Dominic's POV
"Sir."
"Master."
"Sir!"
I ignored the people crowding around me, wanting to talk to me. Talked to a Lycan was a privilege, let alone talking to a powerful Lycan. I released my aura and they stepped back. They recognised a warning. A few flinched and shied away, others flinched but stayed.
I strode purposefully towards the building. The Alpha wanted to talk to me before the punishment took place. No doubt to try change my mind. I walked through the arched doorway, held open by two bodyguards that were not mine. Like they could keep me back.
I gave them a cold smirk and they flinched. Figures.
Inside was all wallpaper and dripping faucets. The Alpha sat lazily in a damp armchair. His mate sat perched on his lap, already pregnant. My thoughts traveled to my little mate. Her wide, doe eyes and soft brown hair. Her freckles and crooked smile were something I wanted to wake up to every morning.
The Alphas mate smiled at me. Niamh was fond of her, it baffled me but I knew if her friends were happy and safe, then she was happy. I smiled at her and her smile widened.
Alpha stiffened and stood, blocking my view of her.
"Jealous?" I mocked. He narrowed his eyes at me and I smirked. He knew I would never stray from my mate but males are jealous and I understood that more than him. Regularly, I checked the thoughts of people to make sure they were not thinking of my mate.
The ones who were, instantly regretted it. I smoothed my expression, adopting a cool expression. He stood straighter, trying to assert his dominance.
Dominance, I thought with amusement. Right.
"Justin and Dustin Drew did not do much wrong. Their mate was the one to cheat, not them." He spoke with authority, believing in his statement.
"They framed Delilah Summers and then they raped her. They deserve what they are getting." I said coldly. He winced at my tone.
"Listen, so they framed her and did something bad but they still do not deserve death. Don't you think it's a bit dramatic.?"
My eyes flashed and suddenly he was gripping his head, his screams of terror filling the room. I stepped forward and stood looking down at bis writhing body.
"They tried to rape my mate. They deserve much, much worse than what they are getting." I spat icily. He nodded his head frantically.
"Yes! They do, I'm sorry!" I stepped back and walked away from him. His heavy breaths and his mates rapidly beating heartbeat embarrassingly loud.
I nodded at his guards. They dipped their head in respect. They were most likely going to be shot because of how they failed to protect the Alpha.
I turned around. "Oh. Don't kill the guards or cause any harm to them physically, mentally, financially, etc, etc." I smirked at him and left. Niamh would rather they live. She was always worrying about how others felt.
I was walking to the chair in the town square when Niamhs thoughts entered my mind. She hurt her stomach. My nostrils flared. The security were supposed to be protecting her!
I called the phone I left her, if she didn't pick up, the guards would be-
"Hello?"
I took a deep breath. They would live for another day.
"Why were you hurt?" I demanded, my anger flaring once again. I hired them idiots to keep her from harm.
"I'm not hurt." Her usually squeaky voice got even squeakier. I narrowed my eyes, she was getting defensive.
"Yes, you are. In your stomach." I growled. There was a pause on the other end of the line, as if she was trying to figure out what I meant. Or was trying to come up with a lie. I clenched my jaw.
"Oh! That! Oh no, I'm fine. I jumped on the couch and accidentally hit my stomach with a drink bottle. Non alcoholic of course." She said breezily. I growled. "I know I shouldn't be jumping onto things but I'm okay and I won't do it again."
"Good." I was relieved. I still felt the tight string of panic in my chest that somehting could happen to her. Various scenarios ran through my head and I tensed.
"At least not while holding a large bottle of liquid."
"Niamh." I warned. She had no idea what she was doing to me.
"I'm kidding! I'm kidding! Anywho, see you when you get back. Love you." Her voice was full of humour. I paused at the last words and closed my eyes. I would not let anything happen to her. Could not.
I sighed. "I love you too." I murmured. I hear her thoughts as she hung up. I frowned and dialled the guards numbers.
No answer. I tried to read their minds but something was blocking me. I froze. No.
"Are you ready, Sir?" It was the Alpha who spoke. He was more hesitant than usual, seeing as I nearly killed him and all. I turned to him.
"My mate is in danger." His eyes widened in fear and he stepped back. My whole body shook with rage. His mate, however, was not afraid. I could hear her thoughts, worrying about my mate. "Punishment Two." I shifted into my wolf and suddenly I was running home.
How far was the house? Rage propelled me faster than I had ever ran before. How dare someone go near my mate. She was mine. Mine.
The house came into view. I ran through the door and burst into the house. Various faint scents lingered in the room. Including my mates. She wasn't here. I stormed into the living room area, her phone lay neatly on the table. An array of various food covered the small table.
I roared,my mind swept into a blind fury.
