ZARAMANNI (BOOK ONE)

When Zaramanni woke up from the slumber she wasn’t aware she fell into, she noted that she was not in her bed. Without opening her eyes, she could tell that much. And when she noted that the scent that surrounded her was not that of Beta Zoey’s, her eyes snapped open and she sat up.

With caution tucked into her narrowed eyes, she scanned the aesthetic ceiling of the room. Then, she studied the enormous bed that she thought would conveniently take about ten slim people. When she looked ahead and studied the layout of the room, it occurred to her that she had come to that place before.

She just didn’t recall the details.

When Zara got off the somewhat high bed, she noticed that she was dressed in one of Zoey’s shirts and that made her wonder if Zoey had another room in the manor. But then, Zaramanni could strongly sense that she was not in the manor.

Unlike the rooms she had seen in the Crown-Blood Manor, that room was colourful, grandly exquisite and it was like a room meant for a King.

With her curiosity abounding, she approached one of the draped windows. Once she pulled the patterned curtain to the side, it occurred to her that she was at Zenrada’s palace.

But it made no sense that she was there.

Well, that was until she recalled that she had powers that could drag her to unwanted places.

Taking a step away from the window that showed her a view of armoured guards receiving a lecture from their leader, Zaramanni began to worry.

While she wondered for how long she had been zapped into that room, she waited for her powers to activate and take her back but nothing happened. Not even when she closed her eyes tightly and grunted with all her might while manifesting her wish to be taken back to the manor.

When nothing worked, Zaramanni knew it was time to take the challenging route. She was going to walk out of that room, find Alpha King Darren, and request that he takes her back to the manor.

’And what will you say if you are asked about how you ended up here?’ a tiny voice in her head asked.

Shrugging, Zaramanni who was trying to feel confident about her reckless plan, said aloud, “I can just say I got lost. It’s not like I’ll be lying. So, yes,” she took a deep breath and began to walk toward the grand exit at the far left side of the room, “I will be fine.”

Zaramanni began to chant that last statement as a way of comforting herself, not concerning her presence in that room, but about the deaths of her friends.

She was about to pull the carved handle of the right door when it swung open and she came face to face with Luna Laura, a woman she never thought she would set her sight on again.

Zaramanni began to take backward steps into the dimly lit room and Laura did not hide her disgust.

Arms folded, the she-wolf who was dressed in a tiny-strap dress that revealed the outline of her breasts said, “I can’t believe you are already whoring yourself to the Alpha King.”

Zaramanni paid no heed to that ridiculous statement, she just wanted a means to escape.

Luna Laura continued, “Do you think Darren is yours just because we had an argument? We are fixing our union, so…” Zara’s legs hit something wooden, so she could not move any further. And the she-wolf took it as a chance to appear more dominating. “... stay away from him.”

“Uh… sure. I have no use for him either way. But can you tell me where he is? I need his help to get back to the manor.”

“How audacious of you,” Laura scoffed, anger flashing in her eyes. “You talk to me as though we are equals.”

“I am not interested in gauging who and who is my equal.” Zara wore a small smile and her eyes darted toward the exit where two girls dressed in off-cream gowns stood with their heads hung. “Can I leave now?”

“No.”

It was at that point that Zaramanni gave meaning to the bitter tone in Laura’s voice. The girl reasoned that the Luna must have found out that Alpha Darren’s Red Thread was connected to her.

But Zaramanni did not want to be with the Alpha, so she decided to clear the issue.

With her palms planted on the surface of the desk behind her, she looked Laura in the eyes and said, “I am not interested, Laura. I am not interested in your husband.”

“But you are in his room,” the Luna whipped Zara with hatred in her eyes, “and you are dressed in a man’s shirt.”

“This is not-”

“I have to put you in your place.”

“What do you mean by that?”

Laura smiled and relaxed her hovering. “You will find out soon.” Flapping noise from the Luna’s slippers filled the tense air as she walked toward the door.

Zaramanni ran after her so that she could have the chance to leave the room, but she was not fast enough. When the door closed on her, Zara heard Laura’s command to the girls at the door.

She said, “Do not let her come out no matter what happens.”

Then, she walked away.

With no intention to be locked up because of a woman’s jealousy, Zaramanni began to bang on the doors, yelling, “Let me out,” in a way that could not be ignored.

But she was ignored… greatly ignored.

And that caused Zara to feel discouraged. When hitting the thick doors became more painful and tiring, she stopped what she was doing and went to sit on the edge of the bed.

