PAUSED | The Red King's Wrathful Mate

Chapter 2: Vanessa's POV

He screamed.

He couldn't stop screaming.

He started tearing my entire suite apart. He slammed his fists into the desk until it splintered into pieces. He ripped my entire book case out of the wall and then started turning my bed upside down and throwing chairs and tables against the windows and the walls.

He's devastated.

I sat still in the pool of blood beneath me. My white dress was covered in my and my baby's blood from my stomach all the way down to my legs. The blood stains would never get out of this dress. They would remain as a reminder of this day.

They would be a reminder of the day I got my freedom.

I touched my flat tummy while my mate tore my room apart. It's good that my pregnancy wasn't showing yet. Right now, since I'm without a single scar on my stomach, there's no proof that I once had life growing inside of me.

"Are you done?" I asked Midus when he finally stopped wreaking havoc in my room and just stood next to a wall he just slammed his fist into.

"I want to go wash all this blood off me." I informed him.

What happened next ... shocked me out of my calmness.

His body started contorting while bones snapped in place so his beast could take over.

I've seen Midus shift plenty of times, but it's never been like this. This time the process is so agonisingly slow and looks so painful that one might think he's shifting for the first time.

I watched him roar as his skin slowly turned into a silver colour and each of his limbs started stretching, extending and getting wrapped in more muscles. His shoulder-length black hair turned white and it grew and grew until it reached his waist.

When he opened those gold eyes that belong to his beast, large white wings sprout out of his back and for a second it looked like they would fill this entire suite.

The humans might call him a giant elven creature, but they'd be wrong. He's a royal inkling. He's a beast ... Midus' beast.

"Vanessa." His beast growled my name.

The silver coloured creature was towering over me. He stood so tall that his silver head and large pointy ears touched the ceiling.

"Wildegaard." I said the beast's name as calmly as I could.

I could see his white breath leave his mouth and nostrils each time he exhaled. He was fuming and with every step his claw-like feet took towards me, my room shook and his silver wings moved ever so elegantly under the weight of his anger.

"You killed our child." The beast's golden eyes bore into my grey eyes once he reached me on the floor. "I can smell his blood. I felt his pain ... his death."

Silence.

"Why?" He bared his k-nines at me. "Why should I let you live when you killed my son, my heir, MY CHILD!" He roared with his face a mere inches from mine.

The roar was loud enough to make me tumble backwards and fall into the blood soaked floor behind me.

There's so much blood.

I tried getting up after I landed in the blood, but a large hand with sharp claws was suddenly wrapped around my pale neck. He was squeezing hard enough to make my body instinctively fight for oxygen, but not hard enough to snap my neck like a twig; something he can easily do.

"Beg for my forgiveness." Wildegaard growled. "Beg for my mercy and maybe, just maybe, I will spare your wretched life."

The only words that were forming in my mind were "I ... can't... breathe..."

He raised my body from the floor while depriving me of all oxygen. He was holding me by the neck while standing up straight which meant my own head was now also touching the ceiling. Just one wrong word from me and he could either slam me against the ceiling or drop me to the floor, making me break a few bones.

"BEG!" He roared while I kicked my feet and my hands tried to dig into his claws.

My vision was getting blurry and my lungs felt like they were about to explode. I am going to die ... killed by the very same adulterous king...

My body was already begging for life, so maybe I should mindlink him and ask him to let me live. Maybe I should remind Wildegaard that both he and Midus marked me and promised me, the kingdom and our godess Nayala herself that they would be loyal to me. Maybe I should remind him that it wasn't just Midus who cheated on me. I felt him mating that girl's beast as well. Each time Midus mated Jolene and each time Wildegaard mated her beast, Petal, I felt it...I saw it in my head.

I dismissed those thoughts the second they entered my mind.

He's already robbed me of my pride and dignity by making me the Queen whose husband mates a f*****g eighteen year old. He won't take more from me by making me beg for my life. I did what I did knowing very well that Midus, our people and the Council of Elders would demand my death.

My body may be begging for oxygen, but I welcome death. I will not run away from it.

I was about to be freed of this man, but then I suddenly felt my body crash against the floor.

Wildegaard dropped me.

I took huge gulps of air while I tried to straighten one of my legs that broke because of the fall. The ceiling in my suite is too high. I knew I'd break something if he dropped me from that height.

"Don't!" I mindlinked Violet when I sensed her trying to open the door.

She and Grace were still right outside.

I could feel Violet's anger and eagerness to kill Wildegaard ebbing through our mindlink. She's a fierce warrior and she probably wants to fight Wildegaard for almost killing me, but we both know she won't stand a chance against him.

Besides the fact that Midus is the strongest person in the Eastern Inkling kingdom, he also has the strongest beast and Violet was unfortunate enough to not get a beast; just like me. It's only Grace who has a beast and hers refuses to talk to her. The darn thing even refuses to shift ... so it's pretty much useless.

"He hurt you." She trembled through our link. "He laid his f*****g claws on you. I'm going to kill him!"

"DON'T!" I ordered her through our link again. "He will kill you. Go! Take Grace, run and get out of this kingdom before they come for you. We may not be sisters by blood, but this kingdom knows that the three of us are family. They'll kill you for a crime that I committed. Take Grace and run."

Silence.

Fuck.

My leg was hardly healed when Wildegaard's long tail hit me right in the stomach.

I always forget about the f*****g tail the shifters in this kingdom have.

Why can't they be like the dainty looking elves in the human films? Instead, their beasts are tall enough to reach the ceiling in buildings, they adorn all kinds of different colours on their skin, have long and strong tails, long pointy ears and angel-like wings and fangs..fangs that gave me this wretched mark right above my collarbone.

He knocked the wind out of me and for a second I thought that this time I truly would die ... but I didn't.

