The Alpha's Omega Mate-Chapter 97: Suspicions

~Zarek’s POV~

"Please go!" Dahlia’s last words echoed in my head as I staggered to my feet in surprise, whilst throwing her a worried look.

Moments ago, she’d been sweet to me. Civil to say the least, so I wondered what must have gone through her head to make her suddenly behave this way toward me.

My wolf howled within me as I tried to touch her, thinking that she was probably coming down with something, but as soon as my fingers grazed her skin, she shrunk away as if I burned and shrieked;

"Stay back! Do not touch me!"

I froze. My heart shattered.

Her shift in attitude surprised me, but you know what surprised me even more?

Her glazed eyes..

She looked so lost. So far gone. And that was not just it. There was something else in the way she looked at me— a strange kind of rage that I’d seen in her eyes when she tossed me away. And the kind of disappointment she’d stared at me with when she saw me with Jennifer.

For a split second, my eyes met Amara’s and the youngling smiled sadly at me; And that action, as simple as it was, broke my heart even more.

It was obvious that the child still wanted me around. It was obvious that she genuinely liked me— and I never understood why.

As if reading my thoughts, Dahlia pulled her child closer, wrapping her arms against Amara in a protective embrace that made my heart ache, mostly because she now saw me as a monster. I could see it in her eyes. She felt I was evil... bad for her... and bad enough that she had to protect her daughter from a monster like me.

She spat; "Leave us alone!"

’Never.’

That would have been my response if she didn’t look so scared of me... so flustered that it hurt just to watch. So instead of stubbornly remaining by her side— which was exactly where I wanted to be, I took retreating steps away.

My heart thrummed in my chest as I blindly made my way out of the hospital and as soon as I got out, the breath I didn’t even realize I’d been holding slipped past my lips in one breathless whoosh. A heaviness I never even knew existed settled in my chest, and my wolf, the stupidly obsessed creature whined sadly in my head.

What the hell was happening with Dahlia?

Why had she changed on me so suddenly?

As these thoughts plagued my mind, something else bugged me more. Something else made the hairs on my skin stand on end, and I couldn’t help but wonder why she couldn’t seem to remember the events that had led to her jumping off the fortress.

Or had she not jumped at all?

Was this some sort of murder attempt and not suicide?

This new thoughts came with a wave of panic and as I made my way to the fortress, oblivious to my pack members crowding around me and bowing as I walked past, I came to a conclusion;

That I would find out what had happened, and if it was indeed my fault that she’d jumped from the parapet walk— if she’d jumped because I had threatened her— then I’ll take full responsibility for my actions.

"Daddy?" A small voice called out to me just as I arrived at the fortress’s gates, and for a split second, I furrowed my eyebrows in shock, thinking that Amara had been following me all the way but I didn’t notice.

She is the only child who calls me Dad.

Or Zareeq,

Or anything.

She could’ve been—

However, I snapped out of my daze when I looked down only to come face to face with electric green eyes and a mass of dark curly hair— a stark contrast to Amara’s wild ginger hair like her mother’s. For a child, those eyes seemed too mature... too deep, it made a sudden chill run up my spine.

My breath caught in my chest as I studied her face and it only took me a few seconds to realize who it was.

I gasped; "Leila?"

"Daddy?" 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"What are you doing here?"

The young girl smiled up at me but didn’t answer my question right away. Her eyes glinted with a childlike excitement that seemed to warm my bones. She wrapped her dainty arms around my legs as she looked up at me, and then she muttered; "I came to see you."

I balked.

First, it was Nyx coming to see me unannounced, and after asking her to leave because I still could not bring myself to see her yet, she sends her daughter?

My daughter?

That was just insane!

Suddenly, I could feel a few eyes on us. Some passersby nearby had stopped what they were doing to stare in our direction in curiosity. It was no news that I, their Alpha, has been said to have a child, but this was the first time I and the said child would be seen in public together; and in order not to cause more ruckus than what was probably already happening, I carefully picked young Leila into my arms, cradling her lean body in my arms.

She leaned close to me with her smile still gracing her face, and whispered; "Thank you daddy!"

And I smiled. But for some reason, something felt off. For some weird reason, she didn’t feel the way Amara usually feels in my arms.

I shook my head in disgust at the thought of thinking about another man’s offspring while mine was in my arms, but the more I thought about it, the stranger I felt.

And the more a weird sense of unease settled in my guts.

"Where is your mother?" I forced the words out of my mouth as I continued my way into the house.

"She’s in the house!" Leila answered with an excitement that I found strange.

’Wasn’t she the same one who at the time we first met couldn’t bring herself to look at me?’ I thought to myself but quickly shook the thoughts away.

It was disgusting to think so illy of my own child.

However, as we went, a few bodyguards scattered around the fort bowed their heads in respect, but at that moment, they were not what I thought about. They were far from the thoughts plaguing my mind like a damn nightmare.

My eyes were drawn to the top of the fortress.

And right then and there, a thought occurred to me: Dahlia couldn’t have possibly gone there by herself. The guards around wouldn’t have allowed her.

This thought made my already growing panic soar and I knew right then and there that there was more to what I’d been told.

To what Dahlia has been told.

And unfortunately, she has no memories of what had happened that day.

A chilly sensation coursed through my spine at the thought and do you want to know what made it even worse?

When I found Jennifer standing at the parapet walk with her eyes latched onto mine— no, to the child in my arms.

I froze mid step.