Mate

Karica's POV

The danger alarms began sounding in my brain and I knew exactly who he was, although I had never seen him before just heard about him. The fear of what he would do to me coursed through my veins like a river of pain and I tried to put some distance between us. 

His sturdy hand moved and grabbed my arm, the skin which came in contact with his sizzled and a tingling sensation began which travelled to my naval, making my whole body shudder. I knew what this meant, he was my 'mate' and he had found me after three years. 

I felt Laila stir in my head and my lips moved of their own accord as she struggled for control and announced loudly to him:

"Mate!"

The angry contortions of his face slightly softened at that mere declaration of the fact that our souls had been conjoined by a higher decree. But that softness vanished in a split second.

"Don't you fucking move," he spat out, his ebony orbs swirling with loathing and disgust for me. Two more men entered the room and his head whipped in their direction, a frightening growl resonated deep in his throat and their heads lowered in submission. They stopped in their tracks.

I noticed he was wearing a long white fur coat which resembled his silverish-white hair. He took it off and threw it towards me. 

"Cover yourself!" he bellowed like an enraged bull about to skewer me with his invisible horns. 

I clumsily caught his coat, not wanting to enrage him any more than he already was and quickly put it on. 

Petrichor; the earthly smell of fresh soil after rain. That's what hit me as his warm coat covered my nakedness. It was intoxicating and mind-numbing. His fear had my senses numbed earlier and it was only now I smelled his unique scent.

 But I knew I couldn't fall for it. I would never leave with him, that's not what I wanted. I wanted Adiyan and no stupid bond could replace my love for him. 

"Bring him here," he instructed his men and they callously grabbed Adiyan from his hair and dragged him towards us. My heart screamed and the words escaped my quivering lips.

"Let him go," I tried to sound confident but words came out shaky, I found myself trembling. He paid no heed to my words, it was like he didn't even hear me. 

"Straighten him up," they supported him by his arms so he could stand straight and Adiyan winced in pain. He was profusely bleeding from his head, nose and mouth. And I was sure his ribs were broken.

The beast slipped his hands inside his pants pocket and extracted a small pocket knife. He flicked it open and my heart dropped in my stomach. 

"No!" I screamed, realising what he was about to do. I tried to run and shield Adiyan but he grabbed me again by the arm and pulled me back. My back collided with his buffed chest and my breath was almost knocked out. The man was made of steel, was he wearing armour underneath? 

What did he eat? Raw iron? Or maybe crushed bones of his victims. 

His callous hand came from behind and went under my chin, grabbing it with a force that it hurt, he lifted it so I could directly stare at Adiyan and what they were about to do to him. I flinched and squirmed in his hold but it was like fighting a mountain. 

He tossed the pocket knife to one of his men, who effortlessly caught it. His free hand now snaked around my waist and he held me in place, I could feel his lips along the ridges of my ear as he menacingly spoke in a low but deadly tone, making my whole body shiver in anxiety, like a leaf on a stormy night. 

"I am going to punish both of you. Him for touching what's mine and you for letting him." 

"No, please! I beg you," I screamed, tears welling up in my eyes and abundantly flowing. My eyes were fixated on semi-unconscious Adiyan. 

"Proceed, flay the skin from his hands and lips for his unforgivable crime," he nonchalantly ordered as if it meant nothing. They vehemently nodded without revealing any emotions on their faces, they were like marble statues with gems for eyes. 

He hauntingly whispered in my ear again:

 "And you will watch every second of it. The consequences of your actions," his grip tightened hurting me. 

The reality of his words sunk in as one of his men with light blonde hair stepped closer and lifted the knife. 

"NOO!" I bellowed and tried to jab my elbow in his rock-hard stomach. It didn't affect him. He held me there. 

"You monsters, let him go. He is innocent," my shrieks fell on deaf ears. He grabbed Adiyan by the hair and began to peel his skin from his lips. Blood-curdling screams escaped him as he squirmed in their holds like a dying fish.  

This was too much for me. How could they be so heartless and cruel? The rumours about them were true, about him were true. He had just proved it and I was right in running away from him in the first place. 

'You are the cause of this Karica. If you hadn't run from our mate in the first place, this would never happen,' my wolf Laila's voice resonated in my brain. In the last three years, she hardly ever spoke to me.

'Our mate is strong,' she purred in my brain and I ignored her. 

 She had stopped talking to me and recoiled in the depths of my mind the day I decided to run from my destined mate. I had tried innumerable times to coax her out but she hated me for it. Now, I could sense her excitement. She was bloodthirsty and her emotions now and then had always told me she detested Adiyan. 

Nevertheless, I had to save him. I couldn't let him die and there was only one way. 

"I...I would willingly go with you. I will never see him again, just please stop the torture," his hand tightened around my face and tilted it to the right and his head dipped from over my shoulder so I could stare directly into his raven-coloured eyes which had tendrils of silver-ish blue spreading in his irises and forming an outer ring too. That must be his wolf trying to peek at me. 

"Oh! You thought I would be leaving without you or letting you see him again? Are you so dim-witted?"

And my mouth went dry at his scathing words and cutting tone. How was I to negotiate with a beast with no heart? 

"Please, I won't try to run again. Just spare his life," I didn't want to beg this asshole or cry in front of him. But the emotional turmoil was burgeoning me and my eyes pooled with salty water as it slid out of my eyes and touched his coarse hand. 

A flash of warmth slightly cracked the tough mask he had been adorning and was that concern I saw in those intimidatingly chilly eyes of his. I held my breath as he recovered from whatever subtle emotion he experienced. 

He coated his face again with a look of indifference and without taking his eyes off me he asked:

"What if I don't?"

"I will hate you forever, you will never own me," my voice came out steadier than I had anticipated and I uttered those words without thinking of any consequences. He growled, his eyes darkening and his face contorting in the anger he was trying to subdue. He bared his teeth at me, but it worked and he roared:

"Stop!"