Chapter six

Ethan’s  POV

I didn’t like it.

I didn’t like it one bit, what I felt for the prisoner was just so strange, so weird, and unacceptable. I knew what that feeling was, my parents had told me about it so many times while I was growing up and I still remembered it just like it was yesterday.

 “Ethan dear, are you sure you do not want to hear the story of how your dad found out that I was his mate?” My mother would always say when I came down for dinner.

“Mom!” I groaned, I didn’t want to listen to this again for probably the one-thousandth time. “I’m sixteen, you’ve been telling this same story since I was able to understand what you were saying.”

My mom would always frown at this point and a hurt look would come over her eyes, “That means you do not want to hear the story, dear?”

My mother always had a manipulative way of getting what she wanted from either me or my father. Seeing how sad she looked, I would always give in with a frustrated look.

 “Alright Mom, I’m all ears.” I would reply and my mother’s face beamed instantly and her eyes jerked to life.

 “It was a stormy night in a dense forest, I was on the run from my brutal pack when I suddenly bumped into your father. At that time he was the Lycan prince and didn’t have as much power as he did now. But he still had enough to take me in as a prisoner and that was what he did. Initially, I was scared of your father, he was ruthless and so mean.” This was the point of my mother’s story where my dad would burst out laughing. I would join in and she would glare at the both of us. “It’s not funny, I despised your dad until one day. He touched me and something like a current ran through the both of us, it was beautiful, it was divine, it made me feel complete and whole… The mate bond is a beautiful thing.”

Beautiful…Divine…completeness…wholeness…satisfaction… Those were all the things I felt when I made contact with the prisoner. It was fascinating, yet I couldn’t accept that that was the mate bond. My mate, the mate of a powerful Lycan king, couldn’t be a mere prisoner. That was absurd! I had never seen it happen, all my other friends who were also kings had mates that also came from royalty. 

 So how could I stand out and stoop so low to accept a prison girl as my mate when I was the most powerful of all? It was fucking crazy! Whatever it was between us, that current that my mother had talked about so often before she died, I wasn’t going to let it stand. I disliked the girl already for being so weak and vulnerable, my mate needed to be a strong, influential woman. But then that weak, vulnerable had escaped my dungeon and almost got past those foolhardy guards. Bloody hell!

 The guards returned and the chief guard bowed stiffly to me, his paunchy stomach constricting as he did in the tight uniform he wore.

 “She’s safely locked in the quiet place, my king.” He said, bowing his head like a timid little boy.

It was funny he was bowing to me so recreantly when he was twice if not thrice my age. I got to my feet and remained in silence for a while, the four guards' eyes darted around nervously.

 “Who was the guard in charge of manning the prison at the exact time that girl escaped?” I asked slowly, my voice was thick with an authoritativeness only the affluent possessed.

 There was uncertainty amongst them, it was clear they didn’t want to give the person up.

 “Alright then, since it’s going to be like that. You all will take the punishment then.” I said and there was a sudden hush within them.

The chief guard, who for some reason I still didn’t know his name, spoke up in a shaky voice. “My king, it was him.” He pointed to one of them and the others isolated themselves from him.

His knees buckled instantly, his lips were quivering and I was sure goosebumps had already spread all over his white skin. At the Dark Shades pack, I was both respected and feared as the youngest King in its history. I was just twenty-four and I overheard people saying I was too young to be so brutal but then I was also too young to be so wise. Most people didn’t know if to hate or love me, my good and bad deeds entwined perfectly.

 “Step forward,” I said, my thick voice rang through the quiet room.

The guard couldn’t have been three years or more older than I was. He was equally young, and the difference between us was very significant, class. Slowly, he edged forward with naked fright in his wide eyes. 

 “What do you think I should do with you?” I asked when he was before me. “First of all, drop.”

He knelt and bowed his head. “Mercy, my king! Mercy!” He cried.

I stared down at him impassively, I had the greatest power of all over this great pack, the power of death. But I hadn’t used it and truthfully, I wasn’t planning to, yet 

  “Mercy? Don’t you think you’re asking for too much?” I asked, arching an eyebrow at him. I knew how menacing I looked by just standing there stonily with my hands thrust deep into my pockets. 

He was sweating so much, it started to drip onto the carpets. “Please, my king!” The fear in his voice awkwardly pleased me.

 “She found her way out of the cell and I don’t know how, so I would like you to show me,” I said and he looked up at me in confusion, everyone else had the same look on their faces. “Look down!” I snapped and his head dropped instantly. “You’ll also be locked up in that cell, if you’re not able to escape before twenty-four hours, you’ll be relieved of your duties as a guard at the pack house.”

 “Oh please, my king!” He cried, his eyes widening with concern and I could read his thoughts.

“What? Why are you panicking?” I looked at the others. “Isn’t it what I always say that what a woman can do, a man can do better?” I asked the others and they grunted hesitantly in approval. “Good, so you go and prove me right. You.” I called one of them and he stepped forward. “Take him away and lock him up in that same cell.”

At that moment, the door opened and a handsome man with a confident smile walked in.