Alaska ✓

7 | Empty

7 | Empty
❝When are you going to get it through your head? We're in this together!❞

Josh huffs as he limps behind me, an arm draped around my shoulder as we rush through the crowd, trying to get to safety. An elbow shoves in my side, causing me to hiss, but I ignore the pain. I wanted to get as far away from the rogues as I possibly could. I had seen what they could do, and I did not want my fate to be sealed by such a beast.

Josh's strides were wobbly as he staggered along, his head constantly lulling as he became dizzy. He had only woken up two minutes ago, but we had been forced to run to safety due to the havoc.

"Alaska!" Someone called over the chaos – a voice I did not recognise.

I didn't stop. Azra and Josh were safely with me, and I had no need to be distracted. This was war, and I didn't want to be killed when I was so close to escaping the pain.

The same person pulls on my shoulder with a hard tug, forcing me to face them. I come face to face with the steely grey eyes and sharp jaw line I dreaded to face on the battlefield. His hair was ruffled from the fight, and a recent cut ran along his cheek, dripping thick, crimson blood.

"Alaska!" Chase shouts in my face so that he can be heard above the racket. "The king has asked to see us. We need to go now."

I glance around at the werewolves pushing and barging past us through the corridor, some descending into the chambers below the castle, some sprinting up to the turrets – to wherever they thought that they would be safe.

Halting, I shake my head and it takes one look at Josh to make rage fizz through my veins. Did he really think that I would simply follow him after he did that to my friend?

And so, I slap Chase hard across the cheek with the cut, leaving my hand stinging with pins and needles. I hope it hurt him more than it hurt me.

"Don't you dare come near Josh again, arsehole," I growl, and feel my legs picking up the pace as I continued my ascend towards the entrance of the castle. Through the noise and shouting, it would be easy to slip out unnoticed. Then Chase could have the title he rightfully deserved.

Chase persists and grabs my upper arm, holding me firmly in place.

I try to jerk my arm away, but he's too strong. "Get off me you dick!" I order, but he does not comply.

Chase doesn't comprehend my words as he opens his mouth to say something. This better be good otherwise he'll find yet another hand mark across his other cheek. "It's a competition, Alaska. I did what I had to do, like you had to kill Titus."

I clench my teeth together, ready to argue in defence, but after a second, I realise that he's right. I had to kill Titus to win, and he had to hurt Josh to get into the final. He wanted to be king, and I wanted to survive. But I won't give him the satisfaction of my forgiveness.

I growl. "Just stay away from us."

"Alask-"

"Piss off chase!" I hiss, hoping that he would finally give up, but his grip stays firm. It was going to be much harder defeating him than I first planned.

"Please, Alaska. The King needs to see us now," Chase continues. Was he ever going to give up. Would he ever accept that I was human and I needed my own space? No, of course he wouldn't because he was Chase, the king of arrogance and cockiness. Well, at least he was a king of something.

"God, don't you understand the meaning of go away?" I roll my eyes, and with one final attempt I am able to writhe my arm out of his iron clamp.

I saunter off, and Chase stays frozen in the same spot as if his feet were stuck to the floor with superglue. He watches me carefully, with Josh and Azra beside me: at some point in the previous minute, Azra had taken Josh from my shoulder and propped him up on hers instead.