Chapter 15: Chapter 15

CASVAN

The elders were right. There was nothing as great as the bond between a Dakkuth warrior and his fated mate. This was true for me, despite the fact my mate didn’t even have an idea of what was between us or that just meeting her had changed not only my life but the fate of my whole kingdom.

She’d affected and shaped my decisions simply by existing. If someone had told me I’d subject myself and my sentinel life to being tortured daily just so I could win her over, I’d have denied it to my last dying breath.

And yet here I was.

But my decision wasn’t only to my benefit. Winning Reyna’s heart would be the greatest achievement in my mission of bringing the women to my kingdom. Even so, there were things I could not tell her just yet.

I knew she, just like her mother, would never agree to me taking the women. And I didn’t blame her; they truly believed we were barbarians, and they were partly right.

But to my race, an anchor—whether a true mate or a chosen one—was revered. We’d never knowingly hurt a woman.

Unless the male in question had gone berserk, which was something they had no control over. Hopefully, when it was all over, all my people would find their fated mates or a good match to keep them grounded.

While I was keeping hope my mate would trust me and help me, I had a feeling I’d have no choice but to follow through with plan B. Which meant taking the women captive.

Despite my best intentions to win over my mate, I doubted she would just agree with my plans. I’d already set everything in motion. If the time came, Kayak knew what to do.

But that would be the last option. My warriors would be difficult to control when they finally saw the women.

For years, they had lived in solitude, their lives incomplete without their anchors. With few women who’d survived the destruction of our home planet, and some of the human women saved throughout the years from the ghouls, women were rare and more precious than gold or diamonds.

Some of those beasts hadn’t seen women in years, and all of a sudden, it was raining women. It was going to be a fuck feast for months.

They were going to be in a frenzy if they were let free. Which was why I’d selected my best sentinels to keep them in check.

I would never let the beasts assault or lay claim to any of the unwilling women. I was the exception to the claiming rules.

Which might be hypocritical, considering I’d already claimed my queen, even if it was a temporary claim. I just couldn’t control myself when it came to her.

~My Reyna.~

I knew some of the beasts were going to be raging mad; some might try to challenge me. I knew that. They thought they could win, that they could best me.

But they wouldn’t. I was their king for a reason.

Their disrespect was only going to piss me off. Which might result in some of them having some broken bones.

I might even be forced to kill a few beasts to make an example of what would happen to anyone who tried anything stupid. I knew my race; it just couldn’t be helped.

But they’d yield. I hadn’t subjected myself to torture and humiliation just to watch them ruin everything.

Kayak, as my brother and second in command, would side with me. After all, we’d made the right decision, together with my inner circle.

The rules were to be followed. Otherwise, the consequences might be too extreme a price. Most of the beasts weren’t brave or crazy enough to defy the Mad King of the Beasts, as I’d been called and whispered about behind my back.

It would be suicide to attempt to fight me. I was the most dominant of my race, an Alpha.

I’d come from a long line of battle-hardened warriors. There weren’t a lot of alphas as strong as me; Kayak was a close second, and some of my sentinels were alphas in their own right.

I wasn’t being conceited—everyone knew I was a scary motherfucker when enraged. I was the only one who could shape-shift into more than one beast; I was somewhat of an anomaly even among my race.

Back on my home planet, it made even my closest friends wary of me, and now my loyal subjects respected me—and they also feared me in equal measure. It made me a little lonely sometimes.

The weight of a king could only be understood by another king or his mate. Though I’d never admit my loneliness to anyone.

The beasts thought I was a ruthless fucker who was unhinged. They weren’t entirely wrong.

I didn’t come by my throne by being weak and merciful. With the help of Kayak and a few beasts loyal to me, we’d laid waste to many beasts after I killed our former king.

Later, vampires, lykae, and warlocks tried to use our infighting to their advantage, but I saw them coming. I’d gone to war with all of them.

It wasn’t easy. My foes weren’t weak; they were formidable warriors in their own right.

We learned the hard way that we couldn’t win against each other. We warred for years, killing each other until the earth was soaked with the blood of the dead from all factions.

Finally, we reluctantly agreed to a temporary truce and claimed territories. I closed off my territory and turned it into a small version of my home country back on our planet.

I built a kingdom worthy of my people and my line, and I ascended the throne. Kayak automatically became my general of war.

The rest of my trusted warriors became my sentinels. So my rules were there for a reason.

When the beasts finally see the women, their animal instincts will try to take over, urging them to claim the women.

It’s going to be chaotic, but we already have a plan in place. I’m the only one who doesn’t have to follow the rules.

Unfair, I know. But I have more control over my urges, and yet even so, I’d already tethered myself to my fated mate.

