Warring Mates

I paced around the small cell, my footsteps bouncing off the walls. We had gotten food once more, but it was impossible to tell how much time had passed. It could have been mere hours or a full day. There was no way of telling.

“Can you please stop with the pacing?” Collin asked. He wrapped his arms around me, kissing the crook of my neck. “Your parents will find us.”

“What if they can’t?” I grabbed my necklace, twisting it. “What if this location spell doesn’t work?”

“Hey...” He cupped my head, placing a soft, lingering kiss on my lips. “They will find us. Soon,” he added softer.

A chuckle ran through the dimly lit hallway. Melodious with the dangerous undertone of iniquity. She was back. Even the air around me knew it as it tensed, turned colder.

“I hope you 're in for some fun,” she mocked, a wicked glint shining in her eyes.

Collin pushed me behind him. Claws had replaced his nails, his shoulders tensed—ready for the impending fight.

“You honestly don’t think you’re a match, do you?” The corner of her mouth curled up, her razor-sharp teeth glinting in the faint, reddish light. “You’re just the appetizer.”

“Collin, don’t do something stupid,” I pleaded. “I’ll be fine.”

He growled in response, his fists balling. The smell of blood reached my nostrils and when I looked at his hands, I saw a trail of blood dripping down his fingers.

I touched his back feather lightly and pressed on, “Please.”

He stepped aside, his eyes never leaving my face. My heart broke at the anguish that laid bare in his eyes. The torture of crippling fear that held him in his grip.

“I’m sorry,” I mouthed to him, my voice lost by the lump in my throat.

“Don’t let me come and get you,” the girl hissed.

Ignoring his heated stare, my legs trembling, knees weak, I walked out of the cell. The door creaked and groaned as it slammed close again, the high-pitching sound making me winch.

“If you think of running away, forget it,” she said as she strode through the corridors, me following suit while I rubbed my arms from the chilliness. “We will kill that pretty boy of yours.”

A growl rippled from deep within my throat. “Touch him, and I swear--”

“You swear what.” She spun on her heels, halting. I almost collided with her. “Look around you. You have nowhere to go. Nowhere,” she emphasized.

I stepped closer to her, my face inches from her, my finger poking her chest as I said brazenly, “I will skin you alive.”

Her eyes widened so slightly it was barely seen but she was quick to recover with a witty comment, “I’d like to see you try with those cute claws of yours.”

Her comment tore through me like a freshly honed knife. It settled deep into my chest, echoing against my ribs, reverberating through my body until every drop of anger turned into a sadness that had me forcing back my sobs. I had lost her—my beast. Didn’t have to be a genius to know that. The mark helped for only so little, to prolong the inevitable.

“What,” she taunted. “No comeback?”

“Fuck off,” I gritted out through my tears.

“Thought so.” She turned back around and began her descent of a long flight of stairs.

Down and down we went, the torches flickering pathetically as they tried to fight back the darkness. It was suffocating, relentless, gnawing. The silence all the same. There was no way of telling where the beginning and end were.

“When will we reach the end,” I grumbled, done with this biting chill.

“Scared of a little darkness,” she sneered, a heartless chuckle leaving her mouth. Goosebumps rose on my arms, a chill travelling down my spine. Never did I imagine her to be this cold--vicious. It didn’t fit the picture I had of her. Kind. Loving. The way she had all the males turning their heads at her when she passed by, giggling.

“No.”

...

We halted in front of a massive steel door. I couldn’t hear what happened behind it, but my mind didn’t need that as images of me strapped to a chair ran rampant through my mind.

The girl pushed me, her hand leaving a burn on my back. I didn’t move. Refused. Scared of what waited for me.

“Wouldn’t want that little wolf of yours to lose a couple fingers, now would you?” she whispered callously into my ear.

I swallowed, flinching when the steel door opened. At first complete darkness met my eyes—just like the rest of this place—but soon I could make out the shapes of a chair. A table with a tin tray on it. A dresser with jars and what seemed like dead animals inside of it.

The door closed, the bang reverberating through me. Silence covered me and I held my breath as if the slightest of sound would let them know I am here.

Claws slithered across my skin, grabbing me, disgusting me. I spun on my heels, ripping my arm from its grasp. I hit the chair, the scraping sound of it disorientating me.

Roughly scaled hands grabbed my shoulders. I screamed, fighting against the hold. It was futile. Another set of those same hands pushed me on the chair. Straps tightened around my wrists. A needle pierced my skin.

Slowly, steadily, a burn spread through my veins. My arm, my shoulder. My throat, my heart. From there on, it was pure agony. My lungs constricted, squeezing those last drops of blissful oxygen out of me. My legs and hands trembled, stiffened.

Hot and cold and hot.

An unending dance—a battle. To see who would win. Have the victory.

My eyes closed, heavy with exhaustion of the waves of pain that coursed through me. “No more,” I whimpered brokenly. The pain...

The Reptillions lisped amongst each other in that ancient language of them. Even after all that studying, I still had no idea what they were talking about.

I opened my mouth, unable to control my pleads as I said, “Please.” For what, I did not know. They held not an ounce of mercy. Still, a flicker of hope quivered inside of me.

One of the Reptillions came closer to me, lifting a claw which he dragged across my cheek. Hard enough to be uncomfortable, but not to break the skin.

It lisped, before leaving with the others, “You are weak. Dying.”

