Chapter 27
As Kayla entered the chamber again, she noticed Ana was already there, clearing the plate of food Zayron had eaten last night.
When Kayla had jumped down from bed to check the commotion outside, she hadn’t realized Zayron had woken up in the middle of the night and eaten the meal she had left for him.
Kayla took that as a good sign. He was coming around, however slowly.
Ana offered her a small smile before carrying the plate out of the room.
Kayla turned toward the closet, following Zayron’s scent.
Inside the closet, Zayron stood before the mirror, his reflection staring back at him with unfamiliar eyes.
His bare chest rose and fell with measured breaths, and a white towel hung loosely around his neck.
His gaze was hollow, searching for something in the glass that he couldn’t quite grasp.
Kayla’s gaze drifted downward.
The clothes he had worn last night lay on the floor, soaked in blood.
Her breath hitched.
Had he gone hunting? Or had he killed someone?
A sickening feeling twisted in her stomach.
If Zayron had killed someone, it wasn’t an outsider. It had to be a member of his own pack.
Alpha Zayron caught her staring at the bloodstained clothes and spoke.
“I killed all those who had a hand in the death of my mate.”
Kayla’s breath caught in her throat.
She moved forward, her hands trembling as she searched his face.
“Who did you kill?”
“Mia.”
The room seemed to tilt.
Kayla staggered back, her hands flying to her head as she collapsed onto a nearby chair.
Her heart pounded as the weight of his words sank in.
“Zayron, no,” Kayla cried.
She knew what this meant.
The implications of what he had done were devastating.
Mia was a member of the pack.
If there were suspicions against her, if she was thought to have committed a crime, there were laws, rules. She should have been brought before the Council of Elders, where she would have been given a chance to defend herself.
Evidence would have been presented, witnesses would have spoken, and only then, if she was proven guilty, would a verdict be reached.
But Zayron had bypassed all of that.
“Zayron, do you even understand what you’ve done?” Her voice wavered as she looked up at him. “If you suspected Mia had a hand in this, you should have taken her to the Council! She had the right to defend herself. That is our law! That is our way!”
Zayron scoffed.
“Our way? Stranger, don’t talk to me about the laws of this pack as if they mean anything.”
“They mean everything!” she shot back. “They exist so we don’t become monsters! You didn’t even give her a chance to explain herself.”
“I didn’t need her explanations,” he said flatly. “I walked back through my memories last night. I remembered everything. I remembered how Isla got into this pack. Mia lured her in using my scent. The lycora essence!”
“She apologized, and you forgave her!”
“Well, that was a mistake. Consider it undone. I take it back because Mia doesn’t deserve it.”
“Zayron.”
“Before I left for the Veridia region, I saw Mia again with Isla in the tower. She knew exactly what she was doing. They worked together to destroy me! I'll kill them all!”
Kayla shook her head.
“That doesn’t prove anything, Zayron! You saw them together, and from that, you decided she was guilty?”
“She was guilty.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I do! And I don’t regret it.”
Kayla shot to her feet.
“You don’t regret it? Zayron, for Moon’s sake, you didn’t just kill an enemy. You killed a pack member! You killed someone who should have faced judgment, not execution!”
Zayron stepped closer and grabbed her chin.
“I am the Alpha. My word is the law.”
Kayla’s heart pounded as she stared at him, seeing just how far gone he was.
“No, Zayron. Your word is not the law. Our laws are older than you, older than your ancestors, older than all of this. If you break them, then what stops anyone else from doing the same?”
Zayron exhaled sharply, turning away as if the conversation bored him.
“Spare me the lectures, Stranger.”
She wasn’t going to let this go.
“Did you even think about what this would do to the pack? Mia had family, friends. What do you think will happen when they find out she was killed without trial?”
Zayron’s lips curled into something that wasn’t quite a smile.
“Let them be angry. Let them mourn. It won’t change anything.”
Kayla’s stomach twisted.
“You’re making enemies within your own pack, Zayron.”
