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Chapter 5

ONE HOUR EARLIER

I am off searching other territories and no-man’s-land when my mates contact me, telling me they think they found her. Matitus ran into her on the streets. I have my doubts, of course. We have searched for her for decades trying to find this Chosen One the Oracle promised would come. Surely, we weren’t that blind, and she wasn’t under our nose this entire time, living in our city. Yet they are both insistent that she is the one. They called for all women to be brought to the castle, and that’s where they captured her. Dragus too confirmed, saying he felt a strange pull to her.

I head home straight away. Flying back was easy for me, yet my mind kept going back to the Great War and the destruction caused ever since. What I wasn’t expecting when I get home is everyone frantically looking for her. I land in the back gardens. Matitus and Dragus run out to greet me.

“What happened?” I ask as I see convoys loading up and heading out the gates. It is already dark, and the night is becoming cold.

“We lost her. I think she ran,” Dragus says, pinching the bridge of his nose. Matitus growled low, making me look at him.

“Are you fucking serious, how did she escape the fucking castle with you two here?” I ask.

“We don’t know, but we have found where she was living along with another dead Fae at the house. The elderly woman appears to have slit her own throat. She was there; her scent was faint. We have sent trackers after her,” Matitus explains.

“Then why are we standing here for, fucking find her!” I scream, taking off. There is only one choice for her, she would have to leave the city. So, I head for the northern border. Guards are everywhere on high alert. When I fly over a small clearing, though, I have this strange pull to land. Something is tugging at me, telling me she is somewhere hiding. Landing near the border fence, I make my way into the trees, Dragus and Matitus not far from me.

I can’t smell anything. That doesn’t mean she isn’t hiding there. Something is telling me I am in the right spot. I just need to wait. After a few minutes, I see a figure amongst the trees, running straight to the border.

“Dragus, she is heading straight toward you,” I mindlink to Dragus. I catch a glimpse of her running and my heart nearly stops. Her purple eyes glowing brightly.

“Aziza?” I whisper, shocked. I didn’t think anyone survived from that bloodline. I feel anger boil inside of me. Of course, what a fucking coincidence that the very bloodline that started the war was the one meant to end it. I watch her from the trees when she suddenly slows down, looking around her surroundings.

I look at her angelic face and feel rage burn within. It couldn’t be, that wasn’t possible. I killed her myself, watched that bitch die in my arms. The fates are fucking cruel. I chuck to myself. She looked exactly like her, a perfect reincarnation. Her black hair long like a veil hanging to her waist and then amethyst eyes blazing brightly. Her plumb pouty lips quivering from the cold and the fact she is wet explained why I couldn’t pick up her scent.

She keeps running—until she slams straight into Dragus.

The impact knocks her back, sending her to the ground.

Scrambling, she pushes herself backward, desperate to escape.

Fear pours off her in waves, thick and suffocating.

She staggers to her feet, only to run straight into me.

She freezes. Takes a step back.

The closer she is, the more I see it—the resemblance. Too close. Too familiar.

If I hadn’t killed her myself, I would swear they were the same person.

Fury coils inside me.

The fates—cruel, twisted fates—mated me to someone who is identical to the one I despise most.

My beast rages within me wanting nothing but to rip her to pieces. She is definitely the one we have been looking for. I could sense it with every fiber in my body, that doesn’t stop my burning hatred for her. History seems to be repeating itself, and no way am I letting her get away this time.

Grabbing her, I throw her, and she hits a tree. My anger fueled my instincts making me act impulsively. I want blood, and I don’t care she is our mate, I want revenge. For what she did to us, what she did to the Dragon Kingdom.

She screams loudly as a stick goes through her hand. The noise leaving her lips is melodious and sweet to my ears. I lose control as I advance on her again, grabbing her.

“You think you can run, think you can fucking leave me?” I scream in her face.

She cowers, shrinking away, and that only fuels my rage further.

I grab her by the throat, slamming her to the ground, her weakness infuriating me.

She’s nothing like her ancestors—no entitlement, no fight.