Page 54 of His to Claim
"You're lying. You need to leave me alone."
"No, Emma. I'm telling you the truth. I will never lie to you again. I love you. Will you give me a chance?"
I look at him with tears streaming down my cheeks. "How can you even ask that of me? I am Anil’ha’s mate now. This shouldn’t have happened.”
"It's not your fault, Emma. I wanted this. It felt right. I had to try. I couldn't let you go."
My heart drops when he says those words. I reach up to touch his face. I pull his lips to mine and kiss him passionately. I whisper against his lips, "I love you too, Dhakar. But I cannot deny what I am… a slave. I belong to Anil’ha."
His eyes open wide and he laughs. "You are not a slave. Never think that. You are my mate. If it makes you happy, I will be your mate. I want us to be together."
"But I am still a slave. Nothing will change that. I belong to Anil'ha."
He presses his finger to my lips. "Please stop saying that. You won't always be a slave. We will find a way to be together."
“Dhakar, I'm sorry. I really am. I must insist you go."
"Emma, I know you are confused. But I'm here for you. You can trust me."
I wrap my arms around him and pull him close. "It's not that easy."
He kisses me gently and whispers, "Yes it is. I love you. Now please, let me be with you."
I shake my head. "I can't. I can't do this. It would only cause problems. Please, Dhakar. Leave me alone."
15
DHAKAR
Ileave Emma in her room. She broke my heart again. She chose Anil'ha over me one more time. This ends right here, right now. I can't endure getting hurt over and over by her words.
"Finally! It's been hours. Where's Emma?" Torr asks.
"In her room. Leave her be. We're getting out of this fucking planet," I say and walk past him. "She decided to stay here with Anil'ha and be his mate."
He stops me with a hand on my shoulder. “What did you just say?”
“I said she decided to stay here and be his mate. We have work to do, so let's get moving.”
Torr shakes himself off and walks away without another word or looking back at me.
"I want to go home... back to Bellaria." I signal Torr to follow me. "We need to find our way home."
"We need to get back to the portals," Torr replies. "The only portal we can find is in the middle of nowhere, but if we want to make it there before the sun rises, we have to move quickly."
I nod and start walking down the hallway, checking every door as we pass. We have to avoid the Valkryans. If they see us, we could die.
We manage to get out of the city safely and reach the outskirts of the forest. The suns are still an hour from rising. The sky looks like it will be cloudy all day. At least that's something.
A few minutes later, we come across a small river. We decide to cross it. It isn't very deep but the current is strong. We have to fight against the current for about ten minutes until we finally make it to the other side. I take a minute to catch my breath and look around. The trees are huge and thick. They create tall shadows.
There aren't any signs of civilization around us. We must be in the middle of nowhere.
"How far are we from the portals?" Torr asks.
"I don't know. Maybe half a mile?" I reply.
We keep walking until we reach a large clearing. There's a wide path leading from the road to the center of the clearing. We continue following the path into the forest. We're almost there when a noise catches my attention. A sound like a growl.
