The Kings Mate

I’m sat in the only chair in the miraculously high ceilinged room. The dark wooded walls have braids dividing the sections and adding that small extra detail to an already extravagant room. Surprisingly there is only one piece of furniture in the room other than the chair that I’m sitting in and it was only put in here for the purpose that it will all be too much for me. There are a few painting and tapestries on the walls but the massive mahogany table that is about ten meters long and five wide takes control of the room. There’s a small fist sized blue orb floating above the centre of it.

Ryder is crouched down in front of me, his hands massaging at my knees and calves in a soothing way as all of my guards even the one that Ryder introduced to me as Cole, are also in the room along with Maxon leant against either the walls or the table. Cole is my undercover guard and whenever I leave the royal quarters of the castle he will be around always watching me. He’s the one that has to get me out if something were to happen, he’s the one that has to keep me alive if a fight is to start. He has a soft look to his eyes as he watches me from across the room. His muscles suggest that he could be an even match for Maxon and possibly Ryder but I know something like that would never happen.

Ryder has only told me one thing of the few he apparently has listed up about me and about what type of relationship that we supposedly have other than this mate bond. The thick manila envelope that I’m turning over and over in my lap is enough to shock me into becoming speechless. I can’t believe he did this and my eyes are stinging at the onslaught of tears that are beginning to surface but I frantically try to hold them back.

“When, when did you do this?” I lower my voice to a level where I hope Ryder will be the only one to hear but now that I have it myself from the connection to him I’m much more aware of the advanced hearing that they all have.

“Only the other day when I put the drip in your arm, I got Riley’s mate to run the tests on it and this is what he found.” he squeezes my knee and lifts a hand up to wipe away the tear that had involuntarily fallen down my cheek.

My fingers shake as I attempt to pry open the tab and Ryder reaches up to place his hand over mine to steady it trying to help me open it but I pull it back away from him my hands still moving uncontrollably as I begin shaking my head. He had Jake test my blood to see what he could found out about me and apparently he found a lot about me before I ended up in Carlett, my parents’ identity being one of those things.

I fell into the chair when Ryder first handed me the envelope. I could finally found out who my parents are and the reason behind why they gave me up and just left me alone on that freezing cold night but I’m not sure if I want to. He squeezes my thigh not pushing me to do anything with the information just trying to keep me calm like he asked me to.

“Have you read what’s on here?” my hand is steady now as I press the tab closed and keep it closed, thinking that I have finally made up my mind.

He nods his head once with another squeeze of my leg. “I have. Jake and Riley have seen it as well.”

His hands message against my knees again. I am completely and utterly lost to whether I want to open it or not. He told me I didn’t have to. That he just had it as a reassurance that if I did want it one day that I could have it easily on hand and to check that medical and hereditarily okay.

He knows. That’s enough for me and I know that if anything in here where important for me to know he would tell me about it without hesitation. It also makes me nervous that there’s something in here that he’s trying to keep away from me.

“Your birthday is the second of December, if that helps you choose to read it or not.” He gives me a jaw dropping smile and I can’t help to smile back at him and be happy that he knew that would be something that I would want to know. It takes me less than a second to decide to reseal the envelope and hand it back to him.

“It doesn’t say anything about how my scent isn’t supposedly human does it?” I whisper dropping my hand over his.

“You’re human and so is your scent but it’s tainted by the scent of a prophecy.” He begins waiting to see what my reaction will be. I don’t know what he’s talking about and he continues when I feel my eyes widen in confusion at him. “Prophecies are incredibly rare, less than two hundred in the world. They’re just people that have a distinct feel and smell about them, much like you do. But it is to only link you to the prophecy that has been written about you however many years before.”

He moves over and takes the blue fist sized orb into his hand. He holds it up in front of me and I can easily see the blue mist swirling around inside it, not once does it get close to his fingers but it seem as if it’s pulling in closer to me.

“That’s a prophecy?”

Slowly I reach up to take the ball from him and the second my fingers make contact with it the blue mist does what it didn’t do for him. The mist moves through the clear cool glass gravitating in to where the warm touch of my fingers fogs the glass up. Ryder’s hand tightens around my wrist when the blue leaves the orb and runs through and into my fingers, coursing deep into my veins.

A mortal human will be born into power,

To later be mated to royalty,

The strongest yet to be seen,

Together they will fight till a winner prevails,

Death or life will come,

To bear something stronger,

Allowing peace to all creatures.

“Lottie,” Ryder’s hand is combing through my hair softly as he softly breathes cool air against my ear.

