Chapter 5: Chapter 5

CASVAN

The first thing I noticed when I finally came to was the pain I felt behind my right ear. It wasn’t intense or overwhelming, and definitely not even close to the excruciating pain of being tasered or shot with silver bullets.

What made me acknowledge it was the fact that I always kept an inventory of my body, and I knew I had no injury behind my ear when I’d blacked out from the arrows and tranquilizers. Which made me conclude the cut was made when I was unconscious and couldn’t fucking kill whoever did this to me.

But I would have to personally give my thanks to that person when I finally got out of here.

I raised my hands to brush my long hair out of the way, but the rattling sounds of the chains reminded me that I was chained and shackled. Which brought to my attention the red burns marked around my feet and hands, caused by the fortified silver chains.

I was in a healing compartment, or what the humans called a hospital room. The place was sterile, smelling of antiseptics and something that made my nose twitch.

A familiar energy, which I recognized as the essence of Jakos, filtered through my senses. He was close. I knew it.

I glanced at the chains and shackles all over my body. A laugh burst out of me when I remembered Kayak warning me to be careful not to harm the little women, as he liked to call them.

I would love to see his face when he realized that the little women were more dangerous than we ever thought. These women had killed warriors triple their size, captured me, all to show us they wanted nothing to do with us beasts.

The irony didn’t escape me. Problem was, we needed each other to survive.

My beasts needed them to be their anchors—at least before I came here, my people did. Now I was one of them. Not once in all the time I was preparing for this journey did I ever hope or even dream that the fates would bless me with a mate of my own.

My thoughts had always been of my race. Saving them, always protecting them.

But when I saw her, my world tilted on its axis. She stood protectively before the woman I suspected was the queen.

She was absolutely breathtaking, beautiful and strong and resplendent. ~A sexy little thing.~

She felt the spark, the attraction—I knew she did—the pull and the scent permeating the air from her cunt after I growled was the best thing I’d ever smelled in my entire life. I knew she was wet for me.

A natural phenomenon—I remembered the confusion written on her face when I growled and her body responded. Our eyes had connected, our bodies drawn to each other’s.

Just when I was about to touch her, feel her, and assure myself that she wasn’t an illusion but real—I got shot with three fucking arrows, then tasered until I lost consciousness.

Those bloodthirsty women were brutal. I was honestly surprised at how violent these women were.

Although my race were warriors, the women were gentle in nature and rarely violent. These women, however, were the opposite.

This alone was proof enough that my previous plan wasn’t going to work. I knew this change had everything to do with her—my mate.

I had only seen her once, and already I was changing my plans for her. ~Fuck.~

Wait until I told Kayak. The asshole would mercilessly tease me, especially after we mated and when she’s got me wrapped around her little finger, I’d be nothing but her slave. But I didn’t think I would care.

I couldn’t believe that just a few days ago I didn’t even believe I would ever have one; with my temperament and dominance, it would take a great woman to balance me out. I had really thought the few whores that I occasionally got to fuck—due to their many clients, the women had more clients than the vaults back on my planet had gold—

Their services were expensive. Not that I was ever charged or anything. I alone had my first pick of women when I needed them.

The privilege of being king. I had thought the occasional fuck was more than enough to sate my lust and keep me sane, even if I wasn’t mated to any of them.

Although some of the females had shown interest in wanting to be my queen, bringing themselves over even when I didn’t need them. I had never wanted any of them enough to bind one to me as a pleasure or chosen mate.

And I’d made sure all the ambitious females knew that too. But now that I’d seen my fated mate, with her beautiful blue-gray eyes, I knew I made the right call.

Long, silky honey-brown hair that I was beginning to imagine bunching in my hands while I took her mouth—not to mention that sexy-as-sin, lush body. I had never wanted anything or anyone as much as I wanted her, my mate.

~Mine.~ She made me want to purr for her, which was something I had never done for anyone.

I wondered when I would see her again. I had a feeling I would see her soon, if everything we were told about the mating and attraction between true mates was true. I knew she wouldn’t be able to stay away, seeing as I couldn’t go anywhere in my current state.

She’d have to come to me. The next time I saw her, I’d take the first step.

I would make sure she felt me as intensely as I felt her inside. I knew our differences were the biggest obstacle between us, that and the fact I’d just attacked her people.

I knew it wasn’t going to be easy to convince her that I wasn’t the bad guy. To her, I was the enemy.

I’d have to show her and convince her without forgetting what I was really here for. And if all else failed, then I was taking her away regardless of how much she hated me.

I would make her forgive me. I’d prove to her that she was better off with me beside her—her mate, the male who would die to protect her.

I wondered who she was, and what her name was.

~“Brother, are you okay? Have you found the women?”~ Kayak’s voice whispered through my mind.

It was probably due to the distance between us that his voice was very low.

~“Yes, but due to unforeseen events, there has been a change of plans,”~ I thought to him.

