The Alpha King Marked Me. I Still Haven't Told Him I'm A Girl novel Chapter 41

Chapter 41: Forty One

Valka

During a bloody war, you learn a couple of things. The battle isn’t always to the strongest, swiftest or smartest. Sometimes, the weakest make it out alive, not because they’re lucky.

There’s no such thing on the battle field. They make it out alive because they understand that they are no match for the enemy and have a stronger sense of self preservation that places them in a constant flight mode.

The strong are used to fighting, getting beaten and rising again, even if it means dying. Admirable, yes. Wise? No.

Because if you thought about it deeply, the ones who survive in the end are the ones who know when to retreat.

"Remember, Valka," Lucien had said last night. "There is no shame in running from an enemy you cannot beat. Forget about winning and focus solely on surviving."

I’d bristled with indignation, thinking it an insult at the time. But after seeing Lilith take off the head of another Lycan without even trying, that too, with an ordinary steel blade, I realized he was right.

I am not just out of my element here. I am prey.

Still, as I dash for the woods, careening past Zyra’s body frozen with fear, I hesitate. I don’t know why I do it, but I grab at her wrist and tug her along with me.

"Stay close to me!" I yell at her as I hear her breaths come in quickly in a full blown panic. "Don’t look--"

I feel that phantom touch on my shoulder, almost like a push, before I hear the sharp twang of a bow string. My head snaps back and it feels like déjà vu.

Zyra Duskharrow’s brown gaze locks with mine for one frozen moment as my lips part on a desperate warning. Look out, I try to tell her. My fingers tighten around her wrist to pull her out of the way, but it is to no avail.

Her eyes are still fixed on mine when the arrow pierces through her throat. tears it open and flies directly for my head at an obscene angle, a move I’d seen on the battlefield before. The same shot Lucien had used to take out dozens of men, Lilith has released to kill me, taking Zyra down in the process.

Something slams into my shoulder, quick as lightning, hard as a boulder. My hand rips from a dead Zyra’s, and I crash into the ground with a hard cry.

"ON YOUR FEET!" The voice is a snarl. A heavy grip seizes my collar and hauls me upright, twisting us both aside just as two more arrows scream past where our heads had been.

My gaze meets light blue ones. Princess Evadne. She’s pressed to me, breath hot and fast. "My shit-head cousin compelled me to look after you. Miserable son of a cunt," she spits, fingers digging into my leather until I feel bone. "Head for the treeline and don’t stop until you hit cover." When I don’t move immediately, she kicks me in the ass. "Move!"

Then, we’re running.

A part of me wants to look back at the woman I was trying to save, at source of the new blood curdling screams echoing through out the forest, but I know turning around won’t make a difference. It’ll only get me dead. I can’t help them. How can I, when I can’t even help myself right now?

For what feels like hours, we flee, ducking under tree branches and fallen logs of wood, my boots slamming into mud and snow. Even after the sound of screaming fades, we do not stop. Eventually, the adrenaline fueling my blood stutters and my muscles begin aching from exertion.

"Where are we going?" I pant, halting by a barren fig tree, hand braced against the bark.

Every now and then, noise swells from outside the arena, echoing name after name, the most popular currently being, Lilith, Soraya, Altheira, and Morrigan.

Evadne crouches flexibly, bringing her hand to the earth beneath her and closing her eyes. She takes a deep inhale, brows furrowing in deep concentration as her fist closes around snow and dust. "What they don’t mention, is that there are four caves to each direction. North, West, East and South. They’re the only shelter made available and it takes more than half a day’s walk to reach the closest one. There are more dangerous things in these mountains than those godless heathens. You do not want to be out by dusk. We must make haste and continue West." 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Sucking in a deep breath, I croak, "I just... need a minute." When I can breathe again without feeling like my chest is about to implode, I say, "Why did she target us?"

Evadne scowls, her blue eyes sparking with annoyance. "Not me. You. And Zyra, gods bless her soul. It is normal to weed out the weaklings first, before going for much larger prey."

I blink--once--and suddenly she’s right there. Breath mingling with mine. Too close. My instinct is to recoil, but she hooks her fingers in my hair, tilts my head, and drags in a slow inhale at my throat.

I go very still. "Uh... what are you doing?"

"You smell different, you know?" Evadne murmurs, lips ghosting the frantic beat of my pulse. "It is odd, yet enticing. Alluring on a good day, but disastrous on a day like this."

"Why?"

Her mouth curves against my skin. "Because the entire arena can smell the wolf in your blood from miles away. Like the finest perfume to a hunter chasing prey." Her body heat rolls off in waves, peppering my skin against the chill in the air. "That, and you reek of Lucien."

Because he marked me. Without consent. That has to be a crime somewhere in the world, no?

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