I couldn't believe what my ears were hearing right now.
We were speeding down the dirt road towards the entrance of the territory, passing by dead bodies and battling warriors, my heart ached greatly over the loss of my people because of this senseless war.
Demetrius sat in the drivers seat, both hands on the wheel as he tried to get out of the territory as fast as the car would allow us on this road, all while explaining the situation to me.
"So my father has been stealing resources?" I interjected, rubbing my arms with my hands to comfort myself over the news.
Why would he need to steal from others? We had trade systems with every territory, we had relations between every clan, including the truce between my people and Demetrius' people. I didn't understand in the slightest.
Demetrius let out a grunt before he answered completely. "More than just stealing resources. When the group won't comply, he kidnaps them and blames the disappearance on the fairies. I've had my fair share of visits from your people at my boarder, a few of them are still hanging in my cells." He clarified.
It felt like my breath hitched in my throat and threatened to stay put, it was becoming harder to breathe again, why was my father doing all of this?
"Why?" I managed to choke out, a tear threatening to fall from my eyes as I willed my hardest not to let them fall.
"Because your father is corrupt." He bit back. I flinched at the harshness in his tone and he noticed as he glanced over to me in the passenger side seat. He sighed. "Your people aren't supposed to be lead by a man. When the leadership is corrupt, the rest of the population will become corrupt too. Your father sent that warrior out in the middle of the night to kill Prince Ray, we're not sure why he did it but my best guess is that he became aware of your father's antics and your father wanted to kill the whisperer before others found out."
"Found out what?" I argued. I didn't want to believe that my father could be capable of this behaviour. He was a shallow man, prideful and eccentric, but he wasn't corrupt.
"Don't you think it's strange that your father didn't want to help get the women back? Despite almost losing you and your sister? Don't you think it's weird that the serpent kingdom was fine with us camping outside their territory if they had any reason to suspect foul play? And now their prince is dead at the hands of your father and they're willing to risk their whole manpower just to retaliate?" He inquired.
I sat there silently for a moment, pondering the questions that were thrown in my direction.
Demetrius came to a screeching halt by the front fence of the territory as we witnessed more than two dozen serpent warriors running from the perimeter, back out towards their own territory.
A few of them noticed us roll up in the car and instead of issuing an attack they watched us intently as they ran. They were running from the fight.
"What's going on?" I whispered as I squirmed myself down in my seat, using my backpack to shield my body from view, not that it did much to help in this instance.
Demetrius' hand came out in front of me, as if to barricade me some more from the threat outside the car. "I think they're retreating." He murmured back.
We watched intently as the last of the warriors cascaded out of the entrance to the territory, bloodied with broken weapons, injuries adorning their scaly skin I grimaced at the sight of the intruders that had just destroyed my home and my people.
"They must have gotten what they wanted." He added.
"What did they want?"
"An eye for an eye." Was all he said.
*******
That must have been the shortest battle I'd ever heard of. In fact, it's the only battle I've ever heard of in my lifetime.
Demetrius didn't want to leave the territory after we saw the invaders leave, a change of heart is what I'll call it.
Instead he drove me back up the dirt road and into town that was now littered with dead bodies from both sides of the battle. I couldn't get myself to look down at the bodies of civilians as we drove past, Demetrius tried to avoid as many bodies on the road as he could but unfortunately a few succumbed to the wheels. Tears streamed from my face as I shoved my head into the top of my bad for security.
I didn't know where he was taking me, quite frankly I felt perfectly safe in the car with him to the point that I didn't want to leave, I didn't want him to leave me either.
He came to a halt and I dare myself to look up and out the window, only to find that we were now in the town centre, survivors were filtering in from all angles to start collecting the bodies of their fallen loved ones, the remaining warriors of our clan were there too, piling up the bodies of the serpent warriors in the corner to dispose of. At least that's what I thought we would do with them.
I saw my mother amongst the crowd in the centre, comforting other women as they cried, acting as a beacon of hope amongst a sea of violence, my heart fluttered realising that my mother was okay.
My mother had spent the whole battle inside the nursery with the other mothers and their cubs, I couldn't see a single scratch on her from where I was sitting in the car, luckily she hadn't been hurt during the fight.
However, I couldn't see my father or my sister with her.
In one swift motion I unbuckled my seatbelt and ripped open the car door, launching myself out as I screamed out for my mother. Demetrius tried to call back for me but I didn't listen, the fight was done and my mother was okay.