With her sight trained on the doors, she wondered if Zoey would have noticed that she was missing. Zaramanni needed no seer to inform her that her mate would be feeling devastated if he was already searching for her.

Zaramanni sighed and tore her sight off the doors. It was then that she noticed the bandages on her lower body.

They covered the little cuts she suffered while she was trying to make a dying Clarissa feel her warmth. Caressing each bandaged cut with her fingers, Zaramanni wondered if Clarissa and Isaac were in the better place souls were rumoured to go.

It would indeed be wonderful if there was a place in the great beyond where every beautiful soul goes to rest. It would indeed be wonderful if there was hope that they would all meet again.

It would indeed be wonderful…

~

It took several minutes for the doors of that room to open again.

And when they did, Luna Laura walked in with six ladies that wore the same dress as the girls from earlier. Judging from the uniformity, Zara deduced that they were servants. And the ladies didn’t come empty-handed.

Four of them carried low boxes that were light brown, one carried a chair and the last one held a wrapped and lengthy object.

Zaramanni swiftly got to her feet and the weariness in her soul multiplied. The fact that her powers were yet to drag her out of that place greatly worried her to the point of feeling tired.

“Set it over there,” Laura ordered the ladies, her hand pointed at the large space in the centre of the room. When the maid that struggled with the chair settled it on the ground, the Luna had her seat and watched as the boxes were stacked on each other.

When that was done, with a smirk on her face, Luna Laura said, “Bring her over here. It’s time to put her in her place.”

Zaramanni, who had no desire to find out what the Luna was about to do to her, tried to run toward the door. But when the arms of the ladies sent to capture her grabbed her, her plan failed.

Perhaps it was because they were werewolves, the hold of the two ladies that dragged the reluctant Zaramanni was really strong.

“Leave me alone,” Zara demanded as she stalled their movements by kissing the ground with her knees. Her eyes locked with Laura’s, she said, “I have no desire to partake in this nonsense.”

“Then you shouldn’t have slept with my husband!” Laura exclaimed, her forehead now wearing veins. With glaring eyes, the Luna faced the women holding Zara and ordered them, saying, “If you must drag her till she bleeds, I don’t care. Bring her here and make her stand on the boxes. When that is done, cover her head.”

“Yes, Luna,” the ladies chorused and the maids that were idly standing joined the struggle. That pulling force became too much for Zaramanni who decided to save her strength for later.

So, while she prayed and tried to force her so-called powers from wherever it was hiding, she allowed the maids to settle her feet on the stacked boxes.

But, before her head was covered per the Luna’s instruction, Zara stole a glance at the woman responsible for that moment and she swore that she would make her pay for what she was about to do.

Luna Laura must have read the look in Zara’s eyes as fear because she wore another smug look and that imagery was the last thing the half-fairy saw before a sack-cloth covered her face.

So, there she was, standing on stacked boxes, her entire head covered and her senses almost ruined thanks to the pungent smell inside the sack. That smell made Zaramanni sick. She was about to take the sack off when something clamped her hands and restricted her movements.

With a frown of concern etched on her forehead, Zaramanni waited for the next minute and what it was going to bring along. When that minute arrived, it came in the form of sharp pain that rested against the calves of her legs.

When that pain came again, Zaramanni yelped. The sting that settled in her calves was worse than the earlier one. But that was not the last of it.

As more of that stinging made her skin tremble, Zaramanni tried to stifle her cries of pain and she did not miss the whoosh-like sound that filled the air before the object in the hand of her torturer landed on her calves.

“This is what you get for thinking you can have a hold on my Alpha,” Laura said, her tone highly bitter.

But Zaramanni could hardly place her attention on what the woman was saying. Though she had managed to keep her yelps tucked, her eyes could not help but brew tears. The pain was indeed unbearable.

As each hit landed on her skin, it felt as though her whole legs were tearing in the worst way possible. It felt as though the insides of her skin were melting in the most terrible way.

“You should know your place, Zaramanni,” Laura continued. She did not allow the whipping to stop as she said, “You are nothing but a lowly girl. I know people like you. Reckless, dirty, cunning… You look for a way to weasel into somewhere you don’t belong.”

Based on the calm pace in the Luna’s voice, Zara could tell that she was not the one doing the whipping. She then wondered if she could change the order of the moment.

She did not, for any reason, have the intention to endure more of that painful situation. Especially since she didn’t do what the Luna was accusing her of doing.

So, after getting rid of her fears, Zaramanni decided to kick off the hand that was steadily whipping her. She calculated the number of seconds the object used to hit her stayed in the air before meeting her skin.

