2169

~Aria

"I just don't get it, you know?" I say, pulling the edge of the potato chip packet back, so I could find a good one.

Malik sat opposite me, flicking through a random book he had picked up. He had shown up in the library tonight like he had promised. I was also granted some decent food, along with his presence, after I had to wait ten minutes for him to get away unnoticed. The past few nights, he hadn't had any problems, but after the conversation of Patience was brought up, and the fact that her going home had him swarmed with more security, I began to understand.

Now him and I are discussing the unorthodox moment that we both witnessed today. Me first hand. I had even had to convince security it had actually happened, after some sort of wild excuse she had come up with. Luckily, Malik heard the truth in my words and eliminated her without a second thought.

"Me neither," he murmured, still looking down at the book. "I'm just hoping no other girls are doing this behind my back. There are a few I'm really getting to know and like quite well."

I swallowed the chip I had been chewing. "Good riddance to her though, right?"

He nodded solemnly. It made sense for him to be irritated or even saddened by what had happened. The amount of betrayal that weighed on his shoulders was almost visible to me. In some way I wanted to comfort him, but I didn't know how. As an Alpha, he isn't about to admit his feelings to me, despite how much I keep digging at his side with a stick of curiosity.

"I just don't understand why she would do something like that? Why enter this competition if you're not here for the love?"

For a moment, I just stare at the naive expression written all over his face.

Sure, he has been wrapped in the thickest of cotton wool growing up as an Alpha, in such an extravagant place like this one, but he couldn't seriously think these girls, from so many Pack's, respected the word love like we do. I know what he dabbled in, with many girls before this competition, so had he not realised many of them had probably done it either for fame, or maybe a good story?

I couldn't talk, though...I'm here for that necklace wrapped protectively around his neck.

"Where did you get that from?" I decide to question, taking the conversation away from what was truly worrying him. I want to talk about who had interrupted us the other night, but I need to concentrate on this mission. "Your necklace...You wear it so often."

Malik instinctively touches the necklace, fiddling with the silver chain. "It was my father's."

"It's lovely," I comment - that coming honestly. "Tell me, a book lover, that it has a story."

I didn't need to know the story behind it; I just have to steal it. Maybe knowing why he had it would only make me more attached to this mission, but I can't help but wonder how Malik came to have something that once belonged to a rogue. An Alpha needing to steal from a rogue just didn't make sense to me, but I'm not about to cancel the idea from my mind, in case I get played by this family.

Malik thinks for a moment, his fingers not coming off the silver. It can't be real silver, otherwise, I would be looking at a painful wound etched into his neck. It only glinted the same colour, giving it an impressive looked that signified his wealth and power.

Who knows when, or if, he takes it off.

"My father killed a rogue threatening my mother. He kept it as a signification, on how he saved his wife and our Pack's Luna. Everyone is very grateful for his heroic act. I can only dream of becoming like him," he says softly.

I want to cringe, but I managed to reign it in before it shows itself to him. The rogues I met has a vendetta with his family, for good reason. All of a sudden, I'm conflicted who the good guys are in this situation...By the sounds of it, none of them are. Perhaps this will make it easier to steal it, return it to the rogue, and move on with my life.

"Interesting," I mused, looking down at my fingers.

I can't seem too interested in it, otherwise, the moment it goes missing, he will know it was me who took it. After this competition, I want out of this place, with my old life back. My old life where I didn't really know what I was doing with it. I just lived my life as it came...

"You know, I'm still trying to figure out who I need to send home," Malik says after a moment of silence. Again, he decides to change the subject. "Every girl here seems to genuine."

Who knows how those girls act around him because I don't. All I know, from the past group outing I went on, that Mareli had a facade created especially for Malik, but that didn't surprise me. I don't blame them for wanting Malik to see the best part of them, yet it did make me feel a little uneasy knowing my future Luna might not end up being competent, considering plenty of these girls haven't revealed their real selves.

Well, as far as I know.

"Don't send Brynn home," I say, causing Malik to raise his eyebrow.

"Why not?"

I sigh. "Trust me."

Brynn had proudly let us all know about her intentions the moment Malik sends her home. Sure, I see the way her cheeks tint slightly when he is mentioned, which lets everyone know she is attracted to him. Yet I know that she will take everything expensive in her sight if she is sent home.