My mother heard me and I watched as her face began to contort in such a way like she was trying to hold back tears, I went running up to her with my arms out as she too opened hers for me. We collided in the middle as I sunk into her arms, she collapsed onto the ground with me against her in a hug.
"Oh my kitten, my sweet girl." She cooed as she rubbed my head. "I'm so happy you're okay." She kissed the top of my head as she rocked me back and forth.
I never liked the nickname kitten, as I'd mentioned time and time again at this point. However, this time around it didn't seem to bother me in the slightest. I felt just like a cub cradled against her mother, it was warm and inviting and I never wanted to let her go.
Thats when a certain thought occurred to me once again, where is my father and my sister?
"Mother?" I whimpered, she tightened her hold around me. "Where's everyone else?" I asked.
To this, her whole body stilled, and then relaxed once more. "I don't know where Mika is right now. But your father, your father..." She trailed off, her grip tightening against me once more.
It was not like my mother to shed so much vulnerability, especially in front of others. But I knew this was something she was struggling to hold back.
"Your father was found on the front steps of the nursery, he didn't make it." Her voiced cracked at the end as she pulled me impossibly tighter towards her.
My heart felt as though it had dropped in through the pit of my stomach, I felt heavy as though I'd been filled with rocks. I had this sinking feeling in my chest that got worse the longer I leaned against my mother, who began crying quietly in my hair.
We get to pick our own mates, but by the end of the mating process the bond between two werecats is just as powerful to that of any werewolf, my mother's soul had been intertwined with that of my father's from the moment they first bed. Through four children and a whole pride to lead, they were the image of a perfect mate-ship, regardless of how my father acted.
I could feel my mother's soul tear apart in front of me, now I understood why she was so happy to see me alive and well after the battle, her only other daughter was missing and her soulmate was gone, my father was gone.
And at the end of the day, he was still my father, the blood of my blood and the man who had lead my people since before I was even born, all gone in a second by one mistake.
And my brothers, I could only hope that they were okay too.
Before long, my mother and I became surrounded by fellow werecat women, who comforted my mother and I in group hug right there on the ground of the city centre.
They could feel our pain through residuals, we had lost the leader of our family but they had lost the leader of their pride, this pained all of us at once.
"I can still feel her." My mother croaked, sniffling between the locks of my hair. "She's still alive but she's growing further away from me." She added.
Werecat mothers have a special sensibility that other supernatural beings don't utilise as far as I'm aware. We can feel our children the same way we can feel the tether between our mates, we know when they're no longer with us. And if my mother says she can still feel Mika, then that means there is still hope that she is alive and well out there somewhere.
The other women were trying to hush us, console us in anyway that they could, and although I was incredibly grateful to find my mother okay, and although my heart ached over the death of my father, there was still one other person my mind stayed trained on, Ayla.
"Why aren't you in the high school?" My mother spoke once more. I can't imagine this being the right time for my mother to scorn me for not listening to orders, and I didn't think she was going to, so I answered honestly.
"The high school was attacked. Ayla tried to fight them off and lost her arm before we could take them down. I left to go and find a medic but Demetrius found me instead and kept me safe." I croaked back.
Only then did my mother pull away from our embrace, and the women around us moved to allow room for my mother to look past us and over to the car I'd come out of. I too turned to look at my mate who stood leaning against the car watching the scene calmly but warily as if the battle were still taking place around us.
"Thank you." My mother called, pulling me back into her chest. "Alpha Renwick." She addressed him formally.
Demetrius simply gave her a curt nod and continued to survey the area.
*******
Demetrius' POV
I stood in the shower of Madeline's bathroom, the water running down over my shoulders as I watched the tiled floor of the bathroom.
The bodies had already been cleared from the home but the damage was still evident, dried streams of red lay between the tiles of her bathroom, her smashed bedroom window to the side and giant stain at the foot of her bed, all innocence that her room protected seems to have disappeared.
Flashbacks kept inserting themselves in my head.
The sound of her scream.
The man on top of her.
Snapping his neck.
The look on her face.
I shook my head and let out a low growl. I should have come upstairs with her, I shouldn't have left her alone like that.
More flashbacks started forming in the back of my head.
A spear through the shoulder.
Madeline's smiling face.
The cracked skull of a serpent warrior.
Madeline's little whimpers.
Dragging her father to the nursery as he bled out.
Madeline's body against mine.
Another growl protruded from my mouth, this one much louder as I refrained from punching the wall in front of me.
My brain could only focus on two things right now, the battle and Madeline.
That man would have done anything he could to her if I hadn't of been there, I was getting angry just thinking back to that moment. What if he did manage to do something?
