dripping from my face, and I move my hand to my head, feeling remnants of pain shoot through it. I roll to the side, watching as the sun begins to rise through the locked window of the room I’ve been staying in at Wolvorn Castle.
I don’t know how long I’ve been in this room apart from when they take me to the basement. I don’t know if it’s been a week or months. Fuck, even years. I can’t remember the feel of the wind or the freedom of being with Axis as we run through the forest. All I remember is a jumbled mess of confusing memories, thoughts and feelings, none of it makes any sense.
A knock at the door has me turning and moving to sit against the headboard of the single bed I’m in. The room only has enough space for it with a dresser to the side, and a bathroom that only has a shower and toilet. I’m not sure what part of the castle I’m in, but they tell me it’s to protect me from her, the traitor of Vrohkaria. They tell me she will come for me, that she will hunt me down until I’m in her grasp to do with what she pleases.
My mom and dad say this is what’s best for me. That they have missed me so much and it won’t be long until they can take me home. But that feels like forever ago when they told me that, or when I even last saw them.
Being cooped up inside is not good for a wolf and Axis has been volatile toward others sometimes when they enter the room. He’s claimed this place as his territory and he will do anything to anyone who he thinks threatens to claim it.
He moves within me, prowling restlessly and snarling viciously, wanting to burst out to wander freely.
The door opens, and I sigh and look toward it, waiting for whoever will come through it.
“Time for dinner,” a feminine voice calls as Maize walks through the door, a tray of food in her hand. I look away from her out toward the window again. I don’t like her, she hurts me too. “Stop sulking,” she warns, and comes closer to the bed.
She slams the tray down next to my legs and my eyes move toward it, not even hungry as I try to keep the growl from wanting to escape. No such luck as it comes out anyway, Axis backing it as I glare at her.
“Come now, puppy,” she laughs, playing with a strand of her long, dark hair around her fingers. “I know what could calm you down.” Her demeanor suddenly changes, and she places a knee on the bed, her strapless red dress riding up her thigh as she moves a hand to my leg. I watch in disgust as she continues to crawl along the bed until she straddles my lap and I grunt, fisting my hands at my sides. If I move, she will do that thing that makes me feel like my brain will explode.
She runs a fingernail down my cheek, and another growl comes from me, a warning, but her lips tip up into a sultry smile as she wiggles over me. She moans shamelessly, rocking over me like she felt something good, yet there is no sign I would want it. My insides revolt.
I can’t hold back. I shove her hand away. “What would your precious Darius think if he could see you now?” I ask her, and she finally stills.
“My future mate will not care what I do before we are fully mated. He knows women have desires that we cannot resist.” Her voice turns into a purr that feels like shards against my skin. “You’re old enough, and I can see that you’re stressed.”
“Then let me out of this fucking room.”
“Now, why would I do that?” She runs her hands up my thighs beneath the furs and I grip her wrists, my grasp firm. “Gods, you may be old enough but you are still a petulant child I see,” she huffs, and then climbs off of me and goes toward the window, straightening her dress as she leans against it.
“I’m sick of seeing the same walls, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to fuck you to pass the time. Wouldn’t be worth it at all,” I sneer at her and her head whips around, her eyes full of anger.
“Watch your tone, puppy.” She points a finger at me. “You are only here because Lord Higher thinks you are in danger. I can still go to him and convince him that the bitch of Vrohkaria doesn’t give a shit about you. But you know that already, don’t you?” She sashays toward me, a malicious look on her face as she places her hands against my head. I go to grab her wrist once again but I’m frozen, unable to move. “I am a witch after all, do not test me. I can make your little head go pop if I want. You know I can.” My body shivers as she brings her other hand down and grips the top of the furs, pulling them back. She immediately reaches down for my soft dick, running her fingers over the cotton pants I wear and my blood turns cold at her touch. “I can also easily get what I want from you and all you would be able to do is watch. But then why should I grace you with what I have?” She moves her hand away and I breathe heavily through my nose. “Now, Aldus wanted me to check on your memories, he said he needed to make sure that whatever Rhea did to you isn’t coming back.”
The second she releases my head, anger surges to the surface and I lunge for her, toppling her to the floor as I dive off the bed. I snarl down into her face, and her shocked eyes meet mine. I grab her hands, pinning them down as Axis simmers just under the surface. “Don’t ever fucking do that to me again. Do you hear me?”
