Freeing Starr

"Are you sure you'll be okay?" Nadia asked cautiously as I led her back into the room, "I don't want you to fight with Zion on my behalf."

I waved away her concern, "I'm fighting with Zion on MY behalf. You don't have to worry about a thing. I'll try to keep him away from this room as long as possible for you to heal up properly."

She nodded her head and sat down at the edge of her new bed, "when will he be coming back?"

I glanced at my phone, "later this afternoon. Since I changed the door locks, you can easily unlock it from the inside but just to be clear, you should not leave this room under ANY circumstances, do you hear? No matter what you hear, cover your ears and pray that Zion doesn't come to you."

Her body shivered in fear as she hugged herself and obediently nodded.

"Thank you... I enjoyed these two days together with you. You're so pretty, strong and selfless. It's no wonder Zion chose you as his mate. I'm not even mad."

I smiled tightly and headed towards the door, "don't forget to lock it once I step out."

Then I left the room and closed the door silently behind me.

I exhaled sharply and ran a hand down my face. I had a headache.

I went into the kitchen to clean up and make myself something to eat.

The front door opened and Niah's familiar scent wafted into the kitchen before she did.

"Hey, what you been up to?" She came and sat on one of the stools.

I flashed her a smile and shrugged, "just taking these few days to myself to relax. Someone promised to come hang out with me yesterday but never showed."

She chuckled sheepishly, "my bad. I had something to take care of but I'm here now no? Let's go watch a movie or something."

I shot her a confused glance, "on what? We don't have a TV yet."

She rolled her eyes, "with the laptop of course. It's girl time. Let's go Netflix and chill on your bed... if it's clean."

I laughed and shook my head, "of course it is. Let's go."

I led her into my room and spent the rest of the morning and afternoon chilling and binging romance movies with her. We talked about anything and everything we could think of, cracking jokes and sharing smiles.

It was honestly a good time. Except my heart was in knots the whole time as I anticipated Zion's arrival.

It was a little after six when we heard the front door open.

Niah and I looked at each other.

"Why are you looking at me? Go greet your mate!" She joked, pushing me off the bed.

I fell on the floor with an oomph and shot a glare in her direction before getting up and walking out of the room.

My heart shuddered nervously when I met Zion in the hallway staring at the door at the end.

"Hey," I muttered, fiddling with my fingers behind my back.

Zion's gaze snapped to mine calmly and I flashed him a tight smile, "How was it? Did you get in contact with the dealer?"

He stared at my expression intensely before responding, "Did T'niah tell you that?"

I nodded and pointed over my shoulder, "she's in our room as we speak. We were watching movies, waiting for you to come back."

He grunted in reply then moved pass me and into our bedroom.

"Well look at you, Mr. Prideful Alpha. You're back earlier than expected and you don't reek of blood." I heard Niah say as I entered the bedroom behind Zion.

Ignoring her words, Zion swung his shirt over his head and dumped it on the floor then headed towards the bathroom.

Niah raised a brow at me, "why do I feel like something's bothering him?"

The water turned on.

I sighed and ran a hand down my face, my heart beating a mile a minute.

He knew.

Of course he'd know. I left the fucking mattress in the front on purpose.

"Can you leave us for now? We'll catch up tomorrow but I have something I need to speak with him privately about."

Niah's brows shot up in surprise, "damn, you running me? Where'd this backbone come from?"

I smiled tiredly and shrugged, "it's important... please..."

Niah stared at me closely for a second before asking, "you alright?"

I nodded my head and watched as she got up from the bed and walked towards the door. She paused at the doorway and looked back at me warily, "don't do anything stupid, alright?"

Pffft.

Too late for that.

I nodded my head again and closed the door behind her.

Then I went and sat at the edge of the bed and waited until Zion was finished with his bath.

He came out of the bathroom butt naked and dripping water, the towel drying off his hair that's begun to grow out.

I watched him through blank eyes as he walked by me and entered the closet to get changed.

I thought back on Nadia, who was currently trapped in the room down the hall and felt my heart squeezing as a bitter smile crossed my lips.

"Why?" I asked as soon as he came out of the closet with just a boxer on.

He came to stand in front of me, which caused me to bend my neck to look up at his expression.

It was blank.

As usual, I never knew what he was thinking.

"You opened the door," he muttered, bringing a hand forward to cup my cheek.

I closed my eyes tightly as the warmth of his hand caressed my face. Tears once again made an appearance.

"Am I not enough?" I whispered brokenly.

"You're more than enough. You're an Alpha female."

