Chapter 85: Letting her go

Della’s fingers curled instinctively over her stomach.

"What do you want?" She demanded, her voice cracking from exhaustion rather than fear.

Malachi didn’t answer, and he simply looked at her.

Really looked at her. Why was he staring as though all that time inside the cave, he hadn’t actually looked at her at all.

His eyes fell on every detail.

The dried blood running down both bare feet.

The deep red marks circling her wrists and ankles where the shackles had bitten into her skin.

The hand she refused to move away from her abdomen.

"You came to take me back." She spat again, already thinking of how to escape him.

If she ran, he would catch up in a second. If she stayed, he would eventually close the distance between them and drag her back.

"You’ll have to kill me first." She added, her tone venomous and protectively...and very desperate.

She took a step backwards, still watching him very carefully. She sighed, and a large broken branch a few steps away from her, and she thought about diving for it. If he came close to her, she wouldn’t hesitate to break it on his head.

"I’d rather die." Her voice shook, wondering if he was going to say anything or just watch her keep shooting daggers down his spine till he had had enough.

And Della wasn’t joking about dying, and Malachi knew it very well enough. She would fight until her last breath.

Not because she thought she could win.

Because she believed death beside him was better than life with him.

After she had lain there, felt him tear off her clothes, put on that blindfold and gag her remorselessly, it had taught her a lot about them.

Malachi would never, ever take her side. He would never try, or even attempt to take her side. He was a cruel, cruel man to those he firmly believed were evil, even if the truth was looking him straight in the fucking eye.

Malachi’s gaze remained empty, his heart the only thing shackled in the forest right now. He was still in disbelief of what had happened in there at the cave... but the major shock he’d had all evening...was when he’d also heard that little flutter in her belly.

"You shouldn’t have stopped." He finally spoke.

She blinked, "...What?"

"If you keep standing here..." His gaze drifted briefly beyond her shoulder, "...they’ll find you."

"I don’t understand." Her brows knitted together.

"You don’t need to."

Silence stretched between them. Then, he stepped aside. Only one pace. But it cleared the narrow path through the trees.

"This will lead you to the small villages. Humans live there, and they won’t recognise that you’re a rotblood. They’ll help you," He said.

Della stared, and her eyes narrowed at him again.

Surely, this was a trick, right?

"You expect me to believe this?" She eyed him.

"I expect nothing." His voice was flat, "You have perhaps five minutes before the others regain their senses. And from the looks of it...you’re powerless again,"

Still she didn’t move.

She couldn’t.

Nothing about this made sense.

"You aren’t taking me back?" She asked.

"No."

"Why?"

He looked at her for a long moment, then he answered, "I’ve already done enough." The words were barely above a whisper, and there wasn’t anger in them.

She had expected a lot of it. Considering how she might have ruined his smooth evening by awakening and almost murdering two important women in his pack.

Della searched his face again. She wanted to find the lie in them. She needed to.

Instead, she only got more silence. If the mate bond was still active between them, maybe she would have gotten a little hint as to how he was feeling, which could give her clues on what he was thinking.

The silence became unbearable, and finally, he looked away from her and said, "You’ll survive longer if you leave now."

His eyes never met hers again.

"Go."

She didn’t move.

"Go." He repeated a second time, and she heard his voice break this time, very slightly that she doubted what she heard.

But it did break, making something inside her crack with confusion.

Why?

Why now?

After everything?

After the chains.

After the rejection.

After standing there while they—

No.

No.

She couldn’t think about it.

She couldn’t trust it.

Perhaps he simply didn’t want her to get angry again and unleashed her wolf.

Perhaps he planned to hunt her later.

Perhaps—

None of it mattered!!!

Her child did.

Without another word, she took one slow step toward him. Then she took another and waited.

Any second now, his hand would wrap around her wrist, and he’d throw her over his shoulder and drag her back there.

Nothing happened.

She took more steps, till she was very close to him. Another step, and she had walked past him and into the path.

Ten steps further away from him.

Twenty.

Thirty.

Still, nothing.

Unable to stop herself, she looked back to see that he hadn’t even moved. He stood exactly where she’d left him.

Watching her.

Not following.

Not calling her name.

Just simply watching her with cold, empty eyes. And maybe it was because she was a little farther away from him, and she might be very, very wrong... but she would have sworn she saw a deep look of remorse on his face.

But before she could even comprehend it well, he turned around and disappeared toward the mountain.

The moment he did, it didn’t take her another two seconds before she also turned back and ran.

She ran harder than she ever had before.

The fear she’d been holding back exploded all at once.

He’d let her go.

He’d...

Actually let her go.

She didn’t understand it.

Didn’t want to.

Didn’t have time to.

Branches lashed across her face, and thorns ripped at her legs. The forest blurred into streaks of silver and black, and it felt like hours were passing — or perhaps it was only minutes.

Time had become meaningless, especially since her body was beginning to fail again.

Her vision doubled, and every breath burned. She stumbled, blinking repeatedly to keep her vision normal, but she stumbled again.

"Just..." She gasped, "A little..."

Her knees buckled, and she slammed against a tree before sliding halfway down it.

No! She couldn’t pass out here.

She pushed herself up again, but the world tilted violently, and the trees seemed to sway. At this point, she was going to fall and pass out cold, in the middle of nowhere!

A familiar voice suddenly cut through the silence, "Della!"

She froze.

No, she’d imagined it.

"Della!"

The voice was closer this time, and footsteps crashed through the undergrowth.

Then—

"Oh my Goddess..." Annelise burst through the bushes, her face draining of every drop of colour, "Della..." Her horrified gaze swept over the bruises.

The blood.

The torn skin.

The swollen wrists.

Della tried to smile, but she could barely lift one corner of her mouth, "I..." Her voice failed, and Annelise reached her just as her legs finally gave out, catching Della before she hit the ground.

"I’ve got you." She whispered.

Della’s head fell weakly against her shoulder.

"I’ve got you." Annelise repeated.

The last wall inside Della collapsed, and her body finally surrendered.

Everything went black.