The Hybrid King's Hidden Mate

Chapter 5: Mates

-Amber-

I wasn’t exactly sure how long I had been held captive. I only knew I had been transferred not too long ago. Yet I was unsure why. One night, some men came to take me away. I had thought I was going to be taken to the king, but I had been wrong.

They had transferred me to a new jail. A dirtier one, though, and chained me up again. It was really dark, with only a small window high up. At least then I could tell night from day, but my confused and tired mind wasn’t able to keep up with the passing days and nights.

I’m hungry, my wolf grumbled.

“I know. We both are,” I said, just as my stomach growled for the hundredth time.

Do you think they will feed us soon?

“Hopefully. They can’t really let us die, can they? I mean, we are the last hybrid female,” I reminded her.

That is true, but I am still hungry.

I sighed and leaned my head back against the wall behind me. I was very hungry too, but I had no other choice but to sit here and wait. I closed my eyes, trying to ignore the hunger, but then suddenly my ears picked up strange sounds. It sounded like yelling.

What was going on? I wondered as I continued to sit there on the cold ground. I opened my eyes, watching the big steel door in front of me. I could hear steps coming closer, and my heart started to beat faster. It wasn’t the usual steps, I concluded.

These were heavier, and they seemed to be approaching quite fast. I had an idea who it might be, but I prayed with everything inside me that I was wrong. However, I wasn’t. There was a loud click that echoed into the big and cold room I was trapped in, and then the door opened, creaking loudly, like it was announcing his arrival.

I saw nothing but a pair of boots in front of me at first. I slowly let my eyes travel higher. His legs were three times the size of mine. His upper body was big and broad, and his dark red eyes were staring right at me. f**k, he is huge, I thought.

I knew hybrid males were much bigger than hybrid females, but I had thought the books I read when I was younger were exaggerating. I hadn’t had much to do trapped in that little house my mother had kept me in.

So, I had studied a lot about the world I was not allowed to venture into, but the books had not prepared me at all to sit in front of The Hybrid King. He was dressed nicely, but in all black, as if he was mourning.

Fuck... my wolf whispered.

I wanted to ask ‘what’, but my voice seemed to have gotten lost somewhere. I couldn’t speak.

We can’t kill him... she stated.

Again, I wanted to ask ‘what’, but I didn’t even get to think the word before my wolf whimpered loudly inside my head, as if in pain. I could see her writhing around like she was fighting something, until suddenly she was lying down, her tail tucked in, and she had a submissive look in her eyes. My wolf was nothing but submissive. She was sassy and quite fierce.

This was unlike her, but then she offered me an explanation: Mate.

Of f*****g course, I growled internally. Of course, the last hybrid male left in the world was my mate! I had really hoped that even the Goddess, whom I had seen my mother pray to every night, would have wanted me, my freedom too.

But instead, she had given me to the very person I had despised my entire life because I knew if he knew I existed, he would want one thing from me, and one thing only.

Being mates would make it twice as hard to fight him, but I would fight him. My freedom was what mattered. Nothing more.

-Ronan-

She was so much smaller than Adrianna, but Adrianna had also been tall for a hybrid female. She had been perfect in my eyes. I had never been able to look at another woman again after I met her, which was why I truly hadn’t believed I would ever find another mate.

No one could compare to Adrianna, and yet inside me, deep within me, where my wolf had sought refuge to hide away from the pain that he had felt from losing our mate, he stirred. At first, he seemed to have woken up from a very long nap before he began to crawl forward, seeming interested in what we were looking at.

Then, after years of hiding, I finally heard him speak: Mate!

His voice wasn’t as strong as when he had claimed Adrianna as his, but that could also be because he had hidden away for so many years, or maybe he was still a little unsure.

We knew nothing of this little female, who, even though she was sitting down, still dared to meet my eyes. She didn’t look pleased at all, though I was certain she knew of our connection too. Our wolves knew we were compatible, and there was no stopping them when they had made up their minds.

However, I wasn’t about to claim the little one. Adrianna held my heart. My wolf choosing this woman didn’t change that, but I was not about to leave her in this disgusting cell. She had only stayed in it for an entire night, but it was so smelly I could barely catch a whiff of her natural scent.

Yet it was there, sweet, like the scent of chocolate. Strange, I thought, I had never really liked chocolate or sweets for that matter. Adrianna had the fragrance of fresh flowers, but this little one smelled sweet to me.