Blinking my eyes open I let out a shaky breathe, my hand gripping at the soft scented material of his shirt pressed against my cheek. I hadn’t blacked out, but everything just seemed too have stopped at the soft feminie whispery voice running through my mind. The words that were said were hard to make sense of even though there were a few haunting ones I could easily pick out.

I was on Ryder’s lap with my head buried into his chest. We were both on the floor and from the throbbing pain I feel in my shoulder I got to this position roughly but it’s pressed against Ryder’s peck and is being overwhelmed with the tingling sparks.

“What happened?” His voice is quiet and hinted with the concern that I’m beginning to get used to hearing from him.

“It-it…” The words are stuck in my throat and there’s no way I can force them out.

Death,

Bear,

“It spoke to you.” Ryder’s fingers brush over his mark causing me to moan into his neck and allowing my tense body to relax into his arms.

When I pull back out of Ryder’s hold he helps me back into the seat with a tight hold around me. My vision is blurred as I move and I stumble on my feet, Ryder’s grips tighter on my arms so I don’t tumble back down to the ground.

“We don’t exactly know what it all means at the moment but there are obvious ones in there that I know you would have picked up.” Ryder’s holding me up as he smoothly talks to me.

“What do you know?”

Sighing Ryder looks over to Cole for a second before coming to look back at me. “The first three lines make sense and from what you’ve been showing so do the last three.”

“From what I’ve been showing,” Ryder seems to enjoy confusing the crap out of me.

“Leave us,” His hazel eyes never break from mine as he orders the men in the room to leave. My eyes watch worriedly as from the corner of my eye I see the room empty.

Once the room is empty Ryder hooks one hand under my knee and the other around my waist to pull me up out of the seat and in closer to the warmth his chest gives as he walks over to sit me on the table so he can stand between my legs, his arms holding me around the hips.

“I’m so sorry that I did this to you.” His lips brush against mine before he presses a longing kiss to them.

My hands are locked around his neck to stop him from pulling too far away from me. He’s looking me in the eyes with his hands sliding to rest on the bare skin of my hips, looking down I watch as his thumbs run along the bone stopping at the waist of my jeans to move back up again. The tingles I get are coursing through to my stomach and he seems to be aware of the rapid warming there as he drops his hand over the naked spot of my navel.

“Ryder?”

“It’s going to hurt you. You’re human and it could possibly kill you.”

“What will?” My chest heaves but still I hold myself to him.

His eyes are watering. He would never cry though. “We call it heat.”

Heat?

“It is impossible for Royals to be barren.” His arms try to wrap me into himself, scared that I’ll run when I find out whatever it is that’s horrifying him so much. “Just like how my wolf feds you my strength and abilities through my claim, he would also and is feeding you a heat so strong that nothing else would matter. No form of contraceptive, ours or humans will be able to stop you from getting pregnant if I mate you in that time. It will be impossible for me not to.”

Gulping down the lump in my throat, I attempt to shift my hips away from his but I only result in rubbing myself against him intensifying the warmth that I feel in my stomach, making me uncomfortable to be this close to him. He knows that I don’t want that with him, at least not yet but his tight hold on me is growing uncomfortable incredibly quick.

“The prophecy suggests that you and I will have a pup stronger than even me.” Ryder’s forehead presses against mine and his pain filled eyes run the length of my face before he meets my scared ones. “My mum ended up in the hospital three times when she was pregnant with me. She’s a high ranked wolf and I broke three of her ribs with one kick. You’re human, I don’t want to see you in this fight it suggests nor do I want to see you pregnant with my heir because I don’t want to lose you.”

Ryder’s arms flex around me alerting me to how tense my body has grown again. The fear that I have of having that type of relationship with him has just been increased tenfold by the new information he just gave me.

“You started showing signs that heat was coming before I even marked you. Riley’s made a guess that it’ll come around your eighteenth birthday and that it will last till I mate you.”

“There’s no way you will be able to stop me from getting pregnant.”

The slight shake of his head is enough for me to push him away from me. It’s too much for me. When I jump from the table I’m surprised by how steady my legs are and how easily I manage to pull my arm from his grip when he reaches out to pull me back to him.

“Lottie,”

He’s following after me as I move closer to the closed door that’s blocking me from the rest of the world. I’m locked in this room with him and the sick twisted reality that my life has become by his sweetly soft hands.

“I need a minute.” I say to him when his arm comes around my waist to keep me in the room with him.

Ryder’s arm is reluctant to release me but eventually the no longer calming warmth disappears from my skin. When my eyes meet his for the smallest of seconds I can see him begging me to stay here with him but he still opens the door to allow me to leave.

