Capture

Sitting at the dinner table was a trial in itself. It took all Neema had not to snap at everybody.

She not only had to put up with sitting next to an overly repentant and apologetic Khan but she also had to refrain herself from climbing over the table and knocking Leslie out. The female had somehow found her way further up the dinner table as if she belonged near her, near Khan. Her scrawny arms latched onto Ryan as she made sultry eyes at Khan, her voluptuous lips pouting in his direction. He was not paying her any attention but the fact that the deformed duck had the audacity to sit among them and make sultry eyes at her current mate, was infuriating. Neema did not want him but she was not about to give him to the devil with the red hair.

Trying to contain her bloodthirsty ideas and pretending to be happy was virtually impossible. She was spreading herself too thin, she could not stop herself from seeing red and by the end of the night she was sure one of them was bound to be dead or at least cut open a bit. The fake smile on her face looked more like a snarl than anything else if she were to go by the people’s reactions. Eyes cast downwards every time they caught her deranged look which only caused her frustration to grow. Her right eye was continuously twitching as she tried to fight her urges.

Khan’s quiet pleading looks in her direction were only riling her more. Though he said nothing and appeared to be the stoic Khan of usual, Neema could not miss the way he angled his body towards hers as if he wanted to be nearer. Or the way his hazel eyes rimmed with moisture kept flickering over to her. He looked pensive as his jaw ticked in frustration.

If he became anymore annoying she was going to have to request to change seats and then everyone would know something was wrong but she was tired of pretending. This whole mating had been a farce, from the beginning she had publically pretended to care for him while behind closed doors they had been taking knives and claws to each others skins. And now this, was she supposed to pretend through this. Pretend she could stomach the idea of her male giving life to another child while she was nesting her own life.

She wanted to call it quits but she could not let Leslie know she had won and so she pretended that the male beside her was someone she cared for. Even when all she cared for was a taste of his blood.

“Stop” she gritted out as she maintained the widest and most plastic smile on her face. His hand reached out and grabbed hers under the table, his calloused fingers squeezing hers as he whispered in her ears, “Neema, let me explain.”

Her left eye was twitching now. She could feel them both moving in synchronisation, when one started the other one stopped until she looked as deformed as the ugly duckling with the sour face across the table. This dinner was a make or break situation and if these two continued to aggravate her she was going to break and make it someone’s last supper.

She brushed his hands and words off, her nails biting into his skin and drawing that liquid ambrosia that left a metallic tint to the air. This place had changed her into one of them, she craved to draw the blood of any one who did her wrong. It was not her way but it was swiftly becoming so.

Placing her hands demurely back in her lap as she shot him a sharp glare, the cheesy smile waning on her face as she warned him with her frosty eyes.

The meal had not started as they waited for a couple more guests to enter the hall and take their seats. Neema was becoming so impatient, she needed this meal to hurry up and be over with so she could go to sleep and pretend Leslie was dead and Khan was incapacitated. Her unborn child was really making her volatile. Volatile and hungry.

When she was not planning on the methods in which she was going to kill them, she was trying to figure out the food. Chicken was always a good option, so was steak. Meat in general was the only thing that would cut it. She could pretend the beef was Leslie as she sunk her fork into her head.

Taking her mind off the rising angry thoughts she examined the guests at the table. An auburn haired male across the table caught her attention. His piercing blue eyes were what first got her attention, the icy blue was what she imagined the sea would look like. The warmth emanating from his eyes undermined the colour, cold like the ocean they we’re not.

His astounding eyes were framed by a head of long dreadlocks. The clumped hair weaved with feathers and what appeared to be a woman’s ribbon. The pale, golden yellow of the trinket standing out against his dark hair. He had thick eyebrows that were a couple shades darker than his hair. The brows framing those exotic eyes magnificently. His nose was straight like an Eagles beak and his lips were wide but thin. His jaw darkened with speckles of stubble surrounding his mouth.