Get over here now, I linked to my father. A second later, he was stepping gingerly through the broken door. I was standing by the living room door with my arms crossed.
I was going to tear whoever did this limb from limb.
"Son. Calm down. We will find whoever did this." He whipped out a phone and dialled a number. "Frank? Hi. Need the whole team down here STAT. No, now. Get your asses down here NOW." A vein bulged on his neck. Niamh was family and nobody messes with family.
I sent a quick mindlink to the others.
Not even a minute later, Dimitri and Nathan stood next to my father.
Dimitri kept a cool, neutral face but Nathan was radiating fear and anger.
He looked at me. "Someone took her? My sister? Do you know who?" I narrowed my eyes at him. I was barely holding back my anger as it is, if I let one word out everybody in this room would be dead. Dimitri gripped Nathans neck.
"Do not speak." He tightened his hold until the boy relaxed. "I know this is hard for you, but remember to show respect." Nathan glared at him.
"She's my sister!"He spat. "Why the fuck would I stay calm? I haven't seen her in weeks because of you two bastards not letting us see each other! I'm gay and I'm mated to to you, don't you fucking see that?" He punched the wall.
"Stop crying, pup." My dad said disgusted. Nathan froze. His back tensed, ready to pounce. Dimitri pulled him back and into his chest, rubbing the boys back soothingly until he calmed down. He glared at out father.
"It is my place to order my mate around father, not yours." Dimitri said coldly. His eyes flashed blue and my father winced. It was a feature only Dimitri and I had. We got it from our mother, not our father. It was amusing to watch when she was angry, she would remain silent but her eyes would glow as she looked at my father. She had no way to hide it.
A storm of men filed into the room, standing with their heads down, waiting for orders. Karl walked in, followed by closely by his much younger mate, Sam. They were family friends.
He nodded at us in greeting and respect. "My men are at your disposal." He bowed.
I raised a mocking brow and he flushed. He was sucking up to us. He knew until we found my mate that my family would be on edge and that a lot of people were either going to die or lose their lives. He wanted to be on our good side before that happened.
Dimitri stood with Nate protectively under his arm. The boy didn't look thrilled by this but remained silent. Smart kid.
My father barked orders at the men while I stood there silently. One wrong move from anybody and I would snap.
I calmly left the room and walked to our bedroom. I dialed her fathers number. He picked up after two rings.
"What?" He snapped down the phone.
"Is that anyway to talk to a Lycan?" I asked calmly.
"Oh Sir! I-I'm sorry! I am so very sorry!" His voice shook with fear and I smirked.
"You won't be punished if you comply to my instructions."
"Of course, Sir!"
I hung up shortly after giving him the instructions. I took a deep breath.
Niamh wouldn't want me to kill people in anger. She would think it was irrational and stupid.
A small smile lifted my lips. She didn't know I could read her thoughts without her even registering these thoughts. They were thoughts that rested at the back of her mind without much thought on her part, more like an impulse. I tried to describe it to her once, they're the thoughts that you have when you see a regular a item, a table for example. You see the table and your mind registers the table and you have a brief thought about the table but you don't pay attention to it.
They're my favourite thoughts. Niamh doesn't like when I listen to her thoughts so I don't. I don't listen to her dominant thoughts anyways. I like the thoughts that she doesn't pay attention to. It's very interesting to see how she sees the world. What things she stops and looks at and what things she barely notices.
She always notices the table.
Something that was not passed on through either of her parents.
A knock on the door and gruff order to come in showed my father. He stood straight and tall, anyone would think he was cool and collected. But I could hear the slight stutter in his heart. He was nervous of me.
When I was younger, I had a friend Tommy. Tommy and I were close and I was very protective of him. He was strong and opinionated and we were best friends. I went away on business and when I came back, someone had beaten up Tommy.
I remember seeing red. I couldn't contain the rage that surrounded me and consumed me. When I finally calmed down, there was blood everywhere. I simply turned away and called my father. He cleaned up the mess and we didn't talk about it. I still talk to Tommy every week. He lives in France now.
Now, I nod at my father. I am collected. I won't see red, Niamh wouldn't like it. I want to have her back to me as soon as possible, I don't want to keep any secrets from her and I would have to keep that a secret, the fact that I killed people while she was gone.
Gone. My chest tightens and my eyes flash. I take a deep breath.
He leads her father and mother into the room. I narrow my eyes at them and they shrink away. Her mother I don't have a problem with. In some ways, Niamh and her mother are exactly the same.
They have the same way of walking, the same way of talking. They both look at the world with interest and curiosity but are also both uninterested in it. They both tuck their hair behind their ears and then untuck it when it annoys them. They both flush red with any emotion other than fear.