He chuckles. "Alright then. You're lucky I actually like her."

"You like rulebreakers?" I say coyly, remembering the nickname he had previously given me. Brynn had been quick to test his authoritative flexibility after she snuck into the kitchen for decent food.

Malik smiled, in a way the lit his eyes up with spectacular valour. "Something about them...I like it."

The tension in the room suddenly fell heavy. Never have I felt so suddenly drawn to the Alpha, as he slowly closes his book. For whatever reason, he seems to have accepted my lack to advances, yet now, I suddenly feel myself wanting to throw such advances at his face with full force. It must be the way he stares at me, almost as if he is regarding me, in an unexplainable way.

Had he kissed another girl yet? It hasn't been that long, and we were told that we were forbidden to make any kind of move to him since touching is apparently a sin in this competition. However, I wouldn't question it considering his past.

I glance down, stealing the moment. "Right."

Had I stared at him any longer, I might have melted straight into those giant pools of blue. Really he is stunningly attracted, and I hate to admit he is making this mission a lot harder. Once I am out of this competition, I want to find my mate, not fall for some Alpha. I have to believe Fate is going to make everything work out in my favour.

Right now, he is making me feel the complete opposite. Why is making me fall for him?

***

"I have figured it out..." Zariah said one day.

It had been three days since I last saw Malik in the library, and I haven't seen him since. After news his mother has fallen ill, he hasn't joined me for late night conversations, which I respected. He hasn't sent any other girl home and is currently on a date with Brynn, who wouldn't admit thrilled her, yet we saw it all over her face.

"Hmm?" I mutter, staring at the piece of paper I had been writing on. It is supposed to be ways to get Malik's necklace off him, but all I see are scribbles on the page.

Zariah gathered herself off my bedroom, to join me on my bed. Her face was bright red; it does that when she has figured something out. Every time I see that incriminating colour, I mentally shake my head and prepare myself for an onslaught of her ridiculous ideas.

"Something just doesn't seem right about the whole selection process with this competition," she tells me, the bed sinking with her weight.

"What selection process?" I ridicule. "It was all random-"

"Exactly! I don't think it was."

At her words, my heart rate accelerated dangerously. Does she know? How could she have possibly figured out that a rogue messed with the results of the ballot? I mean, I know Wisdom Pack members are intelligent, but to find something out like that would have taken an immense amount of skill, which I had no idea Zariah possessed to such a level.

"Like, I know you and me got in random, but there are some girls I think actually found a way to get selected," she tells me, her eyes bursting with colour. She didn't know...The relief I felt swam through my veins almost instantly.

I tilt my head, trying to act somewhat coy. "How so?"

"For a start, Phoenix Diamond from the Desire Pack. Her family are insanely rich and famous...And powerful. Did I mention rich too? Well, if you think about it, she has everything the Love Pack could have as a Luna," Zariah tells me in one big breath.

I take a second to think about that. What if? Sure, it seems ridiculous, but what if Malik had actually chosen who got selected to compete, because of their place within a Pack's social hierarchy? He seemed to innocent to the situation, like someone I wouldn't strike as a culprit for something like this. Yet in some twisted way, it seemed awfully plausible.

"Also, the girls from the Loyalty Pack. Don't they look similar? I'm sure they are twins, which means Malik must have had to let them both in...It cannot have been random."

My head spins, despite myself telling it to stop. I can't think like this.

If this is true, then surely our Luna has been picked. We might just all be here as a way to trick the public into allowing a girl from another Pack to be our potential leader. Has Malik planned exactly when we are all going home? That would explain why Brynn and I haven't gone home for our rule breaking yet...He has to wait.

The urge to throw up suddenly hits. Why do I feel so lied to, considering the one I am fabricated is just as incriminating? Had our conversations been fake? I might be going home next...I need to kick this mission into full swing right now.

"We can't just accept this," I tell her quickly. "We need evidence."

Zariah nods, not needing to question that for a second. "How do you say we go about getting it?"

I take a deep breath. If my random, potentially mission-ending idea goes wrong, myself and my family will be dead. Am I seriously about to introduce a ridiculous idea that just came to my head a second ago, to Zariah, who is eager for just about anything? I have no other choice.

"Well," I pronounce carefully. "We have to sneak into Malik's quarters. We have to find out if this is real or not."

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midikacrane

Midika

~Midika 💜🐼