Emira smiled as she walked forward and then bowed slowly, "Daughter Emira greets Father. I am sorry for staying away from you for so many years. It was wrong of me."
Evan Aldren stared at Emira as she stared back at him. This was the man responsible for her mother’s murder. Oh, he might not have killed her with his own hands, but he had killed her slowly and surely. If it had not been for him, she would have been safe inside that forest, learning her magic instead of becoming a part of the Moonville Pack, pretending to be an Omega and enduring a daily death, just so she could protect her.
Emira kept her gaze steady and then smiled wider, "What? You have nothing to say? I thought that after seeing your daughter for the first time in eighteen years, you would be quite excited... or at least a little teary-eyed. But you seem to be frozen."
She took another step toward him, closing the distance until only a breath of space was left between them. "Can you not recognize me? I thought you should be able to... after all, I resemble your mate quite a lot."
Finally, the man’s hands moved. In the next second, his fingers wrapped around her throat, and he slammed her back against the tree. "Who are you?"
Emira did not struggle. She didn’t need to. Instead, she narrowed her eyes at him and whispered, "Me? You still have doubts about my identity? I should have thought that my face should have been enough."
"My child was killed by my mate," he growled. "So how can you be her?"
"Killed? Ahh. That was my twin," she said, her voice calm, as if she were telling him about the weather. "Are you saying you didn’t know all these years that your mate survived with one child? You never wondered? You never questioned it? It seems she knew you better than you knew her then. She guessed correctly. You believed that all those who practice the dark arts are evil. And so, when she left after breaking the bond and leaving behind a newborn’s dead body as proof, you thought that all was over, didn’t you?"
"Where is she?", the man growled but Emira smiled," Dead."
"Dead. She died to save me."
For a moment, he simply stared at her, as if the words had struck something inside him. But the flicker vanished just as quickly, replaced by rage so raw that even the forest seemed to grow still.
She laughed again," Angry again? That she left you to save her child? That your mate, the one who was supposed to be with you for a lifetime, chose to leave you and chose to protect a child?
His hand tightened around her throat again, harder this time, his fingers digging into her skin as he pushed her even deeper into the rough bark of the tree. His grip trembled. Emira did not lift her hands or try to fight him. She did not even care to breathe. She simply stared at him, her eyes locked with his, unblinking.
His breath hit her face, harsh and uneven. "You lie," he hissed, pressing harder, as if he could squeeze the truth out of her body.
Still, she did not struggle. If anything, she looked almost bored.
His face twisted. He pushed harder, enough to lift her toes slightly from the ground. But she still did not claw at his arm or gasp or beg.
Then, with a sharp snarl, he let her go.
Emira dropped back onto her feet. The moment her skin was free, she closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, her chest rising in a slow, almost peaceful breath. A faint smile touched her lips.
"What?" she whispered, opening her eyes again. "You can only kill helpless children?"
His face darkened. A rumble left his chest. For a second, Emira actually thought he would try again.
And he did.
He lunged, hand raised, fingers curled like claws. But before he could reach her throat again, she laughed softly and pushed his hand aside with a simple flick of her wrist. He stared at her, stunned.
"Do you really think you can kill me?" Emira asked, stepping forward. "If I could be easily killed, I would not have come here to challenge you." Because she knew he would not be able to kill her. He had promised her mother when she had first discovered the truth... That he would not kill their next child. Of course the promise had been that her mother would kill her next child...
He clenched his jaw, fury shaking through him, but he didn’t strike again as he realized the way his mate had fooled him.
Instead, his eyes narrowed. His chest expanded slowly as he exhaled, releasing a thick wave of Alpha hormones into the air. The scent, sharp and heavy, pressed down on her like a physical weight.
"A mere witch and omega thinks she can challenge me?" he growled. "I don’t need to use my hands to kill you. I will make you submit and kill yourself."
The force of his dominance rolled through the clearing, but Emira did not bow her head or bare her neck. She did not drop to her knees.
The pressure washed over her and broke like water against stone.
Evan Aldren’s eyes widened. His scent thickened as he pushed harder, trying to drown her in his authority, but nothing happened. She simply stood there, spine straight, eyes fixed on him as though he were nothing more than a stubborn child throwing a tantrum.
Then Emira let out a quiet breath and released her own pheromones.
It started softly... A strange quiet wrapped around them, as if the world itself leaned closer. Emira knew using this was dangerous. After all, the wolf inside her was a pure Omega. And her pheromones could make any alpha fall to their knees. And she was using it for the first time which meant that she would have to control it even more carefully.
The scent rolled out of her like a pulse, invisible but crushing, and wrapped around him slowly slamming into his senses. His eyes widened at once. His breath caught. His knees buckled.
He stumbled backward, trying to steady himself against the nearest tree. But even with the support, the force pressed him down, dragging him until he collapsed onto one knee, then both.
Horror crossed his face.
"What are you..." he breathed, voice shaking.
Emira stepped back, withdrawing her pheromones as calmly as she had released them. She straightened her clothes, brushed a stray leaf off her sleeve, and looked down at him.
"Who am I? I am of course the Dark Master’s bride. Didn’t you know that? This is just the beginning, Councilman Evan Aldren," she said quietly. "You have no idea what you created eighteen years ago... and you have no idea what is standing in front of you now."
She turned her face away for a moment, letting the silence stretch. Then she looked at him again, her eyes cold as she said," Councilman Evan Aldren, you think you’ve come to kill the Dark Master, haven’t you? But the truth is, you have come for your death. I’ll see you soon."