I don't like seeing Niamh afraid. I imagine her now, her already pale face even paler as she grows more and more afraid. I clench my hands.
"Niamh is in trouble and I need you to do something for me." I say looking into his eyes. His eyes shift between me and the space behind me. He is as bad at eye contact and Niamh is. I always know when she realises that she is looking into your eyes. Her eyes always widen slightly and she get this awkward look before shifting her eyes away. Like what her father is doing right now.
His eyes snapped to mine suddenly, I knew what he was about to say before he even said it.
"No. I am not going to give you anything in return for your daughters safety. I would never give you a thing after you had the nerve to hit her. My mate." My eyes flash once more and he flinches. "The only reason you are still alive is because Niamh would be upset with me and would be worried for her mother."
This is true. If Niamh somehow found out I had killed her father, she would not be happy. I thought of her cheek, bruised because of her father. Red crept slowly into my vision but I clenched my jaw and tried to control it. No. I couldn't shift. I couldn't.
She once asked me why I couldn't shift. Her large eyes looking up at me with curious confusion. She blinked at me, briefly allowing me to see the freckles on her eyelids.
"The last time I shifted, many people lost their lives. I only do it when I am feeling no strong emotions or when I am too angry to control it." She nodded in understanding.
"My dad and brother shifted a lot. They would drop a slice of bread and be so angry about it that they would just shift there and then. I thought it was weird. I mean I get angry when I feel frustrated but I don't feel it enough to shift, you know?" She blinked at me again, colour staining her cheeks. "I shouldn't be telling you this, you're meant to be cool and collected for your dominant mate." She recited. I raised an eyebrow and she blushed a deeper shade of red.
It was in that moment that I stopped relating red to anger and to hatred but to my mate.
Her father clears his throat, pulling me out of my thoughts. I clench my jaw, annoyed. How could someone so small, change my life so significantly?
"We will help you." He says, his chin jutted out. Trying to hold on to his dominance.
"I can't get through to her."I say. "I have tried everything yet something is blocking which is strange. The only thing that can block my powers is a spell from a very powerful witch." Her mother stiffens, knowing where this conversation is heading. If Niamh was here, she would be shifting where she sat, feeling guilty, her mind trying to conjure up ideas to stop the person from going through the ordeal. I don't feel any guilt.
"So?" The father prods. He senses his mate knows where this is going and is annoyed by it. He obviously thinks he's the smarter one in the mating.
I ignore him and look at his mate, she hesitantly stares back at me. "Your sister, I need for you to talk to her when she is here." I said bluntly. She bit her lip and glanced at his husband.
"NO!" He stood up, his face purple with anger. "How dare you try and bring her old family into this? They are not allowed to speak. I refuse to give my permission. She belongs to me! ME!" My patience snapped.
I narrowed my eyes at him, feeling the familiar heat from their glowing. He was slammed suddenly against the wall, his hands clawing at his neck as he choked. He thrashed against my hold, gargled screams of pain and terror leaving his mouth. I put more pressure on him.
"She will talk to her sister, is that understood?" My voice was deeper, lower than normal. My wolf was trying to get out. Her father nodded desperately and I let him go. He dropped to floor coughing and spluttering.
His mate sat still still, her face very pale. "I will talk to her." She whispered hoarsely.
She reminded me too much of Niamh for me to want to command her into anything. I straightened.
"Come. I will bring you to your rooms." I said, turning and walking to the door. He staggered to his feet with his mate trailing silently behind him. She cleared her throat silently asking for permission. "Speak."
"Where is, um, uh." She cleared her throat again. "Where is our son? Is he here?" He looked back at her. Her eyes were filled with sadness and regret.
"He is in the castle. I will speak to his mate to see if he is allowed to speak to you, your mate will not be allowed to see him for obvious reasons." I said gently. She nodded back and gave me a brief smile.
"Thank you." I nodded in response and kept walking. I brought them to their room and told them to say my name or any of my familys names and they would come and help them around the house.
I walked down to my father, my cool facade slipping. The rage that sat dormant in my veins was beginning to simmer. I wouldn't be able to hold back for too long.
"Father, where are the prisoners?" He stopped and looked at me. He searched my eyes before nodding. "Down in the dungeon. Do not go near the cells among the back walls, they do not deserve any harm." He said solemnly.
I left without a response.
------
Blood.
It was everywhere. Men and women littered the floor of the dungeon, their fates sealed earlier than they anticipated. They were all to be killed anyways. I glanced down and stepped away from the hand gripping my paw. I looked down at her in disgust. She had killed her two children when her mate left her. She said it was their fault.
That does not mean she deserves to die, Niamhs voice floated in my mind. Thinking of her mate me angrier. She was mine and someone took her from me, took something that belongs to me. I am going to find them.