“What is going on here?” Aldus booms behind me, and I squeeze my hands around Maize’s again, hard enough to hear her bones creak before I let go and get off her.
“Ask the whore,” I snap, my eyes going to his light ones before returning to the bed and moving over to the food that had been spilled.
“Watch your words,” he says, moving over to Maize and helping her off the floor with care. “I understand you are frustrated with what is happening at the moment, but you do not treat someone who is trying to help you this way.”
“Help herself to my dick more like,” I mutter, and he lets go of Maize and walks over to me where I’m sitting on the bed.
“Maize, leave us, you have done enough for one day, I will speak to you later.” Maize gives me one last scathing look before she huffs and leaves the room, slamming the door behind her. “That is not how you treat a woman,” Aldus sighs. I ignore him, gritting my teeth as I stare at the wall. “Kaden, I can’t imagine what you are going through, there have been many changes far too quickly for a young mind to take. But please take care with how you are with others.” When I still say nothing, he turns toward me. “We don’t want to take you to the basement again for correction.” My body stills at the thought. “How’s the pain from the destroyed blood link.”
“Fine,” I mutter. It’s not, it’s excruciating, but he might keep me here longer if I tell him that. I need to leave.
“Any other issues? Confusion, disorientation?” I shake my head. “Okay, why don’t I go ahead and check if Rhea’s memory spell is still in effect. We told you it could come back and it may take time to eradicate it all together. If you keep showing good progress with your true memories, it won’t be long until you can go back home with your mother and father.” My hands clench. “But these outbursts are why you are still here, why you need correcting again.”
He brings a hand up to my temple and I close my eyes, awaiting the pain that comes with these checks. They are done every few days, but I’ve never really been given an explanation as to what exact spell she put on me, just that it’s festering in my mind and they are trying to help me.
A niggling pain starts in my temple and I grip the edge of the bed tightly, preparing myself for the strange sensation of something exploring within me. Axis stands to attention, hating this every time it happens, his hackles raise. His ears perk up in alert and he growls deep and low, lowering slightly at the unwelcome visitor.
Excruciating pain as hot as a thousand knives stab through my skull and I feel myself sway back, my throat closing with its intensity. More severe than I have ever felt. I feel myself being moved back, then I’m laid down, that hand of his still on my temple. Memories flash like I’m watching it happen right in front of me. So many emotions come to the surface with seeing many bad things, nice things and sad things.
Light hair, eyes so blue, holding me, comforting me and I feel a rush of warmth, the feeling of love and safety holding me close. And just for a moment, everything feels right in the world. Then those eyes turn hard and angry, a snarl on her face and then I feel pain against my legs, my stomach starving, my back sore from staying in the same position. A weight around my wrists as the metal digs into them as I peer into the eyes that can be nice and mean from one breath to the next.
Then darkness. A howl. A scream. Blood. So much blood it covers my hands and face. Something warm. I’m holding it, screaming and then the warmth goes, and it’s cold. Lifeless and I’m crying, shaking and shouting. I look up and again, she’s there. Looking at me while I lose everything. But she knew that didn’t she? She was the cause of it all. That’s why I’m holding the lifeless body that should have been my mate in my arms. She didn’t stop it, she didn’t save her.
Light, so bright it hurts to look at, emerges. Trees, a canopy above me, a stream trickling away. I watch as a silver butterfly hovers before a flower, its wings gleaming in the sunlight before it flies away, moving from side to side. I stumble after it, my hand reaching toward it, wanting to touch the brightness, to hold on to it so that I don’t have to go back to the darkness. I can feel it chasing me, stalking me. My feet crash into the river, but I can’t feel its coldness as I chase the butterfly. I need to get to it, I need to hold it. I climb up the bank on the other side of the river, my hands clawing at the dirt for purchase and then I’m running at full speed, the butterfly moving faster and faster as we fly through the woods. Around trees, over bushes, atop boulders. It doesn’t stop and neither do I. We reach atop a cliff, and I rush to a stop, my feet an inch from the edge. I watch the butterfly hovering just out of reach, seemingly looking toward me. I stretch out a hand, my fingers almost touching it when the silver butterfly moves toward me.
My skin connects with its wings and everything comes into focus, the butterfly changing into a form. My gaze dips down to light eyes, a mix of gold and browns, and then I’m falling forward, off the cliff into nothing.
I no longer see the brightness.
I no longer see the silver butterfly.
Only the dark, rising to greet me.
