The Rejected Alpha's Vengeance

Chapter 575 Deeper Than The Ink Beneath Our Tattoos [7]

[MBALI]

[Still The Lonely Night... A MONTH BEFORE THE GREAT SICARIO WAR]

"She... she left?" Mbali whispered defeatedly as she looked at the space beside her. When they had finished eating last night, Amina had begged Mbali to let her hold her one more time.

It didn't seem like a dangerous request, seeing as she was bound for execution the next day. Although her mind was conflicted, Mbali agreed to it, and she and her Lycan were content. And if she was being honest with herself, this was her doing, she wanted Amina to hold her for the night, however hard it could get.

She wanted to know what it meant to have someone who loved her with everything. Mbali had had expectations of the bond she had tried so hard to deny, yet the same bond that had kept her sane for months in Sicario.

She had been blowing her mind with the patience that had kept her there but then here she was, back on the battlefield, hoping to see someone who would probably never see again.

"I'll be back for you, mi reina. For now, stay alive, and let yourself live a little," the note beside Mbali read, as Mbali tried to figure out what this even meant for her. Her life was somewhat of a circus, and she hated it, so she turned to the one person she could let out her frustrations on.

'Fuck this,' Mbali sighed as she stared at Nik who was still unconscious.

Angrily, Mbali incinerated the paper beside her before getting up and began walking towards Nik.

She had seen Hawi and Ruru still asleep so she hoped that they wouldn't wake up anytime soon. But then with the sun almost showing up, Mbaki couldn't count on that at the moment the only thing she had was frustrations on frustrations.

"I can stop the hunt on Kurt, if you tell me where to get Amina," Mbali whispered in Nik's ear.

When she got to Nik, she figured she could squat and match their levels because the man was still lying on his back and he looked worse than a corpse. He looked like even the holy grails wouldn't ever be able to save his sorry ass.

Oh, Nik was in so much trouble at the moment.

"Now, if you understand me, nod. This is a one-time thing, Nikolai. You tell me where Amina is and I free you," Mbali said desperately as she looked between her sleeping friends and the man who was the only link to Amina.

Her Amina.

"Nik—" Mbali shook the Russel brother only to hear her friends move around. She could hear the grass moving and fuck she hated that it had come to this.

For a moment there Mbali considered taking Nik with her, but she knew it would be pointless. Hawi was an extremely good yet the cruelest hunter than the crazies in the realm. And she couldn't have the woman she swore to serve hunting her.

That would be betrayal, something that she couldn't afford at the moment.

"She had begged me for it, but I couldn't do it, not to you. Maybe that makes me a sentimental fool, but being the four of you taught me what love was, and you all taught me that love and pain can coexist in the same picture," Hawi said and Mbali stared at her like the woman had gone bonkers.

Maybe she really had, because otherwise, the Hawi Mbali knew was a cruel woman who wouldn't hesitate to cut heads off for going against her, it was obvious on so many instances and yet today seemed to be an exception, something that Jabali Lihle couldn't understand.

Maybe she was glad that Amina was alive, and that there was a way out for her relationship after all, but goddamn there had to be more to this, right?

"What's the catch?" Mbali asked with a raised brow.

"Catch?" Hawi asked sincerely, making Mbali falter. Sure, she was eaten on the ground beside Nik's apparently useless body, but damn she hadn't expected that Hawi would be that sincere with her.

"You let her go, what was the catch?"

"Your life," Hawi responded simply by saying she hadn't just thrown the woman in chains again.

"Interesting," Mbali sighed. She was at a loss for words, and finally, she wasn't sure if she wanted to know more or if she was to wait out her end, because there was no way Amina Russel would ever consider not putting Mbali's life in danger.

The Russel woman had nothing to lose and with Mbali there was nothing she could do, as long as Mbali was under the protection of Hawi. So, this was what Mbali would easily consider a lost cause, because how the hell was it ever going to happen?

"Aren't you going to ask me about it?" Hawi asked as she closed the distance to Mbali.

She could see the Lycan warrior fisting and unfisting her hands anxiously. It was something Hawi had done one too many times, and in all those times, Mbali had always been there for her.

They hadn't exactly been the best of friends by the time Hawi was banished, but their relationship had got and gotten better to the point that instead of being frenemies, they were allies, bound by love first, and then fate.

"No... I don't want to know what she gave me up for," Mbali said.

"I'll tell you anyway," Hawi began and before Mbali could protest, she continued, "I told her that her freedom and safety would last for as long as there wasn't a tear on your face because of her."

"You're crazy," Mbali said with a laugh as she stared into the face of her fellow warrior. She hadn't gotten a title for Hawi, but he wasn't sure she meant much to Hawi other than her being a useful warrior to the white wolf.

"You're my friend, before you are my subject... or at least, I hope. And I always protect my friends," Hawi said and Mbali let out a soft laugh. Of course, that was the one thing everyone in the realm knew.

"That... I mean... I—" Mbali struggled to form words as she looked at Hawi who was smiling softly at her.

"Come along now. She will be back. She promised she would be back before the hundredth year hits. Until then, you are stuck with us, rowdy creatures of the realm," Ruru said as she rushed to Mbali and helped her get up, before pulling him into a hug, one that Malika, and Hawi joined in.