Pain is nothing compared to the hole in my heart at the absence of my beta. Arrows stick from my back, my sides, and had I been a mere man, I would already be dead.
Luckily, I am not a mere man. I swing out with my blade, taking the head off of one of the dozens of warriors rushing toward me.
There is no way I’m walking away from this. No way I will survive this fight—thundering hooves echo through the trees, and the men attacking me stop, freezing in their tracks. I, however, use the distraction to my advantage.
I drive my blade into the gut of the man closest to me, and by the time I’ve ripped my blade free, Viridia’s soldiers plow onto the road. They engage, slaughtering the men in seconds as I sink to my knees.
A man grips my shoulders and forces me to look up at him, but all I can hear are my beta’s cries.
I get to my feet. Then fall right back down. “Merrick!”
I focus on the man before me. King Grendel shakes me. “They have her,” I tell him.
“Fuck.” He stands. “Get him on a horse. We need to get you home.”
“No. We need to get Kiya.”
“You’re going to die unless we get you back.” He turns to his men. “Half of you follow Julius. Ensure the beta’s safety, and get me an update when they stop. The rest of you are with me.”
“No,” I argue, but my vision blackens, blood pouring from my wounds.
“We may not even make it in time as it is,” he snaps as he hauls me to my feet. He and another man guide me to his horse. They throw me on top of it, knocking the air from my lungs.
Within seconds, we’re running, but no sooner are we cresting the hill than my vision begins to waver.
My final thought.
One mental plea.
Is that Kiya fucking slaughtered them all.
I wake to a cloth being pressed against my head. Someone dabs gently, and if it weren’t for the familial scent of my mother, I might have let my mind believe it to be my wife.
“Where is she?” I choke out. After blinking rapidly, my vision clears well enough to take in the somber expression my mother wears. Panic claws at my throat. “Where is Kiya?”
“Within the walls of Aurum,” a man says.
I turn my head to the side as Grendel takes a step closer. He’s not dressed like a king, instead wearing brown riding pants and a black shirt. There is nothing regal about him in this moment, which makes it far simpler to imagine killing him where he stands for simply delivering me shit news.
“Then we need to go get her.” I start to sit up, but pain through my side sends me back down.
“You’re lucky to not be dead.”
“Why am I not healed? How long has it been?”
“Three days,” my mother tells me. “You’re not healed because those bastards used silver arrowheads.”
“Silver.” Fuck. Of course they’d been silver. Why else would I have gone down as quickly as I did? It's one of our few weaknesses. And one I didn’t think anyone was aware of.
“It’ll be at least another two days before you’re back on your feet,” my mother says.
“Why the hell did your men not engage?”
“His troops outnumbered mine three to one. Doing so would have caused great risk to your beta. They followed, at a distance, and kept an eye out for an opportunity that didn’t present itself.”
“They should have fucking slaughtered them.”
“What I don’t understand is how they were able to take her anyway,” my mother says, shooting a glare my way. “Kiya is particularly gifted after all.”
“In combat?” Grendel questions.
“Something like that,” my mother replies.
I try to focus on the events that took place. Is it possible she did shift but they were able to—“Oh no.”
My mother stills. “What?”
“I told her not to shift,” I tell my mother, using my connection as alpha to speak to her without worry the king will overhear. “I ordered her not to.”
“Merrick.” She pales. “As long as you live, your order stands. Kiya cannot shift until you tell her she can.”
My entire body goes rigid as I ponder all the fucked up ways I’ve managed to condemn my mate. Without her ability to shift, her wolf is going to grow far more restless. Which, in turn, is going to make Kiya more emotional and volatile. She will be unable to keep a calm head, and once she’s passed a certain point—she’ll go mad.
I’m a fucking moron.
“Please leave us,” I order Grendel. “I wish to speak with my mother alone.”
“Of course.” He drops his head in a nod and leaves, shutting the door behind her.
“We could have continued speaking through the Alpha bond, but it would get suspicious,” I tell her.
“I understand. Now try and help me understand why you would order your mate to not shift.”
“Because we were surrounded, and as far as we knew, the king did not know of what we are. Shifting would have put us in more danger.”
“But we knew that he’d discovered it! Otherwise, why did he want your child?”
“We suspected,” I remind her. “And by the time he’d outed it—fuck!” I lie back and cover my face with both hands.
“Merrick, we’re going to get her back. Kiya is strong.”
“Kill me.” I wince as I sit up.
My mother glares at me. “Excuse me?”
“Kill me. Then the Alpha bond will be broken, and Kiya can shift.”
Her face reddens and she balls up a fist, slamming it into my jaw. Pain explodes through the side of my face, only adding to the pain radiating throughout my body. “I will do no such thing. I have already lost one son. You will not ask me to lose another.”
My face stings, but that pain is nothing compared to the hole in my heart. “Kiya—”
“Will be just fine. You have very little faith in the woman who is counting on you to save her. What the hell do you think she’s going to make of her sacrifice when we show up and tell her you killed yourself?”
“I think it doesn’t matter because she will be alive,” I snarl, throat raw with emotion. I might as well have signed her fucking death warrant. If she’d been able to shift, she could likely escape. But now? I close my eyes and shake my head.
I might as well have handed the blade to kill Kiya my fucking self.
“You need to have more faith in her,” my mother says, damn near repeating her earlier words. “We may have had our differences, my son, but Kiya is the strongest woman I’ve ever met. We will get her back. It’s just going to take time.”
I meet her gaze, my heart hardening. “I will tear this entire fucking realm to shreds until I get her back.”
The story concludes in Stolen Mate! Get your copy of Stolen Mate now!
I signed my wife’s death warrant.
An alpha without my beta, I’m a soldier with no moral compass.
A savage beast with no chain.
The king stole my wife. My mate. My beloved.
I’ve killed for far less.
Even as the curse has been broken, I’ve never felt such bloodlust.
Such a driving need to paint the realm crimson.
And before the first snow dusts the Shadow Lands, I will have his head on a f*cking spike.