His words hit me like a kick Zak used to give me when I forgot to hold my hands up. Swift and vicious.

Dying... The word echoed through my brain. Dying...

“No,” I wheezed through the pain. I said it again, this time with more strength. “No.” Magic coursed through me. I focused it to my wrists, burning away the straps with the small zaps of lightning. This was not going to happen. I would not die here.

I stumbled out of the chair, falling onto the ground. The rugged stones scraped my hands, the slight sting bringing me out of this fog of muddiness. I forced myself to stand and, with the help of the wall, I shuffled out of the room and into the corridor.

It was deserted, the faint glow of the torches pointing me the way. No Reptillions. No other women. There was nobody. Eerily quiet.

I leant against the wall. Thirty feet before my legs refused to go further. They shook and burned, begging me to take a rest. I couldn’t. Time was not on my side. They left me for dead, and Collin was still stuck in that cell.

“Well, well. Who do we have here?”

I dropped my head against the wall upon hearing her smug voice, and asked with all the strength I could muster, “Come here to kill me?”

“Time will do that for me.” She passed me by, not even sparing me a glance, as if she’d knew I wouldn’t be able to hurt her.

“I will not die,” I gritted out, loud enough for her to hear. Magic zapped through my body. Through the air.

“You think you are a match for me?” Her eyes gleamed orange when she turned to me. “In that weakened state of yours.” She cackled. “You weren’t even a match when you could use your magic properly.”

I closed my eyes and willed up that wall of mine. Let my fingers glide over the pristine iron. No scratches, no grooves. Impeccable.

I willed up a slight crack, let is steadily spread until it was big enough for my mind to go through. I ignored the voices that threatened to come in—overwhelm me—and reached for the one person I wanted to control.

It was reckless. Stupid.

My gramps had told me countless times to not even try to read someone's mind. Yet here I tried to control hers. A gift she possessed. A gift that had nothing to do with mine. I read minds. Not control them.

It didn’t stop me.

I reached and reached. Caressed the wall around her mind until I found a fault—a gap. I pushed, let myself drift along the waves and when the right time came, I spread my claws, digged them deep.

“You...” she spit.

“I’m sorry, I think I didn’t hear you correctly.“ A smirk tugged at my lips. Her muscles were tense, her mouth half-open in shock. “Thought you said I wasn’t a match for you.”

“I’ll kill you,” she growled, fighting against the grip I held on her.

“Didn’t think so.” I raised my hand. Spark of lightning zipped through my fingers. “It would be a mistake to let you live.”

A blue ball of energy went straight to her. She couldn’t evade it. Only watch it go straight at her heart.

It was ruthless—merciless.

I didn’t care.

She deserved it. She killed Lachlan. Betrayed our kingdom. If I had let her live, she would have escaped and who knows what would have happened.

A roar vibrated through the air, raising the hairs on my arms. A Reptillion stood by the door where I came from. It looked back from me and the girl, its body vibrating with what I thought was fury. It charged at me.

My knees buckled underneath me and I shut my eyes, covering my ears with shaking hands. There was no magic left inside of me.

The kill never came.

Instead, sparks danced on the skin of my shoulders, spreading. My breathing slowed, the tension in my muscles relaxing. I opened my eyes to stare into his hazel eyes.

“You’re okay,” Collin breathed. His hands cupped my cheeks, his thumb brushing over the skin. “We’re safe.”

I jumped into his arms, wrapping mine around his neck. “Did they hurt you?”

He chuckled, nuzzling his face in the crook of my neck. “Aren’t I the one that’s supposed to ask you that?”

“Lexi.”

I turned to the voice. Zak walked up to us, his face etched with worry. “I’m fine,” I reassured him.

“You’re not,” Collin said. He tugged a strand of my hair behind my ear, and added softer, “Your beast is dying.”

I wiped away a stray tear. “I know.”

“We have to go,” Zak said, eyeing the vacant corridor. “Cole won’t be able to hold them off for longer.”

I scrambled from the ground with the help of Collin. “Cole’s here too?”

"Of course I am, Pumpkin," the man in question said as he ran to us, his usual smile playing on his lips. He gave me a brief hug, muttering in my ear, "Good to see you are alive."

...

Sunrays shone through the windows, the see-through curtains flailing around as the open windows carried a cool autumn breeze.

I laid on my bed, exhausted. Zak had brought us back to Lywith, to my room. He told me to rest while he and Collin would talk things over with my parents.

A knock brought me out of my daze. “Can I come in?” Collin asked, opening the door to peek through it.

“Sure.” I sat up, a sigh filling my chest. I jerked my head. “What’s that in your hand?”

“Tea.” He sat at the edge of my bed, handing me the cup. “I told Arwen of this disease some of the werewolves get and asked her if she could do something about it.”

“Thus the tea?” I sniffed at it. Sweet with a hint of musk.

He nodded. “I wasn’t sure you had this disease since as far as I know it only applied to my kind, but the symptoms are too much alike.” He laid down, his arm over his eyes and his voice turned quieter when he said, “These herbs should stop your beast from dying. Though Arwen doubts it will reverse the disease.”

I smiled at him. Since we came back, he hadn’t had a moment of rest. First the tedious meeting with my parents and then figuring this disease of mine out. I sighed. At least I wouldn’t die.

Finishing my tea, I laid down next to him, my head on his chest, arms wrapped around his torso. His other arm slid around my waist, keeping me close to him. I yawned. “I think we both need a long rest.”