Stepping out into the nearly secluded hall a shaky breath escapes my throat. Running a hand through my hair I push it to a side to stop it from falling back down into my eyes as I try to stop the shaking that is trying to inhabit my limbs.

Kids where something that I never thought of and as of right now it is definitely something that I don’t want but it’s just another thing that if I want to be with Ryder I will have to tolerate.

When my eyes give a genuine look through the hall I can’t see any of my guards around. The doors to the room that I was just in are still open and I see that Ryder lent against the table in what looks to be a deep conversation with my guards who somehow get into the room with him. None of them are concentrated on me. Taking it is my chance it as my chance I run.

“Charlotte,” Ryder’s voice follows deep and loudly down the hall as I move as quickly away from as I can.

It took no time at all for them to notice what I was doing but my feet have carried me faster than normal so I’m already to the end of the hallway before I can feel them getting closer to me. Pushing myself to run faster I hook a hand around the banister of the stairs ignoring the splintering pain still moving through my ribs as I take two steps at time to keep the distance between me and my mate.

Running through the first door I see on the nearly deserted third floor of the south wing, I collapse against the floor allowing everything to come out in chest shattering sobs. Somehow I had managed to out run my guards and Ryder. They were holding back and giving me space but when they realised that I was running their footsteps were quick and heavy to follow me trying to stop me from getting away from them.

The room is an office and also one of the most traditional rooms in the palace that I’ve seen yet. The walls are all mahogany bookcases that stretch the lengths of the room on both the left and right side of me even the larger than needed desk that is placed in front of the large double doors that lead out to a vast balcony is a rich and visibly heavy mahogany.

Pushing up off the ground on weak arms I make my way through the maze of the seated area of the room to sink into one of the high red leather wing backed chairs hoping that if I manage to in some way sink my small frame into the softness of it enough that anyone who might walk into the expansive room they won’t be able to see me.

Since Ryder marked me it’s shocked me how I have all these new ‘abilities’. Right now I can hear them running throughout the lower floors trying to find me. I can sense that Ryder’s confused and stressed that he can’t find me. From the strong emotions that I feel I had unintentionally blocked him out but I wasn’t willing to drop the solid brick like wall that I had constructed to prevent him of my guards sensing or from feeling my location.

I thought I knew what I wanted with him. I thought that I wanted to complete the bond with him but it took only a few words from him and a bloody glass ball to deter me from the fantasy that I had dreamt up. Completing this bond with him will bring up a lot about my past that I thought I had already dealt with but I’m nowhere even ready to have those deep memories bought back into my life and put centre stage. I was caught up in the moment with him earlier today but I won’t get caught like that again with him.

I realise now how strong the mate bond can be, especially with having someone as strong his to have the bond created with. His touch is addictive. Form the second I first felt those sparks course through my body I have been craving more of them and more of him by the second. I need it more than I wish I did.

When I hear the click of the door opening my breath catches in my throat hoping that the unfamiliar feeling I get from the person at the door leaves me alone but the door closes and there are footsteps still present in the room with me.

Deep hazel eyes meet mine as the tall figure rounds the room to sit down in the seat behind the desk. The familiar eyes flick to me for a second before they move back down to the pen that swirls a dark black ink around the bottom of a number of pages, signing off on many things that I don’t know about. My eyes watch carefully as I’m barley acknowledged.

“Allie always knew how to cause a stir as well.”

Having him in front of me even through my tear stained eyes there are more similarities between Ryder and Alexander then what the picture let onto but I can’t get over how Ryder has the exact same eyes as his father right down to the way they easily portray an emotional glint.

“You’re not going to tell him where I am?”

Alexander gives me another quick look and the same flash of concern that I got from Ryder earlier crosses his eyes. “I know about the prophecy Charlotte, it’s something that was presented to me when I was young and the same goes for Ryder. I don’t believe either of us expected to be mated to the prophecy, to you, but you need to realise that Ryder has known about that prophecy since he shifted and from the moment he meet you he’s been growing closer to you knowing that with the rebels attempts at getting to throne better that this battle that it talked about is right behind us and it will be difficult to win. They have the prophecy too and they know that Ryder is mated to a human, he knows that they will do everything they can to kill you, to stop this foretold pregnancy, to take there last opportunity that they have to take the throne because once you and Ryder have conceived an heir they are well aware they won’t have another chance. He knows what this war can do to you and there’s no way he can get you out of it. You need the space between you right now.”