That thought brought up the image of the most beautiful woman I’d ever laid eyes on. She was such a small Kitten, and while she looked so beautiful and innocent, she had a fire beneath her aura that made my gums ache and my balls draw tight with the need to claim.

Every day, I felt the fluttering of her consciousness tethered to mine. The lust and attraction I felt toward her was just like I’d heard about from my sires before they left for the aether.

I hadn’t seen her in days, and I was missing her so much it hurt. I couldn’t win her heart if I wasn’t seeing her.

Trapped as I was, I had no other choice but to sit and wait for her.

***

Unfortunately, Jakos and I would have to bear the pain. This was about the survival of my whole race, so I didn’t expect it to be easy.

There were prices that must be paid. Me, Jakos, and the others who had already sacrificed their lives were more than willing to risk everything for our race’s survival.

I saw the older sentinel yesterday after my interrogation session. He’d been strapped to the hospital bed.

Rage almost overtook me. My protective instinct for my people nearly took over.

~They tortured him. Tore him open and sewed him back together.~

~I don’t fucking know what they were hoping to achieve or what they were looking for inside his chest that would warrant this blatant lack of respect for life.~

I began to growl, trying in vain to break the chains. The fluttering of my kitten’s consciousness soothed me. I was sure she didn’t consciously do it to soothe me.

~She probably has no idea what I’ve done yet. Although it was a selfish thing I did, creating a connection without her knowledge.~

~I did it so I could feel her, and it is my gift to her—something I’ll explain to her someday.~

Thinking about her, my Reyna, made me want to see her, despite my weakened state.

I closed my eyes and tapped into our connection, tracing her essence back to her. I frowned when I realized she was asleep, and yet her heartbeat was erratic, the familiar tinge of fear tickling my senses.

~She’s having a bad dream.~ As though she could feel me, she was suddenly awake, yanked out of her dream by something she couldn’t see but could feel.

I waited until she was right in that state between sleep and wakefulness. Then I slipped through her consciousness.

I probably shouldn’t have invaded her sleep, but I wanted to see her, see her beautiful eyes, and share something with her.

The Dakkuth called it Essence Trajectory—the act of sharing a dream with someone you’d bonded with on a soul-deep connection that even their subconscious mind recognized you.

It was an intimate and profound connection shared between two people. It made the other person feel like they were right there with you, feeling the emotions and sensations attached to your memory.

I pictured one of the first places I visited when we landed on earth. The beach was one of the few places I’d loved on earth, the sound of water crashing at the shore with each wave.

The feeling of fresh air against my naturally warmer skin and the cool touch of water and sand beneath my feet.

She was suddenly there, right in front of the beach, as though she’d been there all along in my memory.

“Am I dreaming?” her soft, lilting voice asked.

She was staring at the beach with so much awe and happiness she stole my breath for indeterminate seconds, and I couldn’t answer her immediately.

“Yes and no, this is a memory,” I said.

She shut her eyes and inhaled.

“Is this earth?” she asked.

“Yes, it’s your world before…everything,” I answered, moving close to her.

She opened her eyes and looked at me.

“This is the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen,” she said, smiling so widely and beautifully. My heart thumped so hard it was almost painful.

I couldn’t help staring at her. It had been so long since I’d used my powers in such a way, and it made me appreciate that I had such an ability to share something like this with my mate.

“I feel the same, Dar’sen,” I said.

I reached out to tuck back her hair. Her eyes widened, but she didn’t try to move back, probably because she believed this wasn’t real.

“This is a strange dream.” She confirmed my suspicion.

“I’m dreaming of a beautiful place I’d never seen or been to. And you’re touching me and I swear I can feel you,” she said. She leaned into me.

“Let’s see if you can feel this,” I whispered before I captured her mouth with mine.

She gasped into my mouth. Her lips were so soft and sweet, and she was utterly clueless as to what a kiss was.

Standing there with her eyes wide and guileless, I mentally reminded myself to keep my fangs in check.

My Reyna clutched me with her small hands, her fingers digging into the back of my hands as I held on to her face and drank from her mouth with mounting hunger.

Though the feeling was minimized due to this being partly a dream, sparks crackled between us. Waves of pleasure unlike anything I’d felt while I was awake raced through me.

Her little whimpers and moans made me hard as steel. Just as she was starting to mimic my moves, licking at my mouth like I’d been doing to her and tentatively sucking my tongue—

I felt the connection suddenly drop and I was yanked back to my cold cell.

I growled, panting hard. I slammed my fist against the wall at the injustice of it all.

My situation just got worse, because now in addition to my battered body there was also my hard, throbbing cock.

And yet I didn’t regret it. Not at all.