The Defiant Claim - The Claim: Book 2 [LGBTQ+]

A growl rumbled up his throat. “Get away from me. You disgust me.”

The male before him winced, curling into himself at the brutality of his words. He disgusted Mik, but Mik was also disgusted by the Goddess’ gift. Everything he had worked so hard for was ruined.

When Sam didn’t move from his place, Mik snarled. “Go!”

Sam jumped up and skirted to the end of his bed, holding himself and trembling as he looked down at the floor. “I can’t.”

“Get away from me!” he roared.

“I can’t leave you!”

Desperation seized the male as another fierce growl reverberated up Mik’s throat when the old hag returned with a scowl.

“Will you hush! Others are trying to sleep! Keep your drama to yourselves, please!”

The rumbling of Mik’s throat lessened, but he couldn’t mute the displeasure vibrating within him entirely. The bitch was lucky his arm and leg were broken, otherwise, he’d teach her a lesson in submission. No one told him what to do.

She glared at him, her eyes refusing to break from his hold as his anger mounted. She would pay for her boldness later when he was stronger. For now, she had the upper hand and he knew he had to relinquish his hold lest she tried to kill him in his sleep.

He looked away to that male, trying to disappear on the spot, reeking of fear. Head bowed, the binds of their bond coiled around him and rooted him firmly at the foot of his bed.

“Finally,” the witch huffed before leaving and closing the door with a soft click.

Mik continued to stare Sam down, except Sam still refused to lift his eyes and meet his gaze.

He squirmed in place. “I-I can’t leave,” he mumbled. “You’re my mate. I can’t...”

Mik gritted his teeth. “Fine, then stay away from me. I don’t like your stink.”

The lie rolled easily off his tongue with a backlash: a double-bladed spear stabbing into both hearts.

Sam flinched, while Mik swallowed down the ache and let it burn in the acid of his gut. Bile rose up his throat as Sam glanced at the bed pushed next to his. Mik followed his gaze and grunted, “Push it back where it was. I don’t want you near me.”

Turning away from the male, Mik settled down his bed and closed his eyes. The bile stuck in his throat, neither rising nor falling. Tingles rose over his flesh and he growled before the sensation dissipated.

Disgusting. He hated that feeling: the one that raised goosebumps on his skin every time that male looked at him. The way the matebond toyed with the fibers of his being—twisting, coiling, and pulling him towards another that revolted him in every physical, mental, and emotional way possible. It was nauseating.

Sam shuffled to the other bed and pushed it away before climbing in. The covers rustled before a whimper was muffled into a pillow.

Mik grit his teeth as his heart clenched.

Fuck this bond.

Fuck the Goddess.

Time to create his own destiny.

At some point during the night, Mik fell asleep after Sam stopped crying and fell silent to steady, even breaths. Must have been after that annoying nurse brought him a drink of water. Bitch must have laced it with a sedative as he woke up and couldn’t move.

Thick bands strapped him to the bed with a layer of silver chains over them, locking him in place if the first layer was insufficient.

A snarl ripped through Mik, jolting Sam up from his bed.

“What the fuck!”

Sam grimaced and hung his head. “I’m sorry.”

“Release me! Now!”

Whining, Sam looked away and wrapped his arms around himself. “I can’t.”

“I am your mate!”

“Al-Alpha’s orders.”

“I am your mate and soon your alpha! You will do as I say!”

“Y-You are n-not my al-alpha yet. I can’t...”

Rage surged through him as he snarled and thrashed on the bed to no avail. “You will beg your alpha to release me!”

“I already did...” Sam whimpered.

His shoulders hung in defeat as salt struck Mik’s nostrils. This male failed to defend him against that monster. Could he be even more pathetic and despicable? How could the Goddess give him such a runt for a mate?

“You are worthless! Get out of my sight!”

“Well, aren’t you a ray of sunshine.” That same damned nurse returned with a little machine on wheels.

Mik snarled at her, but she ignored him and wheeled the machine up to his side, humming a tune under her breath. She wrapped a blood pressure cuff around his arm, threading it between the straps holding him to the bed. While the thing bloated up with air, she stuck a thermometer in his ear before drawing back and tsking.

“Are you always so hot-headed?”

A growl rumbled up Mik’s throat. “I will slay you immediately after I tear your alpha and luna limb from limb.”

“My, my, I don’t take too kindly to idle threats. I have a vial of silver on hand.”

He narrowed his eyes at her returned threat. An eye for an eye.

A few tense seconds later, she removed the blood pressure cuff from his bicep and left, neither one of them uttering another word until she paused in the doorway.

“Alpha will be here shortly to speak with you.” She glanced at Sam. “Alone.”

Sam twisted and curled into himself. “A-Anything Alpha has to say to my mate, h-he can say in front of me too.”

“I don’t know if that’s a wise idea, Sam.”

The door clicked softly behind her.

Sam’s knees buckled and he eased himself down at the foot of his own bed. His spine curled inward as his hands fisted the bedsheets. “Tell me the truth. Who are you?”

Mik’s throat rumbled. His tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth. Realizing his thirst, he refrained from asking for water, knowing that it would be laced with another sedative. He needed to have a clear head. He couldn’t give that old hag a chance to inject him with silver as he slept.

“Please tell me.”

Sam’s tone tightened a noose around his heart. Mik grunted, “Mikwam.”

Sam whimpered for a second. “Is it true? That you were trying to sneak into the territory and overthrow Alpha and Luna?”

“Yes. He killed my father, grandfather, and members of my family. I will have my revenge. I will take back what belongs to me and I will slaughter anyone who tries to stop me.”

Fear rolled off of Sam in thick waves. Normally, Mik would have enjoyed the scent. This was the enemy, and yet... this was his mate, the one created just for him. He should revel in his fear but he couldn’t. The emotions pouring forth from his mate made him feel sick. An urge to comfort him resonated from within—a foreign sensation that threatened the very fabric of his being. He wanted to vomit. The stench of it was too over-powering.

“Go away. You make me sick.”

Salt met with Mik’s nose again as Sam sniffled and wiped his cheeks. He rose from the bed, wavering for a moment before his feet tromped to the door and paused.

“I didn’t ask for this either,” he mumbled. “I’m the only one keeping you alive right now. For that, I think the least you can do is give me—us—a chance.”

He walked out the door, his stench lingering in the air as bile rose up in Mik’s throat and threatened to spill out.