Mate for the Prince of Beasts

Chapter 6

Alana's POV

I felt him, I wasn't sure how, but I just knew he had entered the room.  To be honest, I had started feeling him since before, as soon as he started moving my way.

"You look beautiful," he said, his growly voice making me shiver.  I hated the response my body had to him.  "Are you ready for our party?" he asked sweetly. 

"No," I said defiantly, not looking at him, trying to fight my attraction to him. 

"Why not?  You were supposed to get her ready!" he roared to the women with me.

"She is ready" the older one said.  "We did everything you asked us to."

"Then what's wrong?" he asked me.

"I don't want to be paraded in front of your people like some w***e," I replied. 

"You are not a w***e, you are my mate!" he roared in my face, just appearing in front of me.  "You won't refer to yourself that way."

"Well, that's how I feel," I said, but my attention was drifting to his lips, waiting to see what he was going to do, and almost wishing for him to kiss me senseless. 

"Why?  You are mine, everyone witnessed our union yesterday and they are ready to celebrate with us."

"I never agreed to it!  I was never asked for my opinion!" I said angrily, but it was getting harder to stay angry since he was smiling at me.  

"There was nothing to agree with, you are my mate, we have been joined by fate."

"That can't be true," I said, "there's no way fate would be so cruel to me."

"You know it's true," he told me, "you can feel it, just like me," his hand cupped my face, and I moved closer, following the contact.  His other hand rested on my shoulder and then moved down my arm until he took my hand, resting it on his chest.  "You want me, just as much as I want you," my breathing was getting shallow, I felt intoxicated by him.  I wanted to move closer to him, and I did, moving my hand up to his neck and taking a step closer until we were chest to chest.  "See?  You can't stay away from me, you wanted our union as much as I did.  There was no need to ask, for you belong with me."

I felt so conflicted, what he was saying was true, I did want him, but part of me believed that my feelings were artificial, the result of a spell that was affecting my judgement.  What else could it be?  There was no other explanation for my attraction to him.  "What have you done to me?"  I asked, but he acted as if he hadn't heard me, just moving my hand to his arm, and guiding me outside of the room.  I could feel people walking behind us, but I didn't turn to see who they were, my guess was that they were the guards that were always close by, maybe even the women that insisted on always being with me.  

We walked for a long time, the previous night I had been so consumed with him that I never noticed how far away he had moved.  Finally, we started hearing the noise of a crowd talking, and I knew we were almost at our destination.  We stopped in front of a pair or heavily ornamented doors, but something was odd about them, the carvings were destroyed in some parts, but what I could see, depicted the witches' history, not the beasts.

"That looks like something my people would make," I said.

"It is, this castle is the first one we took when we started our fight," he calmly said. 

"What happened to the people that lived here?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

"We killed most of them, the ones left, we took as servants," what he meant is they became slaves.  It was sick, to force the previous inhabitants of this place to work for them and see as they took over their rightful home.  "Are you ready?" he asked, but didn't wait for me to respond, or even get over the information he had just given me.  At his signal the doors opened, and in the other side was a big salon, full with people, or as I suspected, full of beasts like him. 

I was frozen, unprepared to face so many of them, but he started moving, and with my hand firmly in his grasp, I had no choice but to follow.  It was overwhelming being there, knowing that every one of them could turn in an instant and become an animal capable of so much destruction.  They looked human, but they were not, they were mindless killers that had no respect for life. 

The Prince started to talk, but all I could hear was a buzzing in my ears.  Applause exploded making me flinch, but he was already moving me again, taking me to a table set in the place of honor, from which we could see everyone and everything, and in turn be seen by them. 

We sat, and I turned to see a face that haunted my nightmares, just to my side was the man that hand murdered my mother, the beast that had torn her apart.  I felt faint, but then I felt angry, at him, at the Prince, even at me for not being strong enough to just stand up and leave that place, but especially for moving closer to the Prince in search of comfort, when he was most likely the one who had ordered that beast to do what he did.  

All around me they were talking and laughing, celebrating our union.  I started crying, not sure if out of anger, frustration, or just plain grieving for everything I had lost to them.  They all noticed almost at the same time, turning to look at me.

"What's wrong?" the Prince asked, his voice full of concern.

"Are you really so heartless that you even have to ask?!"  I whisper yelled, but everyone at our table could hear me.  I could tell by the way their focus turned to us. 

"I have no idea what's wrong with you, that's why I'm asking.  I want you to enjoy this party, it is meant for us to celebrate our union," he responded, getting a little angry.

"I love my family," I said, but he only stared at me, not comprehending what I meant.  "My mother was a saint.  She had the gift of healing.  Her powers allowed her to find what illnesses a person had and help them heal, but she also knew all about medicinal plants.  She usually travelled to other villages to help with their sick, sometimes I went with her.  She was loved by everyone, she was great," I couldn't even see through my tears, but I knew their eyes were on me.  "When we were trying to run from your people, she turned back and went to help a young mother and her child.  But that's not the last memory I have of her, the last memory I have is that monster," I said, pointing to the beast beside me, "tearing her head apart.  I know that for your people that kind of violence it's not important, but I feel my skin crawl for being so close to him.  I hate him! I don't want to be anywhere near him, and you sit him next to me?  Do you want me to be happy sitting next to my mother's killer?  With a constant reminder of everything I lost?  And even if I wasn't there to witness it, I'm sure that one of them killed my father."

Silence had fallen into our table at my outburst, but even through my tears I could see how all of them looked at the Prince when I said that one of them had killed my father.  I felt cold, so cold.  I knew that ultimately he was responsible for all of their deaths, he had given the order to kill them, but had he personally given the killing blow?  I felt sick and I threw up the little I had eaten earlier in the day.  The one next to me and the Prince both moved to offer comfort, but I moved back.  I didn't want my mother's killer to touch me, and even if some part of me wanted the comfort of the Prince's touch, another despised the idea of him being anywhere near me.  

I kept moving back until I hit something and I turned to see one of the guards standing behind me.  I saw his hand moving towards me as in slow motion, while my parents' killers advanced from the other side.  I felt like the world was closing around me, and darkness descended, making me lose consciousness.

Blaze's POV

It was awful to see my mate's face when she realized I had killed her father.  Her being sick and then moving away from me as if she was scared of me made my animal angry.  I wanted to keep her happy and protect her from everything and anything that could hurt her, but when it was me that caused her distress, what could I do?

"That was stupid of me," Talon said, "I should have known she would be upset from being next to me, I did kill her mother, I just didn't think she would remember my human face, or react that way, I expected her to attack, maybe try to kill me..."

"Witches are different from us, but she is your mate, I just didn't think she would react that way to you.  Talon, I get it, she doesn't know him and the only time she saw him was in terrible circumstances, but as your mate, she should want you no matter what you have done in the past.  It's not like you did it on purpose, you didn't know she was going to be your mate," Prier said.

Those were valid points, she was just overreacting, and I needed to take her somewhere else where she could rest.  I was sure once she got over the surprise, she would accept that it was inevitable for us to be together, and that the past didn't matter.  We needed to take back what was ours, and some sacrifices needed to be made.  It was a shame her parents got in the way, but that was in the past.

The party was clearly over, so there was no point in staying or pretending.  I said my goodbyes, took her into my arms, and went back to our room.  She looked so pale and fragile, but I remembered her fire when she had yelled at us, even through her pain and tears it was clear she was strong.  Exactly what I expected from my mate.  She would make a magnificent shifter if only we could find a way to turn her.