My paws left bloody prints behind as I left the room, the black fur remained unmatted. I shook it out anyways, tiny growls leaving my chest. I only wanted Niamh to see my wolf as few times as possible. She would be terrified at first but she would slowly grow accustomed to it. That fear would always be there and I couldn't stand it.
When I first found her, I just wanted her to obey me and give me pups and that was all. She was quiet and 'trained' enough for it. Her father prided himself on her obedience. I was smug about it too.A mate trained to follow me and obey me. Every male wants that. Even the same sex couples.
But after the mating I began resenting it, resenting the way things way. I couldn't grasp why in most mated couples, the submissive was still treated like shit. I remembered seeing Niamh thoughts and seeing the way most females were mated to their mates: forcibly. The same way we mated.
The red anger returned. I snarled and clawed at the ground. I paced the dungeon until I calmed down and shifted. I strode confidently through the halls, not a stitch of clothing on my body. The house staff blushed and turned their heads away, a few of the daring ones, squinting at it for a glimpse.
I may understand the injustice of the system for females but I still couldn't stop the raw possessiveness from seeping into my thoughts when I thought of Niamh. Particularly when I thought of her wolf, how afterwards she would be naked and how no other person would be near her. Male or female.
I felt a shimmer in my head, like a lake rippling. I stopped. It was Niamh, I listened intently, concentrating on the lake but nothing else happened.
"Fuck!" I punched the wall, pieces of plaster flying in the air, tiny particles fluttering to the ground.
"Son." My father said quietly. "The witch is here."
I paused, my back straightening up. She was our only chance to get Niamh back to us safely and quickly. If she didn't willingly help us then I'd damn near make her.
I nodded and followed my father to the room where she was waiting. When the door opened, I could barely contain my surprise. She looked much younger than I anticipated, around Niamhs age. She had long brown hair and bright hazel eyes, her face was covered in freckles. I noted how small she seemed, thin and small. It was like staring at another Niamh.
I walked fully into the room, ignoring the strong smell she radiated.
"Hello." I nodded my head to her. "Thank you for coming."
"Where's my sister?" She asked impatiently. She tapped her foot and stared at me unblinkingly.
"Come in." I said to the door. Her sister walked in. Her face was pale and she her eyes shifted between me and her sister. She didn't know what to do without her mate. Her sister stood up, she really was short, and stepped forward. I looked away so they could have their moment.
Their heartbeats were beating faster and faster by the minute, filling the room with their happiness and shock of seeing one another. It was normal for the dominant mate to take their mate away from their family to start their own. Something I was going to do with Niamh. Seeing her mother and aunt react how they did, I couldn't do it to Niamh.
"I can't believe it's you! You're so small and young! How are you? Do you have any kids?" I looked at them, tears were streaming down her face and her sister gripped her arms.
"I married another witch, he stops my physical appearances from aging, I known, how vain of me."They grinned at each other. "I have two children, Lily and Jackson, they are both in their early teens. They know all about you and Niamh and Nathan, don't worry." She smiled gently.
She had such a reputation for being cruel and evil and here she was smiling warmly at a sister she hasn't seen in over seventeen years.
I cleared my throat. She glared at me, her hands squeezing her sisters.
"We were talking." She snapped at me. I raised an eyebrow at her. She turned towards her sister "Where are they? Niamh and Nathan? Can I see them?"
Her mother looked at me. "Well, Nathan is still in the early phases with his mate so maybe later." She said quietly.
"O.K. I get it. Can I at least see Niamh? I know she's past the early stages, she's mated to that one." She jerked her head towards me.
"That's why we brought you here." I said loudly, warning in my voice. She shot me another annoyed look but simmered down. This may be her area of expertise but she knew what my family and I were capable of. "Niamh was taken. I can't get through to her wherever she is so we need you to help us find her."
Her face changed then. Her freckled face twisted into an angry scowl, her eyes seeming to swim with anger. She turned to her sister, their bodies shaking. One from anger, one from fear.
"Someone took her?" She spat. "When? Where?"
"Yes. From this house, earlier today." She paused. "Or was it yesterday?" She rubbed her forehead, sucking her lower lip into her mouth. She looked at her sister and they seemed to share something between them. Her sister pulled her foreword, embracing her in a hug. She whispered soothing noises while she cried quietly.
"Listen." I snapped. "We have time for this later, but the longer we wait to search for Niamh, the more damage that will be done to her." Now it was turn for my body to shake, my eyes flashed. "Nobody gets to hurt my mate."
Her auntie cocked her head and studied me, her face breaking out into a smile. "I think you and I are going to get along just fine.Let's find this son of a bitch and get my niece back. The fun will start afterwards."