He was a magnificent creature to behold, his strong neck melded into sturdy shoulders in which Neema assumed was attached to an even firmer body. He was a prime male, wolf or not, he was definitely attractive.

The glint of gold on the table near his hands distracted Neema from her perusal of him.

A ring glistened on his left hand, on a finger that humans called their wedding finger. It was a sign that he was mated to a human. The insignia on the ring was not clearly visible from where she sat but the pattern looked familiar. Maybe it was similar to one of the male’s rings that she had encountered in her most recent underground village. Stephen’s insignia had been a lion. The mane had stood out against the hard wood, the lion a symbol to his loyalty.

Maybe the males mate had fashioned him a ring with a wolf on it to signify his dynasty. Either way she thought it was cute that they had both taken human and wolf vows. The love he had for his wife shone through in the proud way he wore his ring. It was probably her ribbon he wore in his hair. She almost felt bad for ogling him beforehand. He was a taken man but that did not make her blind to his appeal.

Neema was shaken out of her fanciful dreams by the sound of the hall doors shutting closed and the waft of the food being carried out. Her hazy eyes sharpened as she scoured the table to see what they had brought in. Her eyes snatching on an empty seat next to the redheaded male. This had to have been his wife who entered.

“Sorry I’m late guys, the pups were restless. New environment and all that” came the sweet, melodic voice.

Neema’s head shot up as she met the all to familiar golden curls. Her brain taking a split second to register what it had heard and what it was seeing before she was flying out of her chair and clambering around the table. Her face was obstructed by her wild hair but Neema remembered that voice. She would remember it in any lifetime.

Her feet carried her, until she stood a couple of centimetres away from the stock still female. So close but not close enough.

“Neema?” she whispered. Her small fingers splaying across her face as tears pooled in Neema’s eyes for the second time that day. Words failed to leave her lips, as she tried to speak her mind. She was too scared to blink in case she disappeared when she opened then again.

Everyone sat by in befuddlement as the two females stared at each other in utter silence. No one understood what was going on, no one except the redheaded male and Khan.

“I c-c-can’t believe, Neema? It’s really you” she cried out as she gathered a surprised Neema into her arms. Their height and physiques an exact match.

“It’s me Lara, it’s me” she sobbed out as she clung to her older sister. The rest of the world closed out as the two kindred spirits met again.

Neema couldn’t believe that she was sitting in her sister’s room, in her sisters bed, in her sister’s company. She had never imagined that they would see each other again, her search for Lara had only shown her sister leaving the country a few years ago and there had been no sign of her re-entering.

“Is that hunky man your mate? He had to be, the insignia on his ring looked familiar and that golden ribbon matches your hair to a T” giggled Neema.

Their conversation was so fluid it was like they had never been apart. Time had gone by but the bonds of their relationship had remained the same throughout the lapse. They were the same as ever.

It had taken them a while to eventually let go, both of them afraid that if they did their sister would be taken from them. When they eventually did stop hugging they had held hands and both dismissed themselves from dinner, food was inconsequential when you were reunited with your sister.

Neema sat along the headboard with Lara’s youngest daughter Ellie in her lap, while Lara sat at the other end with Jana in hers. Caillum draped along her arm as he snuggled against his eldest sister in his sleep. The two older girls were sleeping alongside Neema as their auburn hair weaved together. Lara had three daughters, none of them were biologically hers but they still called her mother. She had taken on the role as their mother before she had even been mated to Ferron. She was first their maid, then she was promoted to nanny and then later on mother. Her mating had been slow though both had been aware of the bond Ferron had courted her like the days of old, sending her gifts and taking her on walks. Their mating had started off beautiful had only flourished unlike Neema’s.

“Yeh, he’s my mate and husband, I’m surprised you don’t know that already it was your mate who brought us here. Sent his man to hound us down and drag me back here,” she chuckled as she thought back on the crazy journey her and the kids had.