I slowly crouched down in front of her, and I saw her eyes dart behind me, where her “guardians” were standing, but she didn’t have to worry. I had told them if they stepped one step inside, I would rip their legs off.

However, they kept a close eye on everything. I knew they had been ordered not to let her out of their sight. One of them had even warned me, like Derrick, not to take the chains off. It seemed like I had been given a little fighter.

“What is your name?” I inquired before reaching out, taking some of her dark brown hair, feeling its softness and sniffing it.

I didn’t do it to be creepy. Scents revealed many things, and since the cell was so smelly from not being taken care of for so long, I merely wanted to know if she had been treated well. It was easier to smell her if I brought her closer, and I was worried about the results.

Even she was smelly. She had not showered in a long time and, by the look of her clothes, hadn’t had a chance to change into anything else since she was taken. This was how they treated the last hybrid female? I growled in my head. It was ridiculous! Were they afraid of her or something? It was then the little firecracker decided to spit on me.

“f**k you,” she spat.

For a moment, I was stunned. Never in my life had anyone dared to do that, but the little hybrid did. She was born with a fiery soul. Had she been a man, I would have made her one of my warriors. I slowly wiped the spit off my cheek, smiling a little annoyed so she could see she was moving into dangerous territory, but even if I scared her, she didn’t back down.

“I’m going to ask again,” I stated. “What is your name?”

She responded by looking away, and I sighed before wrapping my hand around her jaw, forcing her to look at me again, but it was a mistake. I had felt numb, cold even, for years. One touch of her warm skin, and my entire body came to life. My blood ran faster, going south and making me hard in an instant.

I had not lived completely celibate since Adrianna died. I had to drink blood too, and those I drank from I had slept with as well, but I had never brought them into my bed, and they had always reminded me of Adrianna in some way.

Often, they had red hair and very delicate features. This little one was completely different, but I still felt the strong need to drink from her, to let her drink from me while I f****d her hard, making sure to sate all her needs and my own.

Something in me knew I wouldn’t feel as empty or disgusted afterward. It would feel right because it always did when you took care of your mate.

“Tell me!” I growled.

She continued to stare back at me, refusing to bow to me. Very strong indeed, I concluded, and it seemed my wolf was even more pleased to see this. This time he had chosen someone so opposite of Adrianna, which confused me a lot, but maybe it was the sight of her strength that made him choose her.

Adrianna was the gentlest and sweetest person on this planet. She couldn’t even hurt a fly. This one, maybe with the right guidance, because it was clear she had not been trained to fight, could protect herself.

It calmed me to know, even if it was my job to keep her safe, because maybe if I had trained Adrianna back then, she would have been able to protect herself. I had thought my warriors were enough. But I had learned it the hard way that they weren’t.

She won’t bow. Yet.

Yet. The keyword here, but then my eyes darted to the chains locked to the wall behind her. Why would she tell me anything with those around her wrists? I thought. I slowly let go of her jaw, and I could see I had pressed harder than I had intended. The skin was a little whiter where my fingers had pressed into her flesh, but the blood was slowly streaming back there, turning it pink again.

I reached for the chains, easily pulling them from the wall. Barely anything could hold a hybrid, but if weakened, like she surely was, then things changed. She looked confused at me, and while I still needed the key to get them completely off her, this was a start.

“That was better, wasn’t it?” I remarked.

She continued to stare at me, perplexed, but at least she wasn’t so angry anymore.

“Going to tell me your name now?” I prompted.

She didn’t answer me, but I was okay with that. There was something almost calming merely looking at those same red eyes. I had missed seeing others have the same kind. It was lonely being the last hybrid. It was simply nice to see another one alive.

“Let me help you stand,” I offered.

I reached out my hand, hoping to make her see that I was not going to hurt her. She watched it suspiciously, but like a kitten not quite ready to trust its owner, she slowly placed her hand in mine.

I had truly believed this meant she might listen to me and let me take care of her, but instead she surprised me when she hissed, showing her fangs that had grown longer. She moved so fast that I wasn’t prepared, ripping down the collar of my jacket and shirt before sinking her teeth into the side of my neck.

It wasn’t the marking spot that all wolves and hybrids were blessed with. She sank her teeth into my right side, and then drank greedily, like her life depended on it, and maybe in her head it did.