Thrain's POV
"Mate."
I had known from the very moment I had heard her voice call my name.
I had known even before I saw her face.
I had known even before she had stepped her foot into the pack hall.
And now, she knew too.
The scent hit me first on her arrival.
It had wrapped around each and every of my five senses like a cruel joke.
My wolf had instantly began to stir in my chest with his growl echoing.
Mate, he had screamed.
Hazel.
She was my mate.
And she was also the woman that I hated more than anyone in this world.
She was the woman that was responsible for my parents' deaths.
But I was convinced now that fate had a sick sense of humor, or didn't it?
I looked down at her kneeling form.
Her head was lowered.
Her body was trembling slightly.
And my wolf kept doing something that I would have never thought he would.
He whispered that one word.
He did it over and over again.
Mate.
My heart had slammed against my ribs because iit couldn't be.
Of all the women why her?
She looked up.
Her lips were parted.
I saw that flicker of recognition of heta this entailed in her wide, fearful eyes.
But there was something else there too.
It was bravery perhaps or desperation.
"Take her away!" Jake screamed.
The guards stepped forward to continue from where they had left off.
But, I raised my hand.
Everyone stood unmoving.
She looked grateful despite the fact that her shoulders were still squared in tension.
I took a step forward, unable to stop myself.
"What are you doing?" I asked her.
She swallowed softly.
"Your Majesty," she said.
Her voice was soft.
It sounded like music to my ears.
"Please. I permit me to whisper into your ears," she implored me.
I didn't respond right away.
I couldn't.
What was she playing at?
Was she about to use the newly formed mate bond between us to he advantage?
Well, I would never know if I didn't give in the her and grant her request.
Should I, or should I not?
But after a second or two, my legs moved on their own and I walked up to her.
She didn't flinch when I leaned down slowly to bring my face to her level.
Her unique scent filled my lungs.
Mate. Mate. Mate.
My wolf was losing his mind.
"Speak," I ordered her.
She tilted her head.
She brought her lips closer to my head, almkst brushing near my ear.
"Your trust has been betrayed," she said to me in a soft whisper.
Her voice sent unfathomable heat instantly crawling down my spine.
Blood rushed through me.
"Jake has broken the pact. He has devalued the alliance between your pack and ours," she continued. "It was a lie. He—"
"Enough!" a voice boomed behind us.
I turned around.
Jake stormed forward with a sneer stretched across his face.
I straightened to my standing form.
"Don't listen to her, Your Majesty. She is always looking for attention like the pathetic little whore that she is."
He reached for her arm.
She pulled back, trying to speak.
Her eyes was on me.
Her orbs were pleading.
"Please, don't—"
And right in front of me, he dared to reach out and strike her once again.
The slap was hard.
The sound echoed through the hall.
The entire room fell silent.
She stumbled backwards, catching herself just before she hit the floor.
Blood instantly painted her lip.
Her eyes flashed with pain.
But she didn't cry.
She didn't scream.
And yet, her hurt tightened my heart.
It was almost as if I had been struck too.
What on earth was this?
"You forget your place! You don't speak unless I say so," Jake growled.
He grabbed her throat and slammed her against one of the wooden pillars.
The guards didn't move.
And by everyone's reaction, I was sure that this interaction was not uncommon.
That means it happened often.
Was this what Hazel was subjected to every single day at the hands of Jake?
"When I say bark, you bark!" Jake was yelling in her face.
His grip in her neck tightened.
I knew because the veins in his hands grows more and more visible.
Hazel struggled to breathe.
"I— I am so—"
"Shut the fuck up you useless bitch!" Jake huffed at her, stricking her again.
Her face fell to the side.
And when she looked up again, her cheeks were red and swollen.
Her eyes were filled with tears.
"Please," she managed to push out.
"You will learn a lesson!" Jake growled. "You will listen to me next time."
He slapped her other cheek.
Anger bubbled in me.
How could a man treat a woman as such?
"Jake, stop," I said through gritted teeth.
"This whore needs to learn that her place is at my feet your majesty," he said.
His grip loosened.
Her cloak slipped off her shoulders.
Then, I saw the bruises.
There were dark, ugly marks across her arms and her collarbone.
My wolf stilled.
His growl wasn't just sound anymore.
It clawed up my throat, thick and sharp.
"No!" I bellowed.
She looked at me.
Her lips trembled.
But, she didn't beg.
It was her eyes that did so.
Something inside of me cracked.
It was not lust.
It was not hunger.
It was something worse.
It was possession.
She was mine.
She was no longer his.
At least not anymore.
"Let. Her. Go," I said.
Jake didn't even glance at me.
His grip tightened.
"She is my wife. Stay out of it Lycan King," was his reply to me.
I stepped forward.
My voice sounded calm but I felt the shift rising fast under my skin.
"I said... let her go."
He finally turned to me.
"Or what? Will you challenge me in front of this entire court over her?"
I heard the sarcasm in that.
My bones began to move before I had even made the decision to do so.
The shift hit me fast.
It was too fast for me to control.
My body exploded in fire and rage as I allowed my wolf to take over.
The hall erupted in screams and snarls.
Jake turned to me.
I lunged straight at him and gently ripped her out of his tight grip.
He began to back away in horror.
I pulled him down with me and we both crashed through the wooden benches.
The splinters flew everywhere.
People shouted behind us even as Jake shifted to defend himself.
But he was too slow.
I tore into his side with my claws and teeth until blood was flying from his mouth.
He roared furiously.
I slammed Jake into the stone wall with my jaws locking around his shoulder.
He howled in pain.
He tried to twist free but I bit down harder until his blood soaked the floor.
Somewhere behind me, Hazel was screaming for both of us to stop.
But I didn't stop.
I couldn't stop.
My wolf had taken over.
He wasn't just fighting for justice now.
He was fighting for his mate and for what was his.
Everything was blurry now.
The sounds.
The lights.
Her scent.
My mind was gone and my instinct was the only thing that remained.
Soon it was like a curtain fell.
There was suddenly darkness.
And then, there was nothing.