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CHAPTER SEVEN | AMARA POV

"She is not an it, she is my mate." He growls through clenched teeth.

"And you will give her respect as you do I."

Giada stares at him with irritation. The room veiled heavily with thick tension.

I breathe a sigh of relief at his sentence. If I'm to be respected that means that they don't have plans to kill me-- at least I hope.

I'm tired of the secrecy, what did he mean by his mate? His-- as in I belong to him?

"Mate?" I repeat, in exasperation.

His eyes, finally land on mine, and immediately his expression softens.

"Yes, you're my mate."

"And what exactly is a mate?" I ask lowly, finding myself unable to tear my gaze away.

The room falls into an uncomfortable silence before Giada wafts a hand in my direction. "We have more pressing matters than a human mate. We are on the verge of war and the last thing we need is a human distracting the beta." Her eyes narrow into slants, words dripping with venom.

I narrow my eyes in return with gritted teeth, "Was I the one who asked to be here? Return my belongings and I will gladly leave!" My voice spills into the room, a loud shout, as my impatience pours into my words.

Giada raises her eyebrow, in slight surprise. 

"It's not that simple." Came his stony response.

I whip my head around to face him, my eyebrows screwed together in frustration.

"Then make it simple."

The room falls into another thick silence. His crimson lips part to speak as he reached for my wrist, to which I swiftly step away from.

His hazel eyes widens with dismay. At the sight, my heart unexplainably ached.

I can't take this anymore. I need to breathe.

Before they could say more, I turned and tore the door open. Anywhere, I just need to breathe. I thought as I ran through the lengthy corridor.

Heavy foot steps follow swiftly behind me, before a warm hand catches my wrist.

With my heart pumping in adrenaline, I catch my breath and turn around and falter slightly in my footing. 

He quickly grasps the small of my back, eliciting a wince from me.  He notices and quickly releases his hold.

"I'm sorry," His eyes trails down to the bandage that peeked over my shoulder.  Before returning cautiously to my gaze, "I should've been there sooner." He mutters, apologetically

My eyes widens at his mention of last night, finding myself at loss for words. It's the last thing I want to talk about- but the elephant in the room.

Carefully he reaches again to hold the small of my back, before gingerly tracing my spine. I shiver at his touch and feel the pain leave, as if it were washed away.

I furrow my eyebrows in confusion, he must have noticed that I was taken aback and breaks the silence.

"I wish I could do more but this is the most I can do to relieve you until we are bonded." His eyes flicker to mine, and I feel my cheeks begin to heat up as he refused to look away from me. The tension between us is almost suffocating, yet all I want is for him to be closer. Annoyance flares in the back of my mind at my lack of control over myself. Why am I so drawn to him?

What does he mean by 'Bonded?'

At his words, I break out of his grasp and cross my arms over my chest.

"I don't understand, I haven't understood anything since last night." I confess, irritably.

At this his head tilts momentarily, as if he were calculating his answer.

Suddenly, he inches closer to me, breaking the distance between us until it seems that we are only a breath apart.

He looks down onto me, close enough that I can feel the body heat radiating from him. "Then let me make sense of this for you."

My breath catches in my throat at the close proximity, and I bite back my will to run again. I'm finally getting my answers, even if it comes in this torturous fashion.

"You are my mate- I assume this is what the humans call a soulmate?"

My widens at his statement, how he said it so matter of factly with confidence. My mind flicks back to last night.

"Mate." The word thundered into my mind as if it weren't my own.

As if I knew before I knew. I also want to deny the unrelenting fact that he painfully resembles the person in my dreams.

As if I always knew him.

The coincidences are hard to ignore at this point, and I hate to say that it all seems to be aligning with what he's saying. But I've never been the type to blindly believe , I need explanations, to completely understand. And the only facts that I have right now is that last night I nearly died in the hands of a creature that resembled a human previously, a man that claims to be my soulmate saved me, then subsequently kidnapped me.

"Who are you?" I ask, lowly.

To which he responds with a slight smirk, "Ezra."

The name falls like fluid, a ring to it that matches his demeanor. "I assume you already know my name, since you have my belongings." I state, boldly. Surprising myself.

He nods at this, eyes flashing at my newfound courage. "I do, but I'd rather hear it fall off of your lips."

My face heats at his words, and I struggle to maintain my poker face. "Amara." I gaze up at him, he's so close that I can see the light flecks of gold in his eyes.

The air cackles with electricity, almost as if there is an energy between us, beckoning to have me closer.

"Ezra!" Came a loud shout from down the corridor.

Immediately, both our faces snap towards the source. One of the men in the room from earlier stares back, with crossed arms over a bulky chest.

Shoulder length brown hair, and matching earth eyes.

"Our boarder guards are back, we need to hear their status."

There's a momentary silence, as if they shared a wordless conversation before Ezra began his walk away from me.

"Wait, you have answers you owe me!" I shouted at his retreating figure.

He paused in his step, and turned slightly towards me. "All I want is for you to be safe, and after last night's encounter being here is the safest place I can keep you. As for your questions- I have the rest of our lives to answer them."

My heart jumped in my chest at his words, and I fought to push it away. 

I am not going to be stuck here, I have a future I planned. 

With every step further he took, the further my frustration rose. 

END OF CHAPTER