They had only reached their destination at the children’s grandmothers house when a wolf had charged in and demanded she come with him. With or without her male. It hadn’t gone down well with her mate but at the mention of her sisters name she had been ready to go in a heart beat.

“Khan brought you here?” she questioned, she wasn’t sure how to take the news after the events of the day. She would be eternally grateful to him for doing this but it was just a little too late.

“Yeh,” she laughed at her sister’s quizzical face, her hand rising to cover her mouth and hush her laugh. Neema’s eyes widened at the sight of her ring, the golden band was inscribed with a winged horse, and image she would never forget. How could she.

“It was dads” mumbled Neema as it the familiar insignia on Ferron’s ring came to mind.

Their father had always had a wooden ring with the Greek mythological winged horse Pegasus carved on it. When they were younger they had often asked him what it meant. He had always told them that Pegasus meant a lot of things over the centuries and had come to mean them all to their mother’s family. Their father had been unofficially adopted by their mother’s family when he was younger. His mother had died in child birth and his father had died on a hunt when he was 5.

“Yeh but its ours now, me you, Caillum and Jana’s family crest. Its ours to give” she replied with love glinting in her eyes.

Their grandfather had given it to their dad when he had officially welcomed him as a son, not as an adopted one but as his son in marriage. When their parents had wed their grandfather had sat down and explained what the insignia meant to the family.

The symbol of Pegasus was a sign of wisdom and intellect, Fame and richness. He told his father that they were to always be scholars and teach their children to be worldly. The family was rich in bonds and famous for their knowledge. Pegasus was a sign of that but also a reminder to be humble to the Gods that be, as the winged horse was obeisance to the Greek god Zeus. The ring meant more then a sign of fidelity it was a sign of kinship. Not just to Lara and their pups, but to Neema, Jana and Caillum. It was a kinship to the whole family.

The two women continued talking into the early hours of the morning discussing everything but that topic that Neema knew would bring bad memories for both, but she was curious. She needed to no.

“How did your mate find you,” questioned Neema. They had spoken about nearly everything except where her sister had gone and how she ended up in a wolf compound. Her sisters grin dropped from her face as soon as Neema asked. Her nose crinkling as she remembered a non to pleasant time.

“Those males from that compound liked to hunt at night but it was a different kind. They would females into the forest when everyone slept and play with them,” her eyes darkening as she thought back on the memory.

“They demanded we run, so they could hunt. Be a wolf. I’m thankful that they liked to toy with their prey before they... Well you know” the words were too disgusting to fall from her mouth. Neema held her breathe as she waited for her sister to finish her story, hoping that it ended with those men dead.

“They were so excited that they did not notice that they had been hunted by real predators by wolves. I had never felt so grateful in my life but then my mate was dragging me away and he wouldn’t let me go and get you guys.”

She cried as the memory of loosing her family hit her all over again. She had been so lucky to escape the clutches of those vile men only to loose her family for so long. Being without her family had nearly killed her in the beginning, her desire for food for life dwindled to nothing. If she had not met Ferron she would have never made it back to her sister, to her family. She had wanted to punish him for not listening to her words until it was too late but she was too soft hearted for that. she had ben mad but she couldn’t blame him, he had wanted to protect her and so he had carried her away while his pack had attacked the compound.

Neema placed the little red haired girl down onto the bed and crawled across the mattress to hug her sister. Her fingers stoking her wet face as she inhaled her scent. No amount of fancy perfume could eradicate her natural scent.

“They came and you were not here, I didn’t know where you went but I had to get them out. I don’t know how we did but we did. I hoped that we would meet up at the next village. When you weren’t there I just knew,” Neema explained to her sister.

It had killed a part of all of them to have to leave each other behind but they were together now and that was all that mattered. The both of them were crying again at remembering their ordeal. It was all they seemed to be doing.

“These hormones are getting the better of me” chuckled Lara as she patted her flat stomach. Neema’s eyes popped out of her head as her jaw dropped wide.