“I don’t want to lose him.” Tears drop down onto my arms that have tangled around my waist.

“As much as I dislike that Ryder has mated to a weak human, I would never want to lose Allie no matter what and I never wish for Ryder to lose you.”

This is the first time I’ve ever been able to evaluate Alexander. Ryder has barley said anything about him but I can see why. The difference in personalities is astounding. Ryder is soft and sweet around me but Alexander is cold and hard and is keeping barley any eye contact with me, not that I’m trying to hard but it makes me realise how often that I do it to others.

“Ryder never speaks about you.” The noticeable movement of his Adam’s apple tells me that maybe he cares about his son.

“It wouldn’t surprise me.” he says tensely. “I haven’t had a good relationship with my son sinc- since he was young. We have conflicting views. You coming into the picture have made it all that much tenser.”

“Do you care at all about him?” I ask strongly the tears halted by how strong my voice has become. “I have no family. No parents and you can’t even form a normal or at least a decent relationship with your son who is just downstairs.”

“Stop it, now.” He orders pushing himself up from his chair as his hands grip at the desk so strongly that his knuckles have turned white and the wood is splintering slightly.

“I would give anything to have grown up with somewhere there to actually care for me without a doubt. That at the end of the day no matter what differences may have come between us that they will still love me. All hope of that is gone now but your son is what I have and you can’t even care for him the way that you should.”

“You have no idea what I’ve been through and what I want to protect him from and you my dear just happen to be one of them.” His voice is strong and threating but I don’t falter in my words.

“What do I have to threaten with him as you’ve said I’m just a weak human?”

“You would do anything for him and he would do anything for you, love is a dangerous thing to feel.” His voice drops low and so does his head as he lets out a deep sigh finally taking back his seat. “Sit back down. You are welcome to wait out here. He will never come up here to look for you.”

Ignoring the nagging at the back of my head telling me to return to Ryder I sit back down into the soft chair. My eyes watch Alexander as he tries to continue to sign the pile of documents in front of him. He doesn’t seem to be able to concentrate on anything but my watchful eyes.

“He is my son Charlotte, I love him in a way you may not understand but when you have been through what Allie and I have and have your own children with Ryder you will understand.”

“Does he know that?”

“No and you will not tell him either.” His words are final and finally he seems to be able to concentrate on the work in front of him.

Curling myself back into the seat I relax and let my thoughts on Ryder maul back over in my mind. Alexander’s words are echoing loudly. Love is dangerous. I’ve spent a little over a week with Ryder and already that fact has proven more than obvious.

***

“Just fucking find her, she hasn’t left the castle so she still has to be here.” Ryder’s voice is louder than I’ve ever heard it before and I jolt awake.

I can’t remember falling asleep and I definitely can’t remember when Alexander pulled me into his arms and walked us down the stairs. I just want to go back to sleep but we’re up the top of the wide staircase and I can see Ryder pacing at the bottom of them and I can’t help the small smile that creeps across my lips at seeing the way the his dark button up shirt pulls against his muscles as he slides a hand through his hair.

“Relax Ryder,” I feel the words rumble through Alexander’s chest as he takes a couple more steps down the stairs towards my mate.

Ryder’s eyes burn with hatred as he father stops in front of him, they don’t once look down to me. I can feel the tenseness in my stomach as I’m wrapped in a different type of warmth as I’m pulled out of Alexander’s arms to be in Reynolds and away from the confrontation unfolding.

“You better not have fucking hurt her.” Ryder seethes and I flinch lightly at the tone he’s using towards his father.

When I try to push myself out of Reynolds arms he speaks lightly against my ear. “Don’t Lottie.”

“She was in my office. I thought I’d bring her down before you recruited the entire pack to find her.” Alexander is shorter than his son. Only be an inch or two but I could see the way that Ryder is stretching his spine just so his father had to look up at him.

“She’s been missing for four hours, what did you do and say?” fighting to keep my eyes open I struggle to see as Ryder fights to get his words out in a reasonably calm tone.

“You want to keep her out of this fight right?” He asks a smile stretching across his face as if he’s daring him to disagree.

Ryder shifts a little on his feet but the intimidation that he is admitting doesn’t wane. “You wouldn’t want mum anywhere near it so why would I want Lottie.”

“Get her pregnant.”

Ryder isn’t the only one that growls savagely at the previous Kings words. My heart stops at Alexander’s words, after the small conversation that we had I would never have expected him to say that.

“She doesn’t want that.” Ryder looks angry enough to shift into his wolf and even though Reynolds had pulled me away a bit I could still see the black swirling through his hazel eyes.

