Chapter Seven
Blood Oath
Z ion
The door slams shut behind her, and the sound reverberates through my bones like a death knell.
It’s final. Absolute. The echo of her footsteps is already fading, leaving the suite hollow.
Empty. My chest burns, an ache I can’t name tearing through me as if her absence is a wound I didn’t see coming.
She’s gone. My Evangeline. My omega. But she isn’t really mine. I paid for one night and that’s what I got. No more, no less.
I stand in the center of the room, my fists clenched and jaw grinding until my teeth ache.
The scent of her lingers on the sheets, in the air, on my skin.
Sweet, addictive, poisonous. Every inhale drags me back to the way she clutched me, the way her voice broke on my name, the way she whispered, “Yours,” like it meant something more than desperation.
I let her leave. I did this. I told myself it was control, restraint, honor among rules that mean nothing to me.
Twelve hours, no ties, clean cuts. That’s how I’ve survived this long.
But the second the door closed behind her, all I felt was rage.
Rage at myself. Rage at her. Rage at this gnawing emptiness that feels like ruin.
I stalk the suite like a caged animal. My knuckles split open when I slam my fist into the wall, the plaster cracking around my hand.
I should have chained her here, locked her down, branded her until she couldn’t breathe without me.
I should have marked her throat so deep no one would dare touch her.
Instead, I watched her go, convincing myself I didn’t need her.
But I’m a damn liar. I need her like I need air.
“You’re an idiot.”
The voice snaps through my fury. I whirl toward the doorway, teeth bared, ready to rip apart whatever fool dares intrude.
But the figure there isn’t some cowardly beta.
It’s Bella, my twin brother Aiden’s omega.
She stands tall despite the storm of violence radiating off me, eyes sharp, arms crossed as though she has every right to confront me.
“You let her walk away?” she demands, voice low but steady. “After what I heard through those walls? After the way you marked her with your body? Don’t stand there and lie to yourself, Zion. She’s yours.”
The truth in her words cuts deeper than any blade. My vision flashes red. “She isn’t mine,” I snarl. “She’s nothing. Just a purchase.”
Her laugh is bitter, slicing through all my bullshit. “You don’t bury your knot in ‘nothing.’ You don’t look at ‘nothing’ like she’s the only thing that’s ever mattered.” She steps closer, unflinching even when I tower over her. “You’ll regret this for the rest of your life if you let her go.”
The words rip something raw from me before I can stop it. “I don’t want to regret her. I don’t want to need her. Omegas destroy Alphas. She’ll hollow me out, make me weak, make me less than I am.”
Her gaze doesn’t soften. “Not all omegas are the same, Zion, and you know it. I didn’t break Aiden.” Her glare cuts me. “But hear me now—that omega will destroy you if you don’t fight for her. The regret will eat you alive.”
“I don’t...” my voice breaks. “I don’t even know how to fucking find her, Bel.”
A small smile tugs at her lips. “I happen to know she is at Council Hall, being forced...”
“Forced?” my voice lowers dangerously.
“To marry a man she doesn’t love.”
“What?” My mind is spinning as rage courses through my veins.
“A business deal her mother brokered,” Bella says casually. But she knows exactly what she is doing.
The truth crashes into me, brutal and undeniable. My chest heaves, rage and hunger roaring in equal measure. I can’t stand another second in this suffocating suite. My body moves before my mind catches up. I storm past her, my decision made.
She’s mine. My omega. And if anyone thinks they’ll bind her to another man, they’ll bleed for it.
****
T he driver barely has time to open the car door before I’m inside. The leather groans under my weight as I slam the door shut, my voice a whip. “Council Hall. Now.”
He doesn’t argue. He’s not stupid. The engine roars to life, and we tear through the city like a predator in pursuit.
My pulse pounds in my ears, faster than the racing tires against asphalt.
The city blurs past in streaks of light and shadow, but all I see is her face.
Wide eyes shining with fear. Flushed cheeks.
That trembling lower lip. My Evangeline.
I should hate her for walking away. For leaving me to this madness.
But I can’t. Because I saw it—the way she looked back at me even when she thought I didn’t notice.
The way her scent clung to me like a plea.
She didn’t want to leave. She doesn’t want another Alpha.
And God help me, the thought of her standing beside some other man, dressed in silk and trembling for someone else, makes me want to rip the world in half.
The driver shifts nervously in his seat, eyes flicking to the mirror. He can smell it, the rage boiling off me, the possessive madness that coils tighter with every passing second. I don’t speak. I don’t trust my voice not to break the glass between us.
We screech to a stop outside the council chamber, and I’m half feral.
The ancient stone hall rises against the night, torches burning in iron sconces, shadows clawing up the walls like grasping hands.
The damn place doesn’t even belong in our world anymore.
It is still caught up in the old times and the old ways that we have moved past. Locked in traditions that only matter to the oldest of Elite families.
My boots strike the marble steps in heavy thuds, each one vibrating with the storm building inside me.
