Katana

Kieran fell back on an empty chair. His mind was still on his agreement to mate Belen’s daughter. Belen was a prestige Alpha who was very well known for his very large pack and resources. Mating with his daughter will guarantee a firm alliance with Thaddeus.

He might have agreed upon mating Belen’s daughter to help ease his mate’s pain but that was to give him enough time to escape with Katana. He will never mate with Thaddeus’s choice. Just the thought of Thaddeus’s cruelty since coming back from the battlefield has Kieran’s blood boiling.

Kieran’s father was a year younger than Thaddeus. Kieran remembered his father telling him about the days when his father was younger. Kieran’s father was nothing like Thaddeus. He had a kinder soul and somehow earned the favorites of their father. Thaddeus grew jealous over the attention that Kieran’s father received.

Jealousy can be a malevolence thing. It can make people do things that they will later regret or take them down a very dark path. Thaddeus began viewing everything as a competition with Kieran’s father. When Kieran’s father found his mate which was Kieran’s mother, Thaddeus was even jealous of that. He tried seducing Kieran’s mother but his attempts were futile.

Thaddeus soon found his mate and although you would assume someone as hateful as Thaddeus should only be matched with someone as hateful as he was but it was actually the opposite. Kieran’s aunt was a very sweet and caring woman but completely docile. She feared Thaddeus’s anger but loved Kieran as her own. Thaddeus and Aunt Ruth couldn’t conceive. Thaddeus was sterile.

Although, Thaddeus was a very selfish man, his love for his mate was just like everyone else’s. He might not express it like the way other mates do, regardless his love for her was there. Kieran sighed after sitting down for a long time, pondering about his past.

A brief knock on his bedroom door had him looking up. Aunt Ruth stepped in and smiled sadly at him. She looked a lot older but yet she was still a very beautiful woman with the grace of a Queen.

“Kieran, how are you faring?” She asked gently.

When Kieran didn’t answer her right away because he was too conflicted in his emotions, she moved to sit in the opposite chair. She leaned forward and took hold of his hand into hers to comfort him. Aunt Ruth was like a mother to him.

His parents died when he was eleven. His father like him was a General and went to war. The news came back that he died and her mother died of a broken heart soon after.

“Kieran, I saw what he did.” Her voice cracked a little. “Sometimes he can be cruel but he is also a good man too. He doesn’t show it often but there is still a good side to him.”

“He is cruel and heartless.” Kieran hissed in anger, not agreeing to his aunt’s opinion of her mate.

She sighed knowing full well everyone else thinks the same. She couldn’t deny the fact that although Thaddeus was sweet at times, he is a selfish man. Many will question why she stayed so long with him but he was her mate. Her other half. How can she deny a bond that was given to her?

“I have something for you.” She changed the subject and reached into a pocket in her dress, pulling out a small beautifully embezzled container. She placed it in his hands. He moved to open it.

It was medicine-a salve to help heal wounds quickly and relieve pain. She smiled warmly at him and squeezed his hands to get his attention again. His eyes flickered back up to hers.

“I have asked a few guards to give you a few hours with her. They have agreed and promise to keep quiet about it. You can go see her but please do not do anything irrational, child. I know how much she means to you. I see that look in your eyes. You might not be my pup but I can see who she is to you. We don’t want to get caught by Thaddeus.” Aunt Ruth said.

Kieran held onto the medicine in his hands. He was thankful his aunt gave him this and a chance to meet his mate again. He needed to speak with her.

“I’m going to save her.” He announced to his aunt.

“I know you will.” She simply responded before getting up and leaving him alone.

After Aunt Ruth left, he made his way down to the dungeon and as she promised, the dungeon was cleared. Opening the door he entered to see his mate again chained to the rail. She looked up and hurt flashed across her eyes.

It was the same look that crossed her face when he agreed to mate with Belen’s daughter. He made his way towards her but she flinched and Kieran has never felt as broken as he was right now. His mate flinched from his presence.

“You shouldn’t be here.” She said with an emotionless voice.

“Why shouldn’t I be?” He asked as he knelt before her.

Her eyes narrowed and the jealousy flared in her eyes. “You are going to mate with someone else, Kieran. Do you really think I want you here right now? You promised to save me but if saving me involves you mating another woman then you can leave right-”

“I did it for you.”

“I didn’t need you to do it.” She growled. “I can handle the pain.”

“But I can’t.” He replied sadly. His hand came up to cup her cheek and he has never missed anything as much as the tingles that spread between them. Her eyes closed upon his touch and his eyes flickered to her back again. The red bleeding marks on her back-it was if he felt every last one of them himself.

