Seraphine.
Those words were enough to knock the air right out of me. It was enough to pull me out of whatever haze or dizzy spell I was lost in.
My eyes fluttered open as I looked up at his stupidly beautiful face and whispered; "Kitten?"
"Yeah, you're still my kitten, Saphyra, whether this happened or not."
Something about those words made my brain freeze. I glared up at him for a moment too long and when it finally dawned on me who he is— was— I stilled in his arms.
He was Malik.
Malik from the book. The Alphas' Beta.
In the story, he was the only one who referred to Saphyra as his Kitten right from when they were children because he considered her as very fiery and fiesty.
He also had a crush as large as Antarctica on her— me— well, whatever!
I was still thinking these thoughts when he suddenly let me go— and I mean it literally! He dumped me on a large oak bench and walked away from me, his striking blue eyes meeting mine only for a brief second before he disappeared into the crowd in front of me.
The crowd.
I didn't even realize that there was one until now. And hell, they looked scary! They were the weirdest, strangest, most aggravated looking set of people that I have ever seen in my entire life, with women who were extremely beautiful and large to men who were halfway into becoming giants!
They were handsome too!
My breath hitched when I saw a familiar face in the crowd— Ragnar, and just as our eyes met, my stomach growled.
Shit shit, I didn't eat! I was too distracted, I couldn't eat the beef jerky he had gotten me!
Tears of frustration brimmed in my eyes when he mouthed the words; "Happy birthday," to me, but I didn't respond.
I couldn't.
Not when a large figure suddenly came to stand in front of me, blocking most of my line of sight with his ugly drabby washed up suit.
His eyes, which mostly held hostility, looked down at me in disdain as he drawled in a deep voice; "Now child, do you swear to tell the court the truth and nothing but the truth?"
I gulped, panicked for a second and nodded. "Yes."
"So you swear by the goddess that you will not lie. You will tell the court exactly what happened two days ago and—"
"Old man, I said yes," I answered impatiently, "I swear."
And as soon as those words slipped out of my mouth, the entire court gasped in surprise which soon morphed into irritation as they began to yell amongst themselves about how unrepentant I seemed.
How I needed to be killed without a hearing.
How the goddess— their goddess— should strike me down for being so callous.
The several voices echoing around me made my head spin so I gripped onto the bench I was sitting on, closed my eyes tightly and bit down on my lips until I tasted blood, my body shaking violently as they continued to cry out in rage.
That was until everything stopped.
Until the room stopped spinning and my heart stopped beating wildly against my chest.
A strange feeling, akin to a thousand watts of electricity, enveloped me all at once, and the agony which I once felt increased by a thousand fold.
A splitting headache tore through my skull and I couldn't help the groan that slipped out of my mouth then or the way my body jerked forward, leaving me gasping in agony and confusion.
I muttered; "What is wrong with me?"
But no one answered. And when I lifted my head, I noticed then that everyone was looking at me strangely. Not with their usual hostility but with shock, repulsion and worry all at once.
"What? Have you all suddenly decided that I am not a murd…?" I couldn't finish the words. I didn't finish it because another strange jolt of electricity rushed through my body with so much force, I stumbled and almost fell.
Almost.
But I didn't.
Not because of my 'overly excessive non-existent stamina' but because something else was holding on to me. And it was not a person. It was a thing.
It was a golden led-like rope that wrapped around my right wrist, glittering and sifting about like it had a soul of its own. My eyes followed the trail as it went up and up… and up…
Until…
It stopped at an altar-like structure where it split into four places to continue its ascent up and up… and…
"Wait, why's it latched onto the wrists of those four men sitting on those four thrones? And why is no one saying anything?"
The room was so silent, you could hear the sound of a pin drop, and the silence, compared to the chaos that once ensued made a tremor run up my spine. It made me uncomfortable in ways I couldn't explain and made me want to—
"How is this possible?!"
That was not my voice, it was the voice of one of the four men sitting on their thrones and it thundered around the large hall, echoing again and again until I could literally feel it wash over my skin like a caress…
Not a real nice caress, more like a caress from a pedophile.
I swallowed thickly when he rose to his feet and my breath almost left my lungs when I saw how large he was. Heavens, his size was almost beastly.
He sauntered over to me like a predator would to its prey and it wasn't until he stepped into the light that I saw his face.
And again, my breath hitched. My heart somersaulted in my chest and my knees, already weak, turned into jello.
Why?
Because he was ethereally handsome… and because I have seen that face before.
It was the face of the handsome daredevil who had first accused me of killing his Eloise, his sister.
And maybe he immediately saw what went through my mind because his face then squeezed into the ugliest snarl I've ever seen.
"How is this even possible?!" He barked again, sending goosebumps spreading across my skin.
When he walked, his footsteps echoed around the hall, and the people shrunk back from him in fear.
And I mean it, fear. Actual fear.
"Is this some sort of mockery? Or a curse from the goddess?!" He bellowed, and before I could react, he latched his hand under my chin until his nails dug into my flesh, forcing me to look into his eyes.
Gosh, what's his kink with this thing?
"You, Saphyra, are my mate?!"