The Banished Werecat Princess

13 - Why?

King Silas

    I was getting ready to give Anita the s****l pounding of her life, when I was notified about a potential werecat trespassing on my mountain.  Right away, I shoved Anita away from me and pulled my clothes back on, then I stalked out of my office and through the castle.

    As soon as I reached the porch, I mind linked my guards and asked if they still had eyes on the intruder.  Once I got confirmation and a more exact location, I shifted into my grizzly bear and sprinted in that direction.

    It didn’t take me long to reach the lake where the trespasser was spotted, but what I saw sent my head reeling.  A woman with the most stunning natural beauty was collecting berries and storing them using the stained up, tattered shirt she was wearing.

    While I silently admired the woman’s eye-catching burgundy hair that had streaks of neon orange, she turned around giving me a great view of her gorgeous eyes that had a ring of ice blue surrounding the sapphire orbs.  For a woman who was obviously having a hard time with life, she had the prettiest smile lighting up her pretty face.

    Suddenly, a gust of wind brought the most intoxicating scent to my nose, smelling like jasmine and cocoa.  As I took a deep inhale of that amazing scent, I heard Cyrus grumble in my head, ‘Our second-chance mate is a werecat.’

    That was all it took to bring me back to my senses.  Mate or not, she was a werecat, and I couldn’t allow anybody else to see her at that moment.

    After sending my guards away, I quietly stalked closer to my supposed mate.  However, she must have picked up on my scent, because she suddenly dropped all of the berries she’d collected to the ground, then she spun around while searching the area for me.

    At that point, I ran full speed at the woman, catching her off guard.  There was no missing the pure fear that swirled in her beautiful eyes, as I tackled her to the ground in my bear form.

    Instantly, she started screaming and pulling on my fur, but it had absolutely no effect on me.  However, the sparks that flowed between us sent my mind into a total frenzy due to the emotions those sparks created.

    Knowing that I couldn’t kill my mate, I shifted into my human form and menacingly snapped, “Stop fighting me, mate, or I will hurt you!”

Alana

    It had been a few days since I found the cave, and things had been quiet for the most part.  I had yet to run across any rogues or other shapeshifters, and I was surprisingly happy about that.

    I had developed a routine of sleeping most of the daytime hours, then I would leave the cave in the late evening to take a dip in the lake and pick berries.  After returning with the berries, I would go for a walk in a different direction to search for anything that I could use to make clothes, weapons or baskets.

    So far, I had been successful in that regard, but I wasn’t gonna let that get me down.  I was determined to get ahead in life, so I could get little Jax back.  It didn’t matter what had to be done, I would find a way to make it happen.

    On the fourth evening of me spending time at the lake, I picked up on the strangest scent that tickled my nose.  It smelled like cedar and blueberries, so I wasn’t entirely sure if I was actually smelling a scent or if there were blueberries nearby that I hadn’t stumbled across yet.

    As the scent got stronger, I could feel my cat’s excitement bubbly within me, making me also feel a little excited.  However, that emotion quickly changed to fear at the sight of a huge, brown grizzly bear charging straight at me.

    The bear moved so fast, I didn’t have a chance to even think about running before he tackled me to the ground.  I screamed at the top of my lungs and frantically pulled at the bear’s fur, trying to scare him off of me.

    However, the bear suddenly shifted into a naked man on top of me, who immediately warned me to stop fighting or he would hurt me.  Despite the intriguing sparks that were making my skin tingle, I was terrified by the menacing sound of the werebear’s voice combined with the hatred that swirled in his unique, lime green eyes.

    Right away, I dropped my arms and attempted to keep breathing, which was becoming harder to do, since it felt like there was a weight on my lungs.  Without another word, he jumped to his feet, then he reached down and pulled me to my feet before throwing me over his shoulder.

    After that, he practically ran to the nearby cottage, where he reached up above the door and pulled a key out.  I had no clue what his intentions were, but I didn’t like the way things were going, so I started squirming while whining for the man to put me down.

    That must have annoyed him, because his hand suddenly came down on my butt making me yelp in pain while also pissing me off.  In a fit of anger, I started punching his excessively, muscular back and kicking my feet, but that only earned me two more harder smacks on my butt.

    Instantly, tears sprang into my eyes.  Not only was my fated mate hurting me physically, but also emotionally.  I didn’t understand why he was being so damn hostile towards me, when he didn’t even know my name or anything about me.

    Once we were inside the cottage, he dropped me on the floor and mumbled, “Don’t even think about running, mate!  If you do, I promise, you won’t make it more than a few feet before my guards snatch you up and snap your neck.”

    I was too upset by that point to even attempt to respond.  Instead, I started uncontrollably sobbing.  I had no clue how I was going to get out of this situation.  He clearly didn’t want me, but he wouldn’t let me leave either.  Surely, what I did in my past didn’t warrant this kind of treatment from my fated mate.

    When I didn’t stop crying after a few minutes, the man walked over to me, then he kneeled down and lifted up on my chin.  I looked up at his eyes through lowered lashes, and there was no missing the anguish he was feeling at the moment.  Of course, that just  made me feel even more confused.

    After releasing a strained sigh, my mate begrudgingly grumbled, “I don’t know what made the Moon Goddess think it was a good idea to mate me with a filthy werecat, but she did.  I can’t have you roaming all over my mountain.   My guards will kill you.  Werecats are forbidden to come on my territory.”

    “Why?” I warily asked between hiccups.

    “Why?” he repeated in a mocking tone, then his eyes went menacingly dark with rage before he seethed through clenched teeth, “It was your disgusting species that killed my fated mate!”

    “We would never!” I indignantly fired back before absentmindedly mumbling, “But I thought we were fated mates.”

    “No!  You are my second chance mate, and a horrible match at that,” he spitefully retorted before letting go of my chin and lighting smacking my cheek as he rudely commented, “but that doesn’t mean I’m willing to let you walk away.  Now that you are here, you aren’t going anywhere until I say otherwise.  Get comfortable, kitten.  It’s gonna be a bumpy ride moving forward.”

    Before I had a chance to say anything else, he stood up and walked toward the door.  When he reached it, my mate decided to glance back and add, “Don’t touch any of my stuff, including the food in the cabinets.  You will have to find a way to earn food from me.”

    With those last words, he walked out of the cottage and locked the front door with the key, leaving me crying with despair in the middle of the floor.  Over and over, the same thought kept going through my head, ‘Fate was truly a cruel b***h to pair me with such a horrible man.’