“You’re pregnant?” She shrieked.

The sleeping children all but gone from her mind in her excitement. One of the twins, opened her eyes and shushed them before she conked back out, her little hiss reminding Neema that they weren’t alone. No answer was needed as Lara’s face beamed, it suddenly made sense why her face was glowing.

“So am I” grimaced Neema. She had meant for it to come out as a smile but her wobbly lip meant that it didn’t quite happen that way.

“I can’t believe it, we’re pregnant together” squealed Lara as she clapped her hands in excitement.

Their bond would manifest into something new if they both experienced pregnancy and motherhood together. Their children could be best friends and confidants like her and Neema were. Lara was so excited but she noticed Neema wasn’t as jubilant as her.

“What’s wrong, love?” Her body scuffling closer to her sister as she lifted Neema’s chin so she could look at her properly. Neema hadn’t stopped crying from beforehand. Her eyes were red and swollen with tears and her nose was a runny mess.

Neema wanted to be happy that her and her sister were pregnant but she just couldn’t find the heart to feel that way. Neema and Lara’s situations were completely different. Lara had been happily mated to her mate for over six months, while Neema had barely had a week of contentment with Khan. Her relationship with him was over and the future of her family and her baby was uncertain.

Neema leant her head on her big sister and told her all of what had happened. She did not know why she hadn’t told Lara already, maybe because saying it out loud would only make it true. Confiding in her sister had always helped her before and it would do the same now. For the next hour Lara sat by in silence as Neema explained all of what had happened, leaving nothing out. Not one thing. by the she had finished speaking Lara was shaking with anger as her nostrils flared, tears gathered in her eyes as the rage and frustration mounted. Her little sister had been suffering and she couldn’t be there to help her, it hurt her but not as much as it had probably hurt Neema.

“Right, Neema this is what you tell that no good piece of crap.”

Lara had to censor her words. Little children were around and once they found a new word they clung to it.

The Creed of the Wolfen Brethren

Neema stormed into Khan’s room the next day with a book in her hand and a swagger in her step. Lara’s words had given her the encouragement she needed, Khan was not going to know what hit him.

His squinty eyes were proof of that. He was still in bed, his curly hair knotted around his face as he slept bare chested. Pillows were splayed on the floor and the sheets were dangling around his torso. She was glad he didn’t sleep well. Marching over to the window she opened the curtains. The sharp sunlight having its desired affect.

Khan shot up in bed. His eyes surrounded by deep bags. He looked like death.

“So Khan, I have come to a conclusion about our situation. I have had a little think and my sister has given me some sound advice.” Was Neema’s opening sentence as she cut to the chase and got straight down to facts. Waving the heavy book in her hand she continued her one sided discussion.

“Sit up Khan, you might want to pay attention to this bit” she ordered.

Stopping her waving of the book until he did what she had told him to. His strong bare arms were folded across his chest as he leaned against the headboard. His sharp focus on Neema driving her determination even more.

Flipping open the book to the page she needed she read him a short extract, to prepare him for her decision.

“Page 349: Law 122, section 5, under the creed of the Wolfen brethren. ‘If a mated wolf impregnates a female who is not his intended mate, said mate can annul the bond AND can mate with another male’. I am said mate Khan. In case you didn’t know.”

Her mouth tipping up in condescension. It was a bit early in the morning so she was sure he did not quite understand what she was saying.

“I’m going to break it down for you. When I give birth to your child I am going to annul our mating… As is my right and then if I feel like it, I will get married and give my new mate a room full of babies” she taunted.

None of her words were a joke, she was one hundred percent serious. His laws gave her rights and she would exercise every single one of them.

Khan climbed out of bed as he charged toward her, his frame was shaking with the struggle to maintain his shift. Not only had she left him alone all night which made sleep impossible for him but she now woke him with words of annulment. Storming into their room at ungodly hours and talking about babies and future husbands.