My eyes snapped open at that and I shoved his hand off my face and stood up, pointing a finger directly into his chest.

As much as my heart fluttered in fear, it also raged and cried in anger and I refused to back down now. I've come too far.

"Don't stand here and lie to my face when there's another woman sleeping in the room down the hall from us!"

Zion's eyes narrowed on my face, "watch your words."

I growled at him, "don't tell me to watch my words! You knew that I'd eventually find her! That's why you kept her there. YOU FUCKED HER BEHIND MY BACK! When was it, huh? Was it late at night after I collapsed in your arms from exhaustion? Or was it early morning before I woke up? I abandoned MY OPTION of being with MY SOULMATE in order to be with you and here you are parading your soulmate in front of me?? What audacity do you think you have??"

His hand immediately came forward to wrap around my throat firmly, but he refrained from applying too much pressure as he snarled in my face, "I said to watch your tone! You didn't abandon anything! You didn't have a fucking choice. If it weren't for me, you'd still be suffering in that pack getting raped by your father!"

Tears sprung to my eyes as my heart shuddered at his hurtful words but I refused to back down. I've had enough of cowering.

My wolf paced in the back of my mind as she growled her displeasure, fully supporting my actions.

"SHE'S PREGNANT ZION!!! SHE'S FUCKING PREGNANT!!! DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH THAT HURTS ME!? TO SEE ANOTHER WOMAN BARE YOUR PUP???"

He threw me back on the bed with a scuff. I inhaled sharply and held my throbbing throat, staring at him angrily through blurry eyes.

"Is that what you're so concerned about? You're the Luna of this pack. That position won't change. That weak pathetic child in her stomach doesn't have a legitimate claim over my title. The child that we have together won't have his position threatened, I can promise you this much."

"I'm not worried about my child's rights to lead this pack! I'm worried about my fucking mate cheating on me with another woman!!! You need to let her go! She doesn't want to be here and you're treating not only me but her like shit! You made your decision when you chose me. You can't have us both."

Zion's eyes narrowed as it began to flash between him and his wolf, "are you telling me what to do?"

My body shuddered slightly in fear, yet I met his gaze dead on and firmly said, "I'm telling you. That I will not stick around and watch you sleep with another woman right in front of me. Nor will I stick around to watch her birth the pups of MY MATE. So you either let her go or you let me go because I refuse to accept this."

His lips curled menacingly as he stalked to me, "who the fuck are you to demand anything of me!? I have tried my best to make you feel comfortable! I did my job as a mate when I didn't have to," I scrambled away from him as my stomach dropped to my feet but he grabbed a hold of my hair and yanked me off of the bed and on to the floor.

A startled cry escaped my lips as I placed my hands up to loosen his grip on my hair.

My heart beat even faster.

"I gave you a home! You have NO RIGHT to be questioning me!! I am the Alpha in this relationship! ME! When I say something you listen, you don't question me! You don't have a fucking choice!"

His fist connected to my face in all his blind fury and a scream tore from my lips as the pain burned across my face. I kicked my legs out pathetically as I tried to get him off me but his hold was tight.

"You're mine to do with as I please Starr. Just because I give you freedom to voice your concerns don't mean I'm lowering my head to you! We are not equal in this relationship, you stand behind me not beside me!"

Another punch landed on my shoulder, dislocating it.

Tears streamed down my face as I screamed, "Stop! You're hurting me!"

Surprisingly, he stopped and I fell to the floor sobbing as he let go of my hair. His arms then came to wrap around me as he hoisted me up into his arms and dropped me on the bed, rolling me onto my stomach.

"You're going to be a good little Luna for me. You're going to birth my pups and obediently follow my orders, right?"

I nodded my head through my tears and pain.

"You're going to help me raise all of our children, right? Even Nadia's kids," I could tell that he was probing me, waiting for an answer I knew I should give but I couldn't help myself.

I froze as I felt my heart crumbling even more as I sobbed.

"Right?" He pressed down on my shoulder and harshly snapped it back in place, then grabbed both my hands and placed them against my back.

I gritted my teeth and nodded hurriedly.

"But first you need to be properly punished for going against me, don't you think?"

I froze as I felt something brush up against my ass.

My heart fell as I got a flashback to all those times I was together with my father.

"No," I whispered, absolutely terrified, "please... anything but that."

The pressure on my hands increased as I began to wildly struggle, my eyes flashing as my wolf tried to come out to no avail.

"You brought this on yourself Starr. This is all your fault. You need to learn to stop undermining my authority!" Zion growled as he pounced on me.

A heart renching scream tore itself from my mouth.