Chapter 3

Nathan:

“Why, hello there” I smirked looking at my mate who stood frozen before my eyes, she knew that I had seen her stealing from the man, I had paid him for what she took, though she did not technically know that, but I wasn’t going to let a man lose his merchants without getting paid for them.

She took a step back, careful not to stumble on anything as she glared at me from hood covered eyes, in normal circumstances, I would’ve never allowed such behaviors, but this was my mate, and I had paid for what she took anyway, therefor why cause a fuss, right?

“What do you want?” She asked angrily, her jaw clenched as she looked at me, though I was sure that she was searching for guards around me and not really looking at ME, but she did her best to cover it, which she was actually doing a good job at I must admit.

“Oh, darling I do believe that you are in no position to be questioning me right now” I winked at her earning a glare from her as I slowly took a step closer and removed her hood exposing her beautiful face to me, I wanted to see what my mate looked like, she glared at me and raised her hand slapping me across the face her eyes hard as she glared at me before realizing what she did when she saw me put a hand on my cheek.

“Feisty are we?” I teased ignoring what she did, she frowned in confusion before her eyes turned hard once again, this time taking a dagger from her belt and bringing it to my neck “and fast, I must admit”

My smirk never wavering as I kept my eyes on her, slowly putting a hand over hers squeezing just enough to cause her to let go of the dagger without breaking or twisting her wrist, she however squealed and took a step back before raising her hand once again, this time to punch me in the face.

I caught her hand and pushed her back against a tree pinning her hand above her head and taking a hold of the other hand before using my body to stabilize her against the tree, preventing her from any other movement, she however, did not stop her wiggling as she fought to set herself free from my grasp, which was tight enough to hold her, but not to hurt her.

“Need I ask, why on Earth are you fighting me?” I asked this time forcing her to look me in the eye, my face mere inches away from hers as our breaths mixed making her heart race against her ribcage as she realized the position that we were in, I personally didn’t mind, the closer I was to my mate, the better, but then again, being human, I’m sure she was not even close to being aware that she was my mate.

“You watched me take what I want, beckoned for me to run, to simply follow me? What do you want?” She asked angrily, I smirked but kept my hold on her despite her constant squirming, I could tell that she was getting frustrated by me holding her, but I wasn’t going to risk letting her go, she would either end up going back to being aggressive, or she was going to run away, which would result to me following her wherever she was going, thus causing her a little bit of a fuss, and I knew that she did not want that.

“Darling, if I wanted to report you, then I would’ve taken you as a prisoner with me, or would’ve set you up for trail” I said calmly “I simply came to talk”

“You’re a liar”

“Do I look like one?” I asked raising an eyebrow, I was taunting her, I knew that I was, but this was the only way she was going to listen, not that I would be giving her another option at that.

“Yes”

“Sure?”

“Okay, no”

“Thought so” I smirked.

“Let me GO” she snapped yanking her hand from my wrist and kicking the back of my knee causing me to stumble on my weight almost falling on her had it not been for her reflex to step aside to run away, but I quickly got up and grabbed her by her waist and threw her over my back.

“Oh, no you don’t” I said calmly walking back toward the tree where I put her down, she raised her hands to push me away, but I lifted her against the tree and stabilized her against it using my body which was now in between her legs, her arms above her head as I held them up by her wrist with my right hand and my left holding her waist “easy”

I kept my eyes on hers allowing her to search mine for safety, I wasn’t going to hurt her, I wanted to show her that, but her worry that she was now in front of me, that I had caught her doing what she did stopped her from seeing clearly, I didn’t blame her though, any girl in her position, would’ve done worse, actually no they wouldn’t, they would’ve been on their knees begging to suck me off just for the sake of pleasure and I would be walking away, I didn’t see the point of doing what they did, especially since they knew that I wouldn’t be taking advantage of a female, but then again it wasn’t advantage when she was offering herself, was it?