“YOU ARE MINE! No man will give you pups but me! You won’t be raising my children with anyone but me!” he bellowed. His nose poking her face as he leant into her. His fingers digging into her shoulders as he dragged her body towards him.

“Well according to your laws, under section 8, ‘A female mate can raise her pup without her mate if an annulment takes place. The female must remain under the same compound and not re-mate until the pup reaches training age.’ Which I checked is 6.”

Her eyebrows were challenging him to try and dispute these laws. As a descendant of the Wolfen Brethren and soon to be Regional Alpha Khan had to have known these rules. The downtrodden expression on his face told her as much.

“I’m only 22, I don’t mind waiting until I’m 28 to have a new mate, I might not even need one” she continued, her words rubbing salt into an already open and blistering wound.

Khan gripped Neema by her hair and forced her mouth to his. His free hand wrapping around her body as he dragged her towards the bed. The heavy book in her hand clattered to the floor as he forcefully manoeuvred her body. It was a desperate measure but Khan couldn’t bare to be without Neema.

Neema did not want to stop kissing him, the taste of his lips was so addictive and the plunging of his tongue reminded her of all they could of had. It also reminded her of what they had lost because of him. It was enough to clear her mind from the euphoria of his kisses.

Reaching down into her pocket she pulled out that fateful knife, the blade still tainted with the wolfsbane poison. She quickly nicked his shoulder forcing him to release her body.

Panting over her knees she shot him her trademark glare. The glare missing him as he examined his bleeding chest.

Rising to her full height Neema dusted off her clothes and fixed herself up as she made her way to the door. Stopping before she reached the handle she turned back around to face him. The small blade waved in her hand as she pointed at him, her body language condescending

“Now that we have that sorted, you should really mark Leslie. People are bound to think she’s not yours,” she finalised as she yanked the door open and crossed through the threshold.

“On a final note, get that wound checked out. We don’t want a repeat.”

She threw over her shoulder as she closed the bedroom door. Leaving an angry and confused Khan in her wake.

She was purposely avoiding him. Before she entered the room she made sure Khan wasn’t in their by sending one of the kids, mostly Jana because Caillum would ask questions. She had managed to escape him for a couple of hours, but she knew soon he would come to help train Caillum and then she would be stuck in his presence. Also they were moving to his compound in a couple of days. She would be stuck in his company for however long it took to travel and then when she got there she would be completely isolated. It was so unjust.

Neema placed her head along the wall as she sat on one of the mats to the side of the room as she watched Caillum and Carson play fighting. Her little sister was curls in a ball on her lap as she had her afternoon nap and Lara sat beside her, the twins Delilah and Dareen were also training as they were 7 and at the correct age to learn. Ellie was also tuckered out on Lara’s nap, her 4 -year-old body unable to take all the excitement without a little break. Plus, if her new best friend Jana was sleeping then she would be sleeping too.

The two little cousins who were similar in age had become the closest in the short time they had known each other, Jana finally had a friend as loud and bubbly as her. Together they got up to hellish things. It reminded Neema of her and Lara when they were little. The age gap between then was only two years, so as soon as she could walk she was following Lara around like a little puppy. Lara loved the company and someone to take care of.

Their circumstances had changed but the two easily slid back into these roles. Neema wasn’t so much the puppy, but Lara was definitely the mothering type. Between the two Lara was the caregiver while Neema was the stronger, when their parents had been taken Neema had been the hunter and provider for their family while Lara was the nurturer.

“So you’re telling me he didn’t react when he found out you’re pregnant” queried an incredulous Lara. She just couldn’t understand how it was even possible that a wolf who was so interested in creating heirs wouldn’t react so excitedly.

“He reacted alright, but it was like me being pregnant went above his head. He was only focussing on this new and invisible mate I have.”