Once she deduced that she had to count from one to four, Zaramanni readied herself and waited for the next lash.

‘One… two… three…’ She counted in her mind. ’... four. Four? Fo…ur?’

The hit didn’t arrive.

A frown etched on her covered face, Zaramanni wondered what was going on. But when she felt a manly embrace from behind, she realised that the pain was over. Zaramanni, who was yet to stop her tears, sighed in relief, her shoulder shuddering as they relaxed in that comforting hug.

“Alpha Darren,” Luna Laura called, her voice wearing a tremble, the chair beneath her making scraping noises. “Wh-why are you here? You! How dare you hit the Alpha with the whip?”

Laura’s fear-filled utterances were enough to inform Zaramanni that the man hugging her was not who she thought it was.

Instantly irked, she pulled out of the hold and blindly tried to find another place to stand. But the boxes under her feet caught a whiff of her struggle and they began to wobble, causing Zara’s heart to rise to her chest.

Greatly afraid that her head would be hitting the ground within minutes, Zaramanni stretched her hands to reach whatever she could. And the person she was trying to evade caught her. His arm circled her waist at the very moment her head tilted back to the extent that the sack on her head came off.

Now able to see and free from the insane smell of the cloth, Zaramanni celebrated the fact that the contents of her head were not spilling all over the floor. When she tore her eyes off the ceiling, Alpha Darren, who hugged her lower body to his, slid her off his body till she was standing upright.

After a glance at her, Alpha Darren faced the Luna. The tone of his voice unforgiving, he asked, “What is the meaning of this?”

“W-well…” Laura quickly wore puffy shoulders. “ I found her in your room. I was just punishing her for being audacious enough to rest in the Alpha’s room.”

“I allowed her to take a nap in my room, so if you punished her because of that, it means that you have punished me. So,” Zara watched him narrow his eyes at Laura, “ how dare you?”

Laura was visibly not ready to let fear get the best of her. With anger in her tone, she asked, “Are you taking her side? Don’t be ridiculous, Darren, she is a nobody.”

“No! She is my…” The rise in his voice told Zaramanni that he was about to call her his mate. While that slightly irritated Zara, all she wished for was to return to the manor.

“She is what?” Laura taunted him. “Tell us and let everyone know who she is to you.”

“I have no time for this,” the Alpha King replied.

“Then-”

“If you lay your hands on her one more time, I won’t let you go scot-free.”

“You are really threatening me because of that little thing.” The purple-haired woman crossed her arms. “How can you do this, Darren? How can you do this because of a girl that’s going to leave anyway.”

“Even if she is bound to leave, she is going to be around for a while.”

“Is that a lie you feed yourself from time to time?”

Alpha Darren ignored the sassiness in the Luna’s voice. Looking down at Zaramanni who was tired of their back and forth, a tender caress in his creamy eyes, he said, “Henceforth, Zaramanni will be beside me. From this moment onward, Zaramanni is going to live in the palace.”

“What?” Zaramanni and Laura chorused and Luna Laura tossed a sneer in the half-fairy’s direction.

But Zaramanni was not paying attention to the woman.

With her forehead greatly creased, Zara peered into the Alpha’s eyes and said, “You can’t do this. This was not the plan, Alpha Darren,” her voice hardened.

“It is time for me to protect you. You will thank me later for doing this.”

“You are so selfish,” Zaramanni spat and a shaky breath followed as it occurred to her that she would not be seeing Zoey as often as before.

No, that must not happen. She had no desire to accept the crazy decision of the Alpha. She had to fight to make sure he doesn’t introduce a tear into her relationship with Zoey. It was already hard enough for her to deal with Clarissa’s death. She did not want to suffer another loss.

She was about to voice her great displeasure when the Alpha said, “This decision is final and it will be engraved using the Alpha’s seal. And that means, no one,” he tore his gaze from Zaramanni and faced the Luna, “will be able to disobey my order. If anyone works against the sealed order, death will be their portion according to the laws of Zenrada.”

Zaramanni, who found the hold of Alpha more disgusting, fell to the ground. As she replayed the words of King Darren in her head, the designed tiles were all her blurry eyes saw until they began to shed tears while she gnashed her teeth in anger.

And, she swore that Alpha Darren would pay for the game he was trying to play. She was going to make sure that the man knows that he gained one more enemy on the day he made a rash decision.

She was going to make sure of it…

~

PART TWO ENDS

~~

BOOK ONE ENDS