I could feel his confusion before he replied.

~“What happened? Did you go there too late? Did the others take the women?”~

~“No, but something happened. I found my Dar’sen (soulmate),”~ I replied.

~“What! Tell me you’re joking?”~ I could feel his astonishment through the familial bond.

~“I am not. You should see her, brother, she’s…she’s. By the aether, she’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”~

~“Did she feel the pull, like the elders told us? Did you smell her?”~ I could feel his excitement.

~“Yes, brother, though I’d only seen her briefly. You understand now, the plans…”~

~“Yes, brother, this is great news, I’m so happy for you. This changes things.”~ I nodded, though he couldn’t see me.

~“Yes, I want you to delay your arrival by a few weeks, so I can win her over lest I risk the chance of losing her.”~

~“I understand. Do what you must, but what about the others?”~

~“They won’t be attacking until a couple of weeks later, probably two months from my estimation. We’ve got time. I’ll talk to you another time.”~

~“Stay safe, brother.”~

~“You too.”~ I dropped the connection.

I strained and twisted until I could reach my fingers behind my ear, making the chains clang and rub, irritating the skin beneath. Fucking silver—where did they get it? I growled angrily.

My fingers came back bloody. They’d fucking cut me; I wondered what they were hoping to find behind my ears.

The silver around my skin was just an irritant. It would burn the skin where it touched, and I couldn’t break it off, at least not yet.

As long as I wasn’t beheaded, a silver knife or any dagger coated with liquid silver, or shot with silver bullets, wouldn’t kill my kind. It would fucking hurt, but we’d survive.

I hoped Jakos was okay. He was the only warrior who survived; he was also the only one who hadn’t lost his cool.

The others had killed the women, even after I had told them not to. The attack from the women had triggered my sentinels, sending them into bloodlust, making them lose control.

Jakos was the only one who hadn’t hurt the women. His level of endurance and control was impressive.

That was the reason why I had chosen him as my second on this trip. I had felt him earlier, his life essence intact.

From the vision I had before we came here, I knew the women also needed us. They just didn’t know it yet.

Humans were weak and fragile physically; they’d need our protection. All these years, the humans thought we were the bad guys, the beasts.

And maybe we were, but they mistook my people for the ghouls, and there was a vast difference between us and those wretched things. As the king, my people were depending on me to save them. I had to find a solution to our most pressing problems.

It was my brother Kayak who first heard about the women. He thought human women would be able to calm our volatile nature. It was how it had been with the women of our own race, after all.

I had argued that human women were different, though. That was when the vision came. Later, he took me to see an old friend who had come across a human woman, had saved her, and then mated her.

I realized there was also hope for my people. Kayak had wanted to come for this mission in my stead, but as the king and his older brother, I couldn’t let him put his life in danger while I stayed behind in Dakhur.

That was not the way of my race, and definitely not the way I worked. I’d already lost a brother. I couldn’t lose another.

I found it surprising and impressive how well the women had managed to hide from everyone. When I saw them fight, there was a growing respect for them in my heart.

Despite coming with the old hag Beatrice, the fake trail the women had left behind misled us to the far east twice. I suspected it was the witches in the queendom’s doing.

They’d woven a dangerous illusion that, if not for my skills and instinct as a hunter, I would have succumbed to like the others had. We’d left Dakhur with ten strong sentinels and the old hag. That made eleven people.

I had a plan in place to check out the queendom myself. That was why I hadn’t brought the rest of my people here. All these warriors were handpicked by me. They were war-hardened warriors with better self-control.

Now, four were dead. They’d died in that dastardly illusion.

They had suddenly lost their goddamn minds and attacked and killed each other. Fortunately, Beatrice had destroyed the illusion with a counterspell.

It was unfortunate that she had unknowingly and automatically triggered a curse by trying to undo the original witch’s work some hours later. The backlash had been severe and instant. She had hemorrhaged to death after she had successfully destroyed the barrier.

It was shocking to realize that while we were running helter-skelter searching for the women, they were right under our noses, hidden deep in the northern mountains—and not just a dozen women, but more.

More than I’d seen in my vision, and more than we ever thought there were. Even if I didn’t know the exact numbers, from what I saw when we arrived, I knew the women were close to a few hundred.

My new plan was to negotiate a peace treaty with the women. My and my sentinels’ protection in exchange for the right for my warriors to search for their mates among the women.

Though it was going to be hard, it was doable. If the queen of these women cared about the safety of her people, she would see that being my ally would keep her queendom safe.

I wasn’t delusional, however. I saw the hate in the queen’s eyes. She hated us, understandably.

It would take a fucking miracle to get her to agree to the treaty.

Women’s voices pulled me out of my thoughts. From how close their voices were, I knew they were in the room where Jakos was kept.

But what really made me perk up was the faint scent of my mate. Instincts took over. I growled and snarled, yanking and straining in the bed, trying to get free so I could go to her.