The Warrior King's Mate

Chapter 10

Malcolm P.O.V.

“It’s been six weeks. At what point do we force their hand?” I was furious. We’d had Nova staying with us for a month and a half and STILL there had been no action taken against Aunt Grace, despite dad telling everyone he’d march to Silver Shore and take Lawrence’s head off. But still there came no word from our Elder Council. They had appealed the decision from the King to use local governance but had had no reply.

I should have taken over as Alpha from my father this year, I had graduated, I had worked for it, and I was my parent’s only child. I turned twenty-one in the spring but nothing – no amount of education or experience – can prepare you for war. Wolves were still flocking to River Moon thinking they were being selected for training, only to find once they got here, they were being sent to the front line as soldiers to train and prepare. As an alpha male – it was my duty to protect the pack and so I would be going to Selinis Castle too, my father continuing as Alpha of River Moon until I returned. However, since I came of age my protective and possessive instincts have increased tenfold – my desire to protect my pack, my lands, my family now became focused on protecting my cousin.

Not that the time she’s spent here has given me a chance to get to know her at all. Grandma had been right about the state of her, but I had hoped that it was her usual tendency to be worrisome that had her convinced that Nova had been brought up without her title. It became obvious very quickly that she was traumatised. She was almost catatonic that first day, didn’t speak a word to us, even as my mother explained a little about why Nova had never met us, there was zero indication she understood what was being said to her. Before Nova was discharged from the hospital, I’d reached out to some friends of mine at Silver Shore, and they’d never heard of her; grandma knew no beta’s daughter would have been subjected to the type of lifelong starvation and abuse that Nova had. So, she was demoted? But why?

Then there were the nightmares – I was at the other end of the corridor and could clearly hear her screaming in her sleep at night – despite the rooms all being soundproofed. The noise was painful, a constant howl-like wail that set Blade, my wolf, on edge. My mom even tried to go in and help for the first few nights, but if anything, this made it worse – her and Aunt Grace were twins, so I guess the resemblance to her own mother was too much for Nova to take. Not that she had mentioned Grace at all. She won’t utter a word to any of us about what happened to her. Even grandma, who had made some headway with her in the hospital, was now shut out completely. Whatever had gone on, Nova was so used to it that living in the real world was like forcing a fish to live in a desert – it was killing her. She’d even stopped eating again. We sent Mike, our friendliest and most professional omega, to tend to Nova’s room and to serve her meals. However, she would scurry from the bedroom and lock herself in the bathroom whenever she heard him coming. If he left her food, he’d pick the tray up hours later to it untouched. The only thing she seemed to be consuming was those damn milkshake drinks the hospital sent.

“We can’t do anything son, not without the Council say so,” dad sighed wearily. I knew he felt this just as deeply as I did, after watching how mom had been the last few weeks. The guilt was something she couldn’t move past, and she needed someone to blame other than herself. “Lawrence is still screening our calls and Grace has seemingly disappeared. Simon and his mate are now the betas of Silver Shore. There’s a war on, and with so much disruption…I don’t know. It seems like no one is listening.” He looked out of his office window towards the training grounds. It was much busier than usual, with travelling wolves staying here for a few weeks at a time to train before moving on, and Marcus, our lead warrior, was basically living on the grounds now. I knew what my dad was thinking – he agrees with his beta and the elders that we should be turning our focus elsewhere. I did not. I had seen the doctors reported list of Nova’s injuries. There was a war to be fought on her behalf alone – whoever had inflicted nineteen years’ worth of that torture, was no wolf. If an entire pack had done it as we suspect, then that pack needed eradicated. Blade growled furiously in my head, and I let him come to the fore, let my father see the Alpha in my eyes.

“Blade - ” my father says, his voice deepening as his own wolf threatens to show itself, “ – we need the girl to disclose. You heard what the council said. Unless she tells us what happened, then there’s no case to answer for.”

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Nova’s P.O.V.

