nyx will have his eye on me, but gifted wolves are resilient. I know they'll jump at the chance to escape and feed the information to you guys in order to free everyone and bring down Nyx."

Roman huffed. "Why are we talking about this like it isn't hypothetical? Scarlett, this isn't happening." His eyes met mine, and he gulped, looking hurt and in pain. "I just found you, baby. I won't let you get taken away from me."