“Katana, I only agreed so that my uncle will stop hurting you. I won’t mate with her. The only person I will ever mark and mate with is you. Please don’t be mad at me.” He pleaded hoarsely. His only emotions were too much even for him to contain. Her eyes fluttered open and he seemed to fall all the more in love with her.

“You didn’t tell me that he was your uncle.” She whispered, accepting that her mate was telling her the truth. Even though jealousy still burned in the pit of her stomach it wasn’t as bad because she knew he still wanted her.

“It was irrelevant until now. I didn’t mean to hide it from you.” He answered. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the salve. Her eyes fell down to the medicine box. Dipping his finger inside the minty salve he carefully began applying it to her back. Her eyes closed instantly in relief. Her facial expression relaxed immediately upon the pain disappearing.

“Katana, it might be a couple more days but as soon as we find out what to do, we are leaving this place.” He informed her as he continued to apply the medicine onto her back.

“We?” She questioned, her eyes opening back to look at him.

“Troy, Isaac, and Xavier.” He answered her.

“Is it safe for them?” She asked. “I don’t want them to sacrifice anything because of me. This is my own doing, Kieran.”

“I am sure they know what they are getting into and if they want to back out, I will never force them to do something they don’t want to.” He assured her as he finished off the last lash mark on her back. He placed the cap back on the container and slipped it back into his pocket.

They stared at each other for the longest moment before she spoke. “Kieran, if I don’t make it-”

“You will make it.” He said sharply.

“Kieran, please, if I don’t make it I need you to tell my father that I love him and that I am sorry for leaving without letting him know.” She begged him. His eyes looked like he was being the one tortured. He couldn’t bear a life without her.

“I won’t have to do it because you will be okay. I will never let anything happen to you.” He countered, refusing to acknowledge the fact that something bad might happen. If anything, he was more than determined to get her out.

**

Meanwhile...

“Thaddeus, I want to ask you to release the woman.” Ruth asked when she found her mate in his office.

His eyes turned black and he pounded his fist on the table. “Not you too, Ruth. I am done explaining my actions. She defied the law. Women are not meant to go to war. You should know that by now. Women are weak and too emotional to join a battle. Your emotions will get in the way and you can jeopardize our kind!”

“Thaddeus, please.” She pleaded, hoping to find something good in her mate.

After all these years, she has refused to listen to everyone. In her heart, she felt that there was some good left in Thaddeus. He has hurt her physically only on some occasions but that was because he couldn’t control his temper. She has forgiven him so many times but now she needed him to show some forgiveness to their kind.

“Ruth! Enough!” He growled as he stood up and appeared in front of her. He gripped her arms tightly in his hands. She whimpered at the pain.

“How can you be like this? I have forgiven you over and over. I have showed you compassion, love, and honesty. There was never a time I ever hurt you or broke your heart. I am your mate and all you do is seek for more power and revenge.” She cried hard. “How can you be so cruel, Thaddeus?”

“Do not question me, Ruth!” He roared.

Her eyes shined with a new found defiance. Something that Thaddeus has never seen before in his mate. “I will question you all I want! I am ruling besides you! What you are doing is not right and I have sat on the sidelines long enough! You are hurting the people around you! People will look-”

Slap!

She cried out as the pain stung on her cheek. She wasn’t surprised that Thaddeus has inflicted pain on her. It was the only way he could lash out his anger but this time was different. Tears stopped running and her lips thinned.

“I am done with you, Thaddeus. I have had enough.” She whispered in quiet anger.

“Ruthie, please.” He started but she shook her head immediately.

“No!” She pushed him away from her. “I will not listen to you! I am done! I have stayed long enough, withhold all your anger and pain. I have been your punching bag for years and now I am drawing a line. I can’t do this any-”

He snarled as he grabbed a hold of her hand. “You think that you can run away from me?”

She recoiled in pain as his grip on her hand tightened to a painful amount. His eyes glared down at her in anger.

“You will think again, Ruthie. You will not leave me!” He hissed as he dragged her towards their bedroom where he continue to drag her to their bed. He pulled out silver handcuffs and locked her onto the bed post. She yanked her hands hard against it but the bed post connected to the wall and floor. It was futile to try and escape. He gripped her cheeks in between his fingers hard.

“You will learn not to defy me.” He seethed before his lips came crushing down on hers.

Her body responded immediately because he was still her mate but her heart was breaking every second that she was in his presence. Her mate was a monster.