The Hybrid King's Hidden Mate

Chapter 4: Mates

-Amber-

I was so cold. My whole body shivered, causing the chains to shake, producing small clinking sounds as they moved with me. I was hungry too, practically starving, not just for food, but also for blood. Feeding me would make me stronger, though, so I didn’t expect any three-course meals.

We will find our way out, my wolf assured me.

“I’m not so sure,” I whispered.

Don’t lose hope. We need to stay strong.

“Why bother?” I murmured.

Because once the king appears, we should kill him, she suggested.

Her words surprised me. “I have never killed anyone,” I said. And I didn’t want to, even if his death bought my freedom.

Then let me do it, she offered.

“Why do you want to kill someone?”

Because you can’t do it.

I sighed, shaking my head. “Killing him won’t be the answer.”

It’s the only answer, my wolf insisted.

I turned quiet, considering her words. “How would you even do it?” I inquired.

Wait for him to get close enough.

“When would that be?”

Once he wants to mate with us, she explained.

I shivered at the thought. “I’m not sleeping with him!” I growled back.

No, of course we aren’t!

“Then what do you mean?”

We just need to wait for that moment, and before he gets the chance to... eh, actually do it, we kill him, she clarified.

“You do know if we kill him and they catch us, they won’t show mercy, right?”

So we don’t get caught.

I shook my head. It felt strange to even move my body when I had been sitting still for so long, but it helped get the blood inside me flowing.

“I can’t do it,” I said.

That is why you have me!

“No, we should just find a way to escape. None of us have to become killers.”

My wolf growled, appearing displeased. To her, the solution was simple: kill the person standing in our way. But I knew she was forgetting that it wasn’t just one person who stood in our way. If the king didn’t make me his, then someone else would.

That’s why killing everyone in our way is our only solution, my wolf insisted.

“We will figure out something else,” I said.

Oh? Any ideas yet? she mocked.

“Just let me think.”

My wolf retreated to the back of my mind, giving me space to plan. But no matter which angle I looked at it from, there was no clear way out. Night passed, and daylight arrived. Thanks to the tiny window above me, I could keep track.

My wolf stirred again. I’m still hungry, she said.

I groaned. “Me too,” I whispered, just as my stomach growled for the hundredth time.

I closed my eyes, trying to ignore the hunger as I leaned against the wall behind me. Just as I started to rest, my ears picked up strange sounds. Is someone yelling? What’s going on? I wondered. I opened my eyes, staring at the big steel door in front of me. Footsteps came closer, and my heart began to race. They weren’t the usual steps, I realized, these were heavier, and they were approaching fast. A loud click echoed, and then the door opened, creaking as if announcing someone’s arrival.

At first, I saw nothing but a pair of boots in front of me before I slowly let my eyes travel higher. His legs were three times the size of mine. His upper body was big and broad, and his dark red eyes were staring right at me. F*ck, he is huge, I thought. But I knew he was the one: the hybrid king. He was dressed sharply in all black, as if he’d been sent here to end me.

F*ck, my wolf whispered, her voice weak.

I wanted to ask ‘what’, but my voice seemed to have gotten lost somewhere.

We can’t kill him... she suddenly revealed, her words leaving me utterly confused.

Why the change of heart?

But she couldn’t answer. A pained whimper echoed in my mind as she lowered herself slowly into submission, her tail tucked between her legs. This was so unlike her. My wolf was anything but submissive. Why was she—

Mate! she cried out.