The very statement makes me feel numb.
Fuck.
My heart thumps as I realise that’s another reason I couldn’t mind-link her. He is an alpha, and when an alpha marks someone it breaks their tie to their pack.
The sheer weight of the consequences hits me as another devastating reminder hits me. Only a person’s true fated mate can remove another wolf’s mark. Even Jessica still has Zidane’s mark and because my mom was Dad’s fated mate, there’s no way Jessica could mark him, either.
The only way a fated mate’s mark can be removed is if they have passed away, which is the case with my mom. But Dad would need to mark an unmarked woman, who could then mark him back, to remove my mom’s mark.
Now that Zidane chose to mark someone else, did it mean that Jessica’s mark has disappeared? Maybe… leaving them the possibility to mark one another in the future if they so choose.
I push the thought away, not even wanting to think about that when there’s so much going on here.
Would Dad have felt the pack-link break? He would have… fuck, this is a mess.
I stare into her pretty face, realising there’s no way that I can remove this mark from Scarlett’s neck.
Fuck.
I wanted to mark her and make her my Luna. Now, without her true mate, this mark will always stain her neck and that is something I will never be able to forgive myself for.
It angers me. I hate the fact that we ever walked into the Desert Storm Pack so recklessly. I should have stuck to my instincts.
Fuck!
A sudden thought enters my mind, and somehow, I feel as if it’s my wolf.
Maybe, somehow, we could be mates.
I feel an ache in my chest, just the thought makes a flicker of joy come alive inside of me.
If we were mates, that would be a fucking dream come true. Yeah, this is the same me who never believed in love or mates and now I hope for both.
I feel her forehead. She’s clammy and broken into cold sweat. I look at her neck, frowning again. Why isn’t she healing?
Her skin is growing paler by the second as well. I kiss her forehead tenderly, wishing to take away her pain.
Rafael tosses me a shirt and pants, and I catch them.
“Care to share why the hell you’re on Zidane Malone’s bad side?” he asks, pulling a face. “He’s the last person you want to piss off.”
“I’m sorry for getting you involved,” I say, pulling the shirt that smells of Rafael over Scarlett’s head. As much as I hate another male’s scent on her, I prefer her covered. Still holding her, I put the pants on, struggling a little but refusing to put her down.
“It’s not an issue. I owe you my life anyway,” Rafael reminds me with a grin as he pulls his curly black shoulder-length hair into a ponytail. “I never knew you found your mate.”
“She… she isn’t,” I admit, feeling a pang at the very thought. “But I’m going to make her my Luna.” Rafael looks surprised but says nothing.
He observes me for a moment before I look away and I’m grateful he doesn’t push it.
“What the fuck is that?” I murmur suddenly, my eyes returning to Scarlett’s neck. Rafael turns, leaning over the seat, an eerie silence filling the car as we look at what is now forming beneath Scarlett’s skin.
“What in the name of the Goddess…”
The wound on Scarlett’s neck is closing up, but there beneath her skin, black root-like veins are spreading from the bite mark, going up her neck and around her shoulder, visibly pulsating as if they are alive.
My heart thunders as I try to control my rage.
“The bastard marked her,” I breathe dangerously, my eyes flashing, “and I don’t fucking know what it’s doing to her, but I will fix this.”