The doors boom open beneath my hands.
Gasps ripple through the chamber. Dozens of heads turn, every Alpha, every elder, every viper in their silk robes swiveling toward the predator filling the doorway. My name cuts through the whispers like a blade.
Zion.
I step inside, my presence swallowing the room whole. Broad shoulders, scarred face, and a reputation carved in blood. Every Alpha here knows me. Knows what I’ve done. Knows the ruin I’ve left behind. And they should be afraid. Because I’ve come for blood.
And then I see her.
She stands at the end of the aisle, draped in white satin that clings too tightly to her trembling frame.
A mockery of purity. Her hair has been braided, jewels woven through the strands, her lips painted soft pink.
She looks like a doll, fragile and breakable.
Beautiful. Too beautiful. For him. For anyone but me.
But it’s her eyes that gut me. Wide, terrified, and shimmering with unshed tears. Her chest rises too fast, her fingers twist in the folds of her dress. She looks like she’s been caged. And I know I put her here by letting her go.
Rage detonates in my chest. My vision narrows until the only thing I see is the man beside her. The rival Alpha.
He grips her wrist too tightly, his smirk sharp as a blade. My omega, tethered to another man like a prize he thinks he’s already won. The scent of his arrogance fouls the chamber, making my teeth grind until I taste blood.
“Step away from her,” I growl, my voice thunder cracking against the vaulted ceiling. The words echo off stone, rattling even the elders on their high seats.
The bastard sneers, puffing up taller, as if his name and his family mean anything in my shadow. “She’s mine. Bought, paid for, promised. You have no claim here. The ceremony is complete.”
The growl that tears out of me shakes the air.
“She’s already been claimed. By me. And if you or anyone else in this chamber tries to take her from me.
..” My hand drops to the blade at my belt, my lips curling into something savage.
“...I’ll gut you where you stand. I’ll stain this floor with your blood and burn your house to ash. ”
The chamber stills. Every Alpha watches. Every elder shifts, their silence uneasy. And in the center, my Evangeline stares at me, fear and hope tangled in her gaze.
The rival Alpha bares his teeth, yanking her closer like a shield. “You think you can threaten me in the council’s hall? This ground is sacred. You won’t leave alive if you...”
I move before the words finish.
One second he’s smirking. The next my hand is around his throat, lifting him off the ground as though he weighs nothing.
His feet kick, his hands claw, and his face turns purple as he chokes on his own arrogance.
Gasps erupt around us. Elders rise, Alphas shift uneasily, but no one dares step forward.
My snarl fills the chamber, a roar that shakes the torches on their sconces. “I don’t repeat myself. She’s mine. Anyone who wants to test me, step forward and die.”
The silence that follows is absolute. The only sound is the rival Alpha choking, his heels scraping against the marble. I should crush him. Snap his neck like kindling. End him here and now. My own Alpha blood demands it. My omega’s terrified eyes beg for it. My body is ready to do it.
But she whimpers my name. Soft. Broken. Enough to anchor me.
I drop him. He crumples to the floor in a gasping heap, clutching his throat. I don’t spare him another glance. My eyes cut through the chamber, past the elders, until they land on the one person who thought she could orchestrate this. Her mother.
She sits rigid in her seat, lips thin, eyes flashing with fury beneath her composure. But I see the fear there, too. She knows what I am. She knows what I can do.
I stalk forward, every step deliberate, violence dripping from me like oil. I lean down until my shadow swallows her whole. My voice is a blade at her throat.
“Forget she ever existed. If you send another Alpha sniffing at her door, I’ll bury you myself. No council. No trial. Just earth and silence.”
Her face drains of color. She nods, jerky and pale.
Only then do I turn to Evangeline.
The fury in me softens, not much, but enough.
She stands trembling, hands clutching her skirts, her breath shuddering as though she’s one heartbeat from collapse.
My chest tightens at the sight. I cross the last steps and scoop her into my arms like she weighs nothing, holding her against my chest. Her cheek brushes my throat, her scent wrapping around me, soothing and burning all at once.
“I suggest everyone forget what happened here today.” I say, touching on the council members with a deathly glare. “And lose the fucking paperwork for this farce of a ceremony. I will not hesitate to spill blood if I have to return.”
The chamber watches in silence as I carry her out, each step a declaration, each breath a promise. No one dares follow. No one dares speak. She’s mine. And now the whole world knows it.
As I stride through those doors, rage still burns in my veins. Rage at myself for letting it come to this. Rage at her fear, her tears, her trembling body dressed for another man. Rage that anyone thought they could take her from me.
I tighten my grip, pressing her closer to my chest. She doesn’t resist, instead wrapping her arms around my neck. She will never resist me again.
Because I’ve decided. Evangeline isn’t just my omega for twelve hours. She isn’t just a body I paid for. She’s mine, for life. And anyone who tries to stand between us will drown in their own fucking blood.