“Like I told your mate before, as soon as she conceives an heir, you will put more guards on her to make sure that nothing worse than her actually caring your pup will hurt her.” the sadistic smile that covers his face as he speaks makes me queasy. “And once it’s actually born, if it’s as strong as what the prophecy suggests they will never get the throne. Where’s the need for a fight.”

“I’m not going to force her to do something that she doesn’t want. I’m not you.”

Ryder tried to throw his father off but he takes the hateful words in stride. “I must admit I did underestimate both her and your bond. I would have sedated her heavier.”

“You sedated my mate!” I jump at the volume level of his voice and Reynolds gives me a squeeze.

“If she doesn’t want to do it then she doesn’t have to know about it.” Alexander’s eyes flick over me for a second and I try to hide in my guards touch. “Just get her pregnant.”

The guards watch Ryder carefully as Alexander gives a fleeting smile and leaves up the stairs quickly, leaving no time for Ryder to say anything back to him. Ryder lets out a deep growl and I grow scared as he turns to walk towards Reynolds and me. He’s livid.

He moves to go to take me from Reynolds but my guard steps back and I’m glad because right now I don’t want to be anywhere near him. Alexander suggested that he get me pregnant while I was unconscious just because I wasn’t ready to complete the mating process with him.

“Give her to me.” Gulping at the sound of Ryder’s voice, I feel the way that Reynolds body goes to obey his King’s order and internally beg that he doesn’t.

“Ryder,” Reynolds voice is calm, almost begging Ryder to become the same.

“Give her to me, now?” He growls out.

Ryder is warm when he possessively pulls me into his arms. No matter how scared I am off him in this moment it doesn’t stop me as I wrap my arms around his neck to hold myself to him. The intense feelings that he has feel greater with me pressed to his chest but I can’t make sense on whether he’s going to do what his father said or not.

“Get Eleanor to the hospital wing now.” Ryder is already halfway up the stairs and the guards are a step behind as he carries me to a place I don’t want to go.

“You can’t do this to her Ryder.” It’s Charlie’s voice that is trying to persuade him now but he continues to the hospital wing of the castle.

“Do it.”

The guards are quiet with a final order and I bury my head in to his chest to hide the tears that are begging to slip from my eyes.

“Just relax baby,” Ryder whispers in my ear for only me to hear.

“Please,”

“Shh, it’s going to be alright.”

It doesn’t take as long to get to the room and Ryder’s warmth to disappear as he slips me onto the bed softly. The room is easily big enough to accommodate all five of my guards plus the tanned woman whose mess off ash blonde hair has been pulled up into a ponytail on top of her head the tendrils that has fallen out framing the blue-green of her eyes.

“Shut the doors.” The guards look confused but they do as he says. “Get ready to give her the injections.”

The woman nods at him and she slides up my shirt exposing my stomach. Ryder’s hand slides up over my cheek rubbing at my cheek bone to get him to look him in the eyes. He’s calmed down.

“It’s all going to be okay baby.” Ryder says but when the woman comes back with a trolley filled with three needles.

“What are you going to do?”

“I will never do what he’s suggested Lottie. This is something different though.” He bits his lip before he continues. “This fight is closer than what I expected and we need to be prepared. This is a little uncomfortable to talk about but my semen is only responsive to your eggs and your eggs are only responsive to my semen. It’s just insure that are blood line is true and because of it so if something were to happen to me they have a number of my sperm frozen and now we need some of your eggs,” he reaches over to grab one of the needles and I’m surprised by how calm I am and how the distance between him and his father has calmed him. “And three of these every morning and night will give us enough. The kingdom needs any heir no matter what happens to us.”

He’s nervous as he waits for my answer which I confirm with a squeeze of my hand around his. My guards at the door look confused but have visibly relaxed by the turn of events, all of them but Cole leave now that they see that Ryder isn’t going to hurt me the way Alexander wants him to.

Ryder lies in the bed next to me and tries to relax me like Eleanor told me to as she slowly and surely inserts the needles into my lower abdomen to assure that they take properly. The idea behind what they’re doing makes sense but it seemed like I didn’t have a chose in the matter and it also didn’t help that there was a strong part of me telling me to do so.

“Lottie baby, Charlotte, try to stay awake.” He’s concerned as my eyes drift shut and I feel myself dropping in and out.

“I’m tired.” It barley comes out but her hears it.

He says something else to me but his warm arms squeezing me and another prick of a sharp needle is all I notice before I’m again claimed by the darkness.