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.

"He won’t talk, Mbali. I interrogated him last night and well, let’s just say he can’t speak or even see you at the moment," Hawi said and Mbali let out a gruntled growl.

She had dared to hope. She had dared to go for the one thing that could get her Amina back. She was losing her mind and her determination was screwing with her head.

"He was my only hope of getting to her," Mbali said defeatedly as she slumped on the ground beside Nik. Her heart was aching so badly it was new to her and boy did she want to make it stop.

"I know, I’m sorry. But if it helps, we have a hint on where the Russell camp is. And Jeremiah too," Hawi said as she walked over to her warrior.

This wasn’t what Mbali wanted to hear, especially with how harshly she had incinerated the letter Amina had left her. It just didn’t make any sense to her that Amina would just leave like that without so much as a goodbye. Explore stories on novelbuddy

It was a haunting truth and a realization so cruel, that she wasn’t ready to be a part of and frankly, that scared the shit out of her deep down.

"I just wished she would have said goodbye," Mbali added absentmindedly as she watched the light winds blow away whatever had remained of her only link to Amina.

She was in her right shape at the moment and her immune system wasn’t compromised, but goddamn, she wished he could see her again. Just one last time, even if this was what goodbyes for them would look like.

"Why did you let her go?" Mbali questioned softly even though she wasn’t sure she wanted to hear the answer to that. She had spent months hoping to see the woman and had gotten her only to push the mad woman away.

Then again, here she was, wishing on stars in the early morning as if that was supposed to make Amina Russel come back to her or even for her. Why was her fate this tangled up?

Oh, Mbali was simply reminded of the thousands of reasons she never liked letting her walls down. Most of the people she had loved over the years had left her.

She had vowed to never trust anyone again, but then Amina was Amina and honestly, it was something that Mbali couldn’t even explain. Her entire being wanted Amina, like the woman was the source of life for her.

Amina was good for her in a thousand terrible ways and goddess Mbali just wished for a taste, just one more. As she stared at Nik, Mbali couldn’t help but think back to how close she had been to Amina last night and yet she hadn’t let a kiss slip past her.

Updat𝓮d from freewēbnoveℓ.com.

She had done so strictly with herself and forced a discipline on her that left her with desires.

"Because she is your mate, Mbali," Hawi said earnestly, her statement making Mbali lift her head to look at the woman who was supposed to be ruthless with the Russels.

Hawi would never have let Amina go just like that. The woman was the first real asset they had gotten and while she had been set to be executed this morning, something had clearly changed.

"What?"

"Your mate. She is your mate and she is genuine with you. I know you didn’t need to hear those words from me, your commander, but she really does care about you. The execution was her idea.

"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.