Either way, I still didn’t approve of it, had it been any of my family members doing the same thing to a lad, I would’ve had the lad’s head for it, and I would’ve either found her mate, or a husband, whichever was available, but I would NOT allow her to cheapen herself for the pleasure of a man, never.

“I am not going to hurt you” I said softly, making sure to keep my eyes on hers, our brown eyes fully meeting for the second time today, the first was at the market, but the girl was too busy running away to hold eye contact, and the second was now, as I forced her to keep her eyes on mine, I didn’t want to frighten her, I wanted her to see that she was now safe.

“What’s your name?” I asked her softly, making sure to keep myself, voice, and body controlled, fearing that she would be worried that I would be harming her.

“Kiara” she whispered, her voice barely audible, but that was due to the fact that she wasn’t aware of her answering, her body taking over her senses of wanting to satisfy her mate, her body giving in to me before her mind could process what she had done.

“A beautiful name” I said softly, her eyes widened when she realized that she had told me her name, and I had to fight back a chuckle as she tried fighting to squirm out of my touch, though I could feel goose bumps rise across her body as it gave in to me, her mind having a battle against being this close to a stranger, the idea of her being protective of herself intrigued and caught my attention.

“What do you want from me?” She asked, this time fear lacing her voice as she realized that she wouldn’t be able to remove herself from my grasp, I, however, slowly let go of her wrists and allowed her to put them down, she involuntarily put them on my shoulders as I put my hand on her waist holding her close.

“I’m going to let you go, but I don’t want you running off, I still want to speak to you” I said softly, making sure that she looked into my eyes, which she luckily did, searching my eyes for anything that she would see or find as dangerous, but nodding when she found none, and as promised, I put her down to stand on her feet, slowly taking a step back and removing my hands from her waist, making sure to hold eye contact as it was one of the only ways she would be feeling the mating pull between us, noticing that her eyes went from light brown to a darker shade of it as they darkened, I frowned in confusion before noticing that she had a mark on her wrist.

Following my gaze, she noticed me looking at her wrist before quickly covering it, though it wasn’t before I managed to catch the mark of an element manipulator birthmark on her wrist.

“You still haven’t answered my question” she stated brushing off the dust from her worn out dress and fixing the cloak she was wearing, the dress had been stitched so many times that the fabric was wearing out, though she didn’t seem to mind as she glared at me, clearly not paying attention that I was looking at her dress wondering why her family wouldn’t just buy her a new one.

“Where is your family?” I asked, her eyes widened and she looked away from me, avoiding my gaze making me frown in confusion, it was a simple question, and it wasn’t like I had harmed her “I won’t hurt them darling”

“My mother passed away years ago” she said making my eyes widen as I froze not knowing how to answer to the situation I was in.

“I’m sorry…”

“Thank you”

“Where do you live? With the amount of grain you took, it clearly means that you aren’t alone” I asked her, this time threading my words carefully, she did not mention her father, and I did not want to ask of his whereabouts in fear that I would be getting an answer that I would not be knowing how to deal with.

She looked at me as if in deep thought, clearly debating what to and what not to tell me, though I did hope that she would be telling me the truth, it would make it a whole lot easier for me to go and get her from where she lived rather than tell her that she was my mate and simply taking her with me.

“The forest, we have a land there, which we stay at close to the river bank” she said slowly “there are kids Prince Nathan, please don’t harm them”

“I already told you darling, I wouldn’t harm them, I just want to know where I’ll be able to find you”

“And why would you want to find me?” She frowned in confusion, her brown eyes darkening as she looked at me with anger, I could tell that she did not like where things were going, I did not blame her, she was worried about whoever she called family, and herself as well.

“I have my own reasons”

“Which are?”

“You’ll find out soon enough, now go back home it’s already getting late” I said kneeling down and picking up her worn out leather bag, handing it to her carefully, she hesitated for a second before extending her hand to take it, nodding in thanks, I smiled.

I watched as she turned to leave, my eyes not missing the fact that even her shoes seemed to be old and over used.

“And by the way” I called her making her stop her tracks, she turned to face me with a raised eyebrow.

“Call me Nathan”