His reaction to the news of her pregnancy was so calm she wasn’t sure if he had even taken in the news. He had been way too concerned with reaffirming his possession over her, which had failed. Her promise of annulment had only angered him more meaning that all that pregnancy talk was not even absorbed. Once the words sunk in though, Neema would be stuck in the middle of a war.

He would be livid and she really didn’t want to have to cut him anymore then she already had. Even though he wasn’t worthy of her she hated having to scar his skin now. At first it was an eye for an eye. He scarred her so she scarred him but now she would be tormenting him for the emotional pain he caused her. She wasn’t blind to his pain. Khan was suffering too but it was his of his own making and not hers. No sympathy would be given to wolf who had ripped out what remained of her heart for the sake of what hung between his legs.

“I’m not surprised, if I even mentioned another unmated male to Ferron he would go crazy”

Alpha’s possessiveness was uncanny, a mention of another single make was like a sign of infidelity or a challenge to them. When that happened, there wasn’t much you could do. Neema had never met a female alpha before but she had heard they were just the same. It was like alphas had some sort of obsession to their mates. It was scary and thrilling at the same time.

“Why would Ferron go crazy?” Rumbled a deep voice above them. Lara’s mate had sneaked up on them and only caught the last little snippet of their conversation. His thick arms were folded across his broad chest as he waited for Lara’s answer.

“What are you doing here?”

She completely avoided the question, because even a mention of what they were talking about would get him worked up. Maybe not as much as if she were to say a name but he would still be tense and angry. Then she would have to talk him down from his rage, it was just a long process that she had no time for.

“There will be a fighting competition, I’m here to watch and judge” he declared.

Neither of the sisters knew about the competition but it suddenly made sense why the training area was so cramped with people. Wolves were practicing before they started the competition and many were here to watch. There was one large mat in the middle of the floor and most of the others had been pushed along the walls. Helpers came in with chairs and started arranging them around the mats. They were placed further away from the mat for precautionary reasons, wolf fights were known to get vicious fast.

“What’s the prize?” Neema asked. There couldn’t be a real competition if there wasn’t some sort of consolation prize. The winner had to get something.

“The top 10 fighters will get a place in Khan and your new pack, it’s an honour to reside in the compound of a Regional Alpha. That’s why there are so many.”

There was no surprise that this match had something to do with Khan or the fact that she had not been told about it. She was his mate in name but not in action, this was just another confirmation of that.

“How do you decide?” Lara was just as curious as Neema, she had been with Ferron for around a year and she had never witnessed a fighting competing. The two sisters were both in new territory.

“The fighters get split into 4 groups. The top 5 of each group will compete with each other. Each station has two judges until the 5 winners were found and then they take it to the main mat where the chairs are”.

The training area was an impossibly large room for a smart reason. Yet Neema felt that it was appearing to be too small for the activities they wished to take place. The chairs would have to be taken out of the room until after the first round took place. Otherwise there wouldn’t be enough room.

“Are we witnessing the top 20 fighters then?”

The matches would be going on for ever if that was the case. 10 separate matches to determine who would and wouldn’t be coming to khan’s new pack and her new prison.

“Yes and they are about to start, so come and take a seat. The kids are already seated” urged Ferron as he picked up a sleeping Ellie and Jana from both of their laps and headed through the crowd. Neema and Lara quick on on his heal as Ferron’s big frame cleared a way though the leery crowd.

“Is this okay for children to watch” mumbled Lara as she took a seat by the children. Taking Jana from his arms.

“It’s fine, Dareen and Delilah have already seen one or two. It doesn’t get too bloody” he whispered as a hush settled over the room. People had already taken up the vacant seats. Everyone else was huddled around the chairs to get a better view. A small gap left to their right as people began heading in.

Khan’s father, Nathaniel lead the Warriors through the crowd and onto the mat. The 20 men forming two straight lines behind him. Their chest’s were bare from any tops as were their feet from shoes.

“Today, these men stand before me to fight for their place in the soon to be Regional Alpha’s pack. They will fight until 10 stand before us, victorious.”