The end
1575 Words
Marcus POV
Marcus pulled his shirt up and over his head, before he strode onto the field, taking a fighting stance in the middle of the Arena. His eyes landed on Sarah, who was watching from high up the stands, before connecting with Alexander, his best friend since he was five years old.
What was he doing? Was he really going to throw away his friendship for a woman who wasn’t even his mate? The longer he stayed away from her, the more clearly he could think.
Alexander stood in front of him, a look of determination on his face, and what Marcus could only decipher as pain in his eyes. Pain he had caused. He knew Alexander hadn’t had an easy life and now he was making it even more difficult. This wasn’t fair to either Alex nor Sarah.
He knew what he had to do. He had to give up Sarah. He needed to do better. Be a better friend. Be a better man.
Just when he opened his mouth to forfeit the match, a soul shattering scream echoed across the arena, as one of the Alpha’s Marcus recognized as one of the Scots, collapsed to the ground, clawing at his chest.
“Make it stop! Th—they’re—Ahhh!” He yelled speaking incoherently. Marcus and Alexander changed a glance, while other people gathered around the man.
“We need a doctor over here!” One of the other Alphas cried out. The man was soon carried off on a stretcher by two warriors, as he continued screaming and sobbing.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, it seems we’re experiencing some technical difficulties,” Marcus heard a flustered Miranda speaking into the camera, as chaos broke out among the warriors.
He looked up and saw that Sarah, as well as the King, had gotten up from their seats, making quick strides toward the packhouse.
Something was definitely going on.
“What do you think that was about?” Benjamin asked as he and Noah walked over to them.
“Not sure, but it looked serious,” Marcus replied. Something definitely felt off. The only thing that would make an Alpha act that way was the sudden loss of a mate or….
“Come on, let’s head back inside. It looks like the challenge is being called off anyway.” Noah was right. One of the King’s guards soon announced that the challenged would be moved to a different day and that the men were excused for now.
“Marcus, wait up,” Marcus heard Elijah calling behind him. The man jogged up to him, striding alongside him toward the castle.
“What do you think is going on? It seems to be one thing after another since we’ve gotten here.” The man wasn’t wrong.
“Yeah, that was definitely weird alright.” Marcus agreed.
“Let me know if you hear something and I’ll do the same.” Marcus nodded, and the men shared a look before Elijah headed back to his unit.
The inside of the castle wasn’t much better. It seemed as though the Royal Guard was preparing for battle. Were they under attack?
“I’m going to find out what’s going on,” Marcus told his friends…and Alexander, before walking down the hallway until he came across a door guarded by two warriors.
“They in there?” He asked, but the men simply ignored him, staring straight ahead. When Marcus stepped forward, so did the two men.
“Woah guys, I just want to knock.” He held up his hands in a surrendering gesture.
“Walk along, Alpha. You have no business being here.” One of the guards warned.
“Oh my Goddess, are those rogues?” Alexander gasped, a hand on his mouth dramatically. The two guards shared a look, before storming in Alex’ direction. Alexander winked at him, before following behind them.
Marcus’ lips tugged up into a smile. They used to pull that prank all the time when they were kids and weren’t allowed to listen in on the Alpha’s conversations.
Marcus didn’t bother to knock, storming into the room instead. It was a large room, with two desks on one side and a large table in the back. It had a large map of the Kingdom on it. He could see Sarah, the King and a few war generals standing around, pointing at something while talking.
“I’m sorry to interrupt,” He said, making his presence known, “but the rest of would like to know what’s going on. Are we under attack?”
They all turned around to look at him. When one of the war generals walked in his direction, with the intention to get rid of him, Sarah put a hand on his arm, stopping him.
“It’s okay,” She whispered.
“Marcus, what are you doing in here and where are the guards?” She asked, looking past him into the hallway. When she made an attempt to touch his arm, Marcus sidestepped. A look of confusion passed over her face.
“Should we be worried?”
Sarah made a head gesture toward the door, leading him away from the rest of the people.
“We’ve just lost the Crescent pack in Edinburgh. That Alpha you saw was Alpha Adair….He—”
“…felt his pack members sever from him, didn’t he?” Marcus asked. Marcus had felt pack members sever from him during battle, but to lose the entire pack… he couldn’t imagine the pain one would feel.
Sarah nodded solemnly, “his entire pack. They were attacked by the rebels. They’re a group of wolves, mostly rogues, who want to see the Royals gone,” she explained. “I’ll be gone for the next few days,…”
“You’re going to a place where they’ll be people who want to kill the Royals?” He asked with an air of incredulousness.
“That’s my job, Marcus.” Marcus wanted to protest, if only because she was his former best friends mate.
“Sarah, I…”
“Meet me in the garden at eight,” she whispered, cutting off their conversation, before returning to the table to make arrangements to take back the Edinburgh pack.
When Marcus arrived back at his dorm, he was surprised to find Alexander there among their group.
“Alex,…” He sighed, not knowing where to start, “thank you, for leading the guards away,” Alexander nodded at him. Marcus quickly conveyed the information he had learned to the rest of the group. Everyone sat in silence for a while digesting the terrible news.
“Sarah asked me to meet her in the garden,” Marcus held up his hand when he noticed Alexander’s eyes darkening. He was moving to stand, but stopped. “I’m going to break it off. I’m going to tell her you’re her mate and that I already knew when… you know,” He added, not wanting to rile up Alex’ wolf by talking about sleeping with his mate again.
“I’m such a d**k, Alex, I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me. I hope you can forgive me one day. I’ll do anything. You name it.”
Alexander was silent for a moment, before he nodded. “I’m going to inform Christian of what’s going on.” He walked out of the room, shutting the door behind him. They had a long way to go, but at least that was something.
“You made the right choice,” Noah squeezed his shoulder in encouragement. “I’ll go inform Alpha Elijah,” Marcus nodded.
If It was right, why did it feel so wrong?
It was almost eight o’clock when Marcus stood in the garden, waiting, pacing… thinking of ways to break off whatever it was they had. He didn’t want to do it, but he had to. He had to keep his distance from her.
“Hey,” he heard her angelic voice behind him. He closed his eyes, praying to the Goddess to give him strength.
“I’m glad you came. I’m not going to see you for a few days and…” Sarah’s smile faltered when he turned around.
“What’s wrong?” She asked, stepping closer, but Marcus stepped back. An expression of hurt crossed her features.
“We—we have to break it off,”
“Wh—what do you mean?” She stammered, caught off guard.
“Sarah, I’m sorry,” he started, but her face turned to anger very quickly.
“So first you sleep with me and now you want to break it off? What the hell?!” She yelled at him.
“Shhhh,” Marcus tried calming her down, Huge mistake.
“Don’t you dare shush me! I demand an explanation!”
“Please, sit,” he gestured to the garden bench.
“I think I’d rather stand, thank you,” she scowled.
“My Beta,… former Beta,” Marcus began.
“Yeah, what is up with him joining the trials?” She interrupted.
“Would you let me finish?” He huffed. Goddess, this woman was infuriating!
“Fine.” She folded her arms in front of her, looking unimpressed.
Marcus opened his mouth to speak, to explain but—
“Princess, there you are—” Marcus heard, just before he slipped away.
Leaving behind the love of his life.
- Writer