He finally turned back to her, his eyes dark and unyielding.
“Anyone who dares challenge my decision is welcome to try.”
Kayla stared at him, the man she had once trusted, the man she had once known.
There was no remorse in his voice, no hesitation in his actions.
He truly believed he had done the right thing.
For the first time in a long time, Kayla felt fear, not of Zayron, but for him.
She took a shaky breath.
“You should have let her stand before the Council.”
Zayron didn’t respond.
He only turned back to the mirror and continued staring at his reflection as if their conversation had never happened.
Kayla felt a lump rise in her throat.
Zayron had changed completely.
And she didn’t know if she could bring him back.
As Kayla lowered her head, lost in deep thought, for more than ten minutes, she was trying to figure out what to do.
A soft, almost broken whisper reached her ears.
“I’m sorry.”
Kayla’s head snapped up, her eyes widening as she stared at Zayron.
Had she imagined it?
Those two words were so foreign coming from him that for a moment, she wondered if she had misheard.
But he had said it.
Kayla noticed something in Zayron’s posture had shifted.
A weariness clung to him, as if he carried a weight so heavy it threatened to crush him.
Kayla opened her mouth to speak, but no words came.
After a few seconds, she finally spoke.
“I’m glad you realize you were wrong, but your apology shouldn't be directed at me. You should be apologizing to the entire pack for killing your brother's mate without a trial,” Kayla said.
“I’m not apologizing to anyone. Mia is guilty,” Zayron muttered.
“Then why do you say you’re sorry?” Kayla asked.
Zayron lifted a hand and pointed toward the far corner of the room.
Kayla followed his gaze, and her breath hitched when she saw her bag, neatly packed, exactly where she had placed it before.
She turned back to him.
“Why did you put my things back?”
Zayron exhaled heavily, his shoulders sagging slightly.
“I haven't slept in seven days,” he admitted. “I haven't eaten either, until you made me.”
His voice was even, but there was something raw underneath.
“The entire pack is afraid of me. They fear what I've become. But you’re the only one who dared to stay close to me. The only one brave enough to sleep beside me, even when everyone else kept their distance. That means you trust me, with your life.”
Zayron turned to fully face her, stepping closer until the space between them was barely more than a breath.
His hands came up, firm but gentle, resting on her shoulders as he peered into her eyes.
He held her there, searching, as if looking for something beyond what words could say.
“In this strange world I found myself into, a realm where everything feels familiar yet so painfully foreign, you are the only thing that makes sense. Even though I don't know who you are, you seem to know me more than I know myself.”
Kayla’s throat tightened, and she felt her heart break for him.
“You’re the only person I trust right now.”
“Sadness. Rage. Vengeance,” Zayron continued. “They burn inside me. I feel them everywhere, all the time. And I don’t know how to stop them.”
His fingers tightened slightly on her shoulders.
“If there’s any way you can help me, do it.”
Tears welled in Kayla’s eyes, blurring her vision.
Zayron Roland had never been one to ask for help.
The strong, unshakable Alpha she had known would have fought against his demons alone, never letting anyone see his weakness.
But this was different.
“You don't need to ask, Zayron,” Kayla murmured.
She stepped forward, closing the final distance between them, and wrapped her arms around him.
Her fingers curled into his back as she pressed her head against his chest, holding him tightly.
Zayron stiffened at first, his body rigid against hers.
But she didn’t let go.
A silent sob wracked through her as she felt the hollow emptiness inside him.
The loneliness. The unbearable weight pressing down on his soul.
She wasn’t just holding him. She was feeling everything he felt.
And it was suffocating.
Kayla sobbed quietly, her tears soaking into his bare skin.
“I’m here,” she whispered. “I won’t let you go through this alone.”
“Thank you.”
“Right now Zayron, you’re acting like a blind Alpha. If you want to avoid reckless decisions, you need to run things by me first. This is how it's going to be until I set your mind free. Make you understand yourself again. Do we have an agreement?”