The sun was warm on my leg as I let it dangle out from underneath the bed. It was well past morning – the sky was a clear blue and the tall, loud man with the food tray hadn’t come in yet and so I hadn’t needed to move from the nest I’d made under the bed. Since gaining enough strength to do away with the chair, I’ve all but locked myself in this room.

I don’t like the bed, I’d decided. It’s excessively big and I can’t sleep for checking the corners of the room constantly, half convinced there was a person hiding in the shadows, waiting to pounce. Instead, I had taken my blanket, my pillow and one of the crystal jars filled with fairy lights under the bed with me every night for the past few weeks. My usual nightmare would wake me just before dawn and I’d bring everything back to its correct place, roughing up the bedsheets to hide what I’d been doing from the loud man, Mike. It seems the omegas at River Moon are very different from at home.

He kept trying to feed me. Coax me in to coming outside. I didn’t want him near me, his presence alone set off a tidal wave of panic in me that I could only just manage to wait until he left before crying. For all I knew, the food was poisoned, and so I’d begun rationing out my strawberry milkshakes in their sealed bottles – though I needn’t have bothered. The boy, Malcolm, dropped more off every morning and tried to speak with me through the door. He seemed genuinely excited to meet me that first day…

He'd sat there, smiling broadly as he explained that he never met Hailey or Simon either – well, until last year. He’d met them both at the graduation ceremony of some sort of school. He said it’s where the ranked children go but I’d never heard of it. It might be where Simon and Hailey went sometimes, although Simon was gone a lot longer than she was. He always came back at the same time as Logan and Morgan did, so I tried to avoid them all as much as possible. Malcolm didn’t seem to like my brother or sister, judging by the tightening of his smile from a welcoming one, to a well-rehearsed polite one. He didn’t speak very much after that, listening to his mother – Luna Margot – as she told me about my mother leaving River Moon nearly thirty years ago.

It seems Margot and Grace didn’t really enjoy a close relationship. Margot said Grace was very competitive, moody, and generally they didn’t see eye to eye on many things. However, when my mother met her mate – my father Beta Gavin of Silver Shore, she was a totally different person. Margot said being in love let my mother relax – with no winner or loser with mates, she finally opened herself up to the world. She made more friends in those first few years than she had her entire life at River Moon. Grace and Gavin had completed the mating ceremony not long after Gavin took his place as beta of Silver Shore, with Hailey and Simon being born four years later, six months after Malcolm. All was wonderful. Christmases were spent here at River Moon, summer solstices by the beach at Silver Shore. Then one day everything just collapsed.

“Your mother – she went missing for three weeks and when she came back home…well…she wasn’t Happy Grace anymore. She told everyone different accounts of where she had been – she told your father she was visiting us here in River Moon and when he found out that wasn’t true he became cold and jealous towards her – he had decided she was having an affair with someone here and so he came marching in to our borders blind with anger and hurt and…Well, I’ve been made aware that you have encountered our forbidden forest for yourself…” Alpha John said, taking his mate’s hand in his and placing a small kiss upon it. Margot bowed her head, supressing a sob. It was clear this was still very emotional for them both.

“Gavin led the attacking rogues right through our borders and our warriors fought so hard to neutralise the threat. Gavin had four rogues on him as he entered our territory, and a further ten circling, mad with hunger. He was killed, only a few miles from our packhouse,” he finished. At this, Margot sniffed loudly, producing from her sleeve a soft pink handkerchief and I wondered distantly how many of them lived in the packhouse.

“Grace never forgave us,” she said, dabbing her eyes. “She always insisted that our warriors attacked Gavin but even John himself saw what happened – she wouldn’t believe us! Silver Shore closed their doors to River Moon that day. Lawrence sided with Grace and made her beta until Simon was of age, we were told never to contact the children again – we have missed them so much, every birthday, and Christmas…” She trailed off as fresh tears filled her eyes. Alpha John turned to his Luna, picking her up and placing her in his lap so that he could hold her. Having never seen anyone show such open affection with each other, I was deeply embarrassed, and turned to face my grandmother – her grey eyes watching me intently, as if worried I might break.

She reached over to a leatherbound book Malcom had brought with him, hesitantly passing it over for me to look at. The words “Family Photo Album” were embossed in silver on the front. Opening it to the last page in the book, she showed me a drawing of clumsy, disproportionate stickmen in busy, colourful crayon. An arrow pointed to the tallest one, the word “me,” written above it. Next there was a blue arrow pointing to a figure drawn with cross eyebrows, indicating that this was “Si,” and finally a small purple arrow pointing to the squiggle in the middle of an enormous circle protruding from the third stick person. This arrow was labelled “baby.” I looked at my grandmother and she smiled sadly back. “This is the only picture I have of you. If you are willing, we are hoping you can stay here with us,” she indicated the three other people at the table, “and we can get a more…up to date photograph for the album.”

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The door knock wakes me up, even though it’s gentle. I jump up, alert as I realise that it’s dark now. I’ve let the day disappear.

Embarrassed, I call “come in!” despite the fact that whoever it is, I don’t in fact want them to come in.

I hear a hesitation filled silence on the other side of the door. Hoping that it isn’t Mike the omega, I fluster about looking for a light switch and wondering dizzily what time or day it is. I feel different, almost like I’m standing taller than usual, my body feeling strange around me. It reminded me of having to wear clothes too big for me, and I just feel unsettled by it, like my bones don’t fit right. My stomach churns a little and I realise I’m very hungry and hope the agitation I’m feeling will go away as soon as this person leaves and I can have a milkshake.

The door opens. Malcolm walks sheepishly inside, keeping the door open, the light from the corridor spilling into the room, shrouding him in shadow – but I know it’s him. Being around no one all day every day meant I could finally pick up on the rare visiting scent – to me, Malcom smelled of pine needles and coffee. I find the light switch and blink heavily as I turn on the main bedroom lights, stunning myself in the process.

“Uh…Nova?” Malcolm turns his back to me and confused, I look around the room, only to catch myself in the mirror – I’m only wearing the t shirt and pyjama shorts Moira bought for me to sleep in. Given that I’ve somehow managed to lose weight since I’ve been here, the already loose shorts were slipping down my legs and the t shirt sunk very low, revealing the rigging of my ribs and hopefully, nothing else. Shame pours over me and the agitated feeling floods me with the most painful surge of electricity I’ve felt since the basement.

What the f**k is going on.

I grab the blanket from the bed and wrap it around me backing away from Malcolm in the fear that he saw something of me he wanted. I knew I wasn’t pretty like Hailey, but that doesn’t stop boys taking things that they wanted. Suddenly, the electricity balls together in my mouth and throat, making me burn and itch Unhelpfully, the painful memory of the omega shower room, my towel in ribbons, the echoes of laughter and vulgar words bouncing of the tiles hits me and –

“Nova, what are you doing?!” Malcolm is right at me, his hands – more than twice the size of mine – are wrapped tightly around my wrists, trying to prize my hands away from my nose and mouth. I suddenly realise my own hands are clawing at my mouth, desperately clawing at the static, making myself bleed.

“Nova, STOP IT!” He commands me but I shrug it off like a cobweb, I need to get it out this time, I need to get this thing out of me, I can feel it gagging me, my eyes watering, the feeling of being forced to my knees making my head slip in and out of time, in and out of reality.

One second I’m pushing myself futilely away from Logan’s thighs, his hands firmly in place on the back of my head, the next I’m wrestling with Malcolm, hearing him yell for me to stop, his eyes clouding over as he mind links someone, then I hear Morgan call me over, a kick to the back of the knee, making me buckle, being told to crawl like a dog, then more hands all over me as Luna Margot and my grandmother work with Malcolm to stop me hurting myself, I can hear them pleading –

It's a blur, all a blur – and then of its own accord, the shooting pain of static leaves my mouth, shoots like lightning down my arm and into my hand. I see Malcolm’s eyes widen in shock as he looks into mine and – like a magnet – my hand flies to his