I waited for Violet's response while I lay on the floor, but she didn't say anything. I didn't try to mindlink her again. She and Grace were already on the run. I could feel them getting further and further away from the palace, heading towards the kingdom's borders.

I couldn't help but chuckle at the irony of my current predicament.

Now that I'm no longer carrying a royal heir, I'll be able to cross the kingdom's magical barrier. As long as there is no royal child or unborn child who has my blood coursing through their veins, that magical barrier can't keep me here anymore. I'm free, but that doesn't matter because I'll be dead soon.

Oh well.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Midus' voice suddenly caught my attention while I chuckled.

He was back in his human form - naked, but he looked even angrier and more pained than Wildegaard. His eyes were begging me to say that this was all just a joke or that this was just a dream and that his son was still alive.

"Tell me..."He picked me up as if it wasn't him and his beast who almost killed me a few seconds ago, "did someone curse you? Is that why you're going mad? Did something possess you Vanessa? I don't understand. Please tell me you didn't kill our child."

He put me down on the large bed with white linen and a white duvet cover. I was still covered in our child's blood, but that didn't stop him from putting me on the soft bed.

My mind started filling with strange thoughts as the bed's softness embraced me.

Why do we insist on having a separate suite for the king and queen? I've heard rumours that humans share one bedroom or suite if they are rich enough. Why do we have separate suites?

I suppose it's so that we can cheat with a clear conscience?

But how can you be free of guilt when you know your mate will feel excruciating pains of betrayal once you betray them? Mates even get visions of the act as it happens. They see the betrayal. How can anyone put someone they love through something like that not just once, but repeatedly ... even when their mate is carrying their child?

We truly can be despicable creatures.

"Vanessa!" Midus shook me out of my silly thoughts. "Answer me, dammit!"

I looked at the blood stains on my hands.

I'm free. I can't die; not after I did what no one would dare to do so I could escape. I can't die. I refuse to die.

"I told you." I lifted my head slightly so I could whisper in his ear. "I get to choose who is worthy of making a child with me, Midus and you are no longer worthy. I refuse to produce an heir with you. I refuse for you to taint any child of mine with your weak blood!"

So many tears were gathering in his eyes.

I've never seen him cry.

"Because...", he almost stuttered, "because of Jolene?"

I turned my face away from his, but he turned it right back.

"You killed your own child because of Jolene?" He asked the most preposterous question. "You killed the next king because of some eighteen year old girl who had your mate's attention for a few moments? You killed our child because you were jealous of a younger woman?"

I felt nothing as I watched him hurl question after question and accusation after accusation at me. Each question and accusation worse than the last. All of them making me sound like an old, bitter, deranged and jealous crone.

"Go make a child with her." I interrupted his slander. "She's younger than me, she has a beast and her grandfather is an elder. The kingdom will gladly accept her as a queen over me, a woman who was left here by some old witch. For all we know, I come from a long line of crazy old women who have tried to kill their unborn children. I was just the first one to succeed."

His body started trembling with rage and right before he raised his hand to slap me, he took a deep breath and stopped himself.

"You are the only person I wish to make a child with." He managed to say with a clenched jaw. "You are my wife, my mate, my queen. You built this kingdom with me. Our people love you, respect you, adore you. They have accepted you as their queen and so have I."

I ignored his nonsensical blabber.

I had to think about my escape.

There would a trial soon and I have no doubt it won't be a long trial. The elders will immediately demand that I be executed and if Violet and Grace are stupid enough to have remained in this kingdom after my warning, they will also be killed.

I need to escape before the trial ... or maybe during ... but definitely before Midus and the Council give their verdict.

Please, Nayala. I sent a silent prayer in my heart. Please don't let my sisters be stupid enough to stay in this kingdom even after I told them to leave. This is the perfect time for them to escape. Word about my crime hasn't spread yet and security at the borders is still lax. Please take away Violet's stubbornness and grant her the wisdom to take Grace and just f*****g run.

"I'm sorry, Vanessa!" Midus almost broke down. "If I had known how much I was hurting you ... I made a mistake. I never thought anything like this could happen. I didn't realise ... I'm so sorry."

If he started weeping and begging on his knees, his little show would at least be a bit more entertaining than it usually is.

I ignored his empty apology and continued trying to think of a way to get out of here alive.

I've heard different renditions of this apology too many times to count over the past three months. It's usually accompanied by flowers, jewellery and new dresses and then he goes and does the same thing the very next day. He knew he was hurting me. I told him. I told him bit by bit it get like he was gnawing at my soul each time he betrayed me, but that didn't stop him.

"I think ... I thought I was destined to have two mates, but now I see that I was mistaken." He turned my face to him once again. "I'm sorry, Vanessa. I'm so sorry. Forgive me. I will never make such a mistake ever again. I promise. It's just you and me from now; the way it's always been."

He was already running his fingers through my long silver hair, as if all was forgiven.

He was spouting the most ridiculous nonsense like I'm some dim-witted girl and he expected me to just forgive him?

Destined to have two mates? What even is that? No one can have more than one mate at a time.

"No." I tried to reply without angering Wildegaard again. "It's better if we reject each other, Midus. I'll leave the kingdom and fend for myself outside our borders." I held his hand and forced a smile on my face. "You'll never see me again. I promise."

I hoped and prayed to Nayala that he would agree to this. If he agrees to this then I can avoid that trial and I'll get to live. I may not have anywhere to go, but even if I have to go live amongst the humans with my sisters, I'll do it.

"No." He replied calmly.

I tried pushing him away from me, but he grabbed both of my wrists with one hand and Wildegaard's silver claws ripped out of him. "Don't worry. We will never reject you." Both of their voices came out of his mouth. "We will make another child. We promise."