I've never been touched by a man.
Those words were fired up in my mind multiple times a day as I wait eagerly for the moment that my mate would let me, now they just feel like a reminder of what I must protect.
There was a soft knock at the bathroom door that snapped my head straight back on right, I tensed up and shallowed my breathing for a second to listen out for another heartbeat.
The quick scale beat rhythm of a heart on the other end was easy to identify when I called "Yes, princess?" And the patter became quicker.
I loved the way my mate would react to me, so small and delicate and all for me. Even though they said she cannot feel the bond as strong as I do, I doubt it. I see the way she looks at me, the way her body responds to mine, the pull she feels dragging her in closer to my clutches.
One day she'll be all mine, in a place where no one can reach her, where she'll be safe forever.
"The memorial is starting soon, will you be joining us?" She called from the other side of the door.
The memorial for her father, Darren Falkov. Why would I need to attend that? He was not my Alpha, he was not my friend, he was not my ally.
But I didn't want her there unattended, what if they came back when they realised they'd left Darren's heirs alive and well?
I shut the shower off and stepped out into the tiles, pulling back the towel from its holder and draped it over my waist.
I don't particularly want to be part of the ceremony that commemorates a man by the likes of him. I have my ways, and he had his. But at least the way I did things were done justly and without causing harm to other people.
"Demetrius?" My mate called from the other side of the door, still awaiting my response.
I trudged over to the door and yanked it open to reveal my little mate standing in the door way, freshly cleaned and a new change of clothes, no longer wearing her tatted uniform from earlier today. Instead was more of a royal ceremonial attire of their people, I'd read about it in books, instead of wearing darker tones to funerals like most other clans chose to do, they instead wore an array of reds adorned with their large gold and jewelled accessories, royalty always wore the most to ceremonial events.
Her eyes shot up to meet mine as I stared down at her, pleading with me to give her the answer I knew she wanted. Yes, I'll go to the memorial. She hoped I'd say.
"No." Was all I managed to get out. I knew this was going to upset her but I wasn't about displace my morals for a man that had none of his own, regardless of the fact he was the father of the woman I cared about.
Sure enough, Madeline dropped her head to face the floor, the disappointment could be read from a mile away. I knew why she wanted me there, to set an example of our how people can come together in times of hardship, but this is not what it was about. My loyalties end with her and only her, I will not show regard for her fallen Alpha.
I placed my hand below her chin and softly lifted her face to look back up at me, her face igniting the warm tingle through my fingers as they usually did, there were tears welling up in her eyes. I have seen her cry more times in the last few days than that of a laugh, maybe it was just me, maybe my presence brought out a side of her that she refused to show before. Maybe she was okay with looking this weak in front of others. Maybe I was just in over my head and I was actually the reason why she was so sad all the time.
"You know what my feelings were about Darren Falkov, I will watch you from a distance but I will not take part in this memorial. Father or not."
My words hurt my mate and I could tell, as she squinted her eyes closed to prevent any tears from falling, she pulled her head back away from my grasp.
"I know it was you that brought him to the nursery." Was all she uttered, I was taken a little aback but didn't inch a single movement.
How did she know this?
It was true, I was there when Darren got shot with the spear, I snapped the pole with my bare hands. When it was all clear I picked him up and carried him all the way to the nursery myself, believing that he would want to spend his last moments with his wife.
I'm not sure why I did it. Did Darren deserve this generosity? No, he didn't. But in that moment I thought about Helena, his mate, and then I thought about my own. And I wondered if Darren would have done the same for me and brought me to Madeline if I had've been struck in battle.
No, he probably wouldn't have.
"What makes you say this?" I challenged, trying to speak as softly as I could.
In this moment her complexion became red as tears started streaming down her beautiful face.
"Because why else were you in the town just at the right time to save me?" She screamed. "And how did my father end up in front of the nursery with a damned pole through his shoulder?" She added, angrily pointing towards the direction of her broken window, at nothing in particular. "He was on the front line with you and Mika and then you both weren't and now my sister is gone and my dad is gone and yet..." she began to trail off as she cried.
Only one thing came to mind as i stepped closer and pulled her straight into my arms.
"I'm sorry." I whispered as she cried into my chest.
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Helloooooo
I missed you all!!!!!
I'm so sorry that I left...I'm back <3
I've been non stop writing since I logged back into this app and I'm so ready to start pumping out more chapters.
Sorry if there's spelling mistakes, just let me know and I'll jump in to fix it :P
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