The Lost Mate

Nash

Marissa clutched my hand so hard my fingers started going numb, which was impressive for a weak little human.

She was terrified of vampires after what she had been through in that freaky fucking circus, so being in the vampire capital day after day watching Montgomery’s trial was hard on her. In spite of her near constant fear, she’d still given testimony in front of the queen about everything she’d seen. Her voice had been a squeak, and she had broken down crying multiple times while my wolf freaked out.

The only reason I hadn’t tried to kill Montgomery when things got really bad for my mate was because Alpha Jason used an alpha command on me not to when I was about to jump up and rush for him. He’d never used one on me before, and it pissed me off so much my wolf had wanted to attack him, too. We hated being told what to fucking do.

I didn’t actually let my instincts loose on my alpha though, because, fuck it, maybe it had been a good thing not to interrupt the trial. He usually knew what he was doing, even if it annoyed the piss out of me to admit it.

Now, we were sitting in the crowd along with the other observers. Luna Carrie was beside me, probably here to babysit me this time since Alpha Jason had other obligations, and they thought I couldn’t be trusted.

They were right. I really couldn’t be trusted. My wolf was a savage I could barely control and normally didn’t really want to try.

I had been waiting to watch the clown who had tortured my mate die for way too long now. The actual trial had taken years because these accord vampires moved slower than pack pups, which shouldn’t have been possible, since pack pups were always yapping about a bunch of stupid shit and never actually getting anything done.

Testifying against Bluegorge at that yammering assembly had made me want to blow my brains out...or all the yipping alphas’ brains. Whatever. Anything to shut them up and get some quiet.

And these bloodsuckers were so much worse than even the puffed-up alphas. Their reputation for being fast was a complete lie. They moved like snails on a downer.

It was well known in the wilds that a rogue was twice as fast as a pack pup since we—they—didn’t spend all their time hesitating before getting things done. Live fast, probably die young, but that was fine because at least we—they—weren’t cowards who needed a bunch of hand holding to move forward.

I hated being a pack pup. Originally, I’d been planning to temporarily join so that Alpha King would get off my back, but then when I found out my brother and his mate were joining, I couldn’t spy on their pack. West’d been so happy his mate was going to have a pack again, how could I fuck that up for them? Especially once I found out Nash was going to have a kid. Deep down, he didn’t want his kid to be a rogue.

So, I ended up stuck, cursed to life as a pack pup. Schedule this, task that, restrictions, drama, rules, yadda yadda, constant annoying nagging bullshit. I missed living free. It was enough to make my wolf want to jump out of my skin and run until he collapsed somewhere far away from it all.

But we didn’t do that, because on my other side sat Marissa.

She was nothing like my first mate. My first mate had been a fucking savage bitch, and I loved that about her. She had been unpredictable and wild and she’d been uncontrollable like wildfire when I was between her legs. Best time of my life, hands down, at least until Mar.

Mar was nothing like that, but I didn’t really give a shit about that. My wolf loved her as much as I did, and she was so hot I could spend all my time with her naked if she’d let me, which she wouldn’t, because humans were even more hung up on wearing clothing than pack pups were, which was saying something.

Still, I always did what she wanted, even when I didn’t feel like it, because those damn Sang leeches had really fucked her up. For her, I’d pretend to be a tame wolf, even if I didn’t always enjoy it. She was afraid to live with the other weak humans now that she knew what was out there, and she was comforted having a wolf and a pack to protect her.

I levelled my glare towards the clown on trial. He looked like a cartoon circus ringleader, with his stuffy clothing and cocky loud mouth. My wolf wanted his blood more every time he saw him, and we’d seen a lot of him, and doubly so when he spoke. I jiggled my leg with my wolf’s impatience.

The Sang ringleader was sitting there looking down his nose as if he were the alpha instead of the prey. I imagined ripping him into unidentifiable little pieces, and the thought made my mouth water.

Vampires didn’t taste good, but that revenge sure would. My favourite fantasy that didn’t involve getting Mar naked was of running into Montgomery in the forest at noon and toying with him for hours until he cried for the mercy he didn’t deserve, and I wouldn’t give.

Next to Mar, sat Max’s mate Lillian, and him next to her, and her movement caught my eye. She wasn’t too annoying, and she liked me which was weird, so she was probably a little fucked up from that circus, too, just like my mate. Lillian squeezed Mar’s hand for encouragement, and my mate sent her a wobbly smile.

Mar was so cute my wolf pushed to kill Montgomery again to get revenge for her and make her safer. I wanted to dig out his slimy heart and place it before her like a trophy.

The vampires at the front were still babbling. If the Red had caught this clown, he would have been fully dead years ago. Why couldn’t they speed this the fuck up already? My mate needed him dead, I wanted him dead, and so did pretty much everyone else who was here. Even the other vampires wanted him punished already. The queen had killing intent in her eyes, so why not just act on it rather than all the yapping? Even Montgomery’s own fledgling had testified against him.

So, why wasn’t he dead yet?

More trial bullshit, I guessed.

Mar’s fear slammed me through our bond. I tried to figure out what made her feel worse than usual and failed, so I asked, “You okay, Mar?”

“Yeah. I’m fine. He just...looked at me.”

“I want to kill him for you.”

“Thanks, Nash,” she said, her large eyes flicking over to me. She was just too sweet. To distract her—and also to distract myself because I wanted to keep my increasingly pissy wolf from causing me trouble—I took her hand again as I let my eyes wander down her body, images of her shaking under me last night wandering through my mind. Her tits looked so good under the neat shirt she was wearing.

She blushed slightly. “Nash, right here, right now you’re thinking about that?”

Whoops. Must have let a bit too much through our connection. It was hard to control sometimes since I didn’t have one for so long. I shrugged. She was flushed, but at least the distraction had worked, for both of us. Her fear had disappeared, and my wolf was feeling slightly less like attacking everyone who got between me and that fucking vampire and more like dragging her off to somewhere private. “I’m innocent.”

“Yeah right." She smiled.

I held her hand tighter to remind her she wasn’t alone. “I’ve got you, Mar.”

“I love you, too.” Her smile widened.

The only thing that could make this moment better is if they would just hurry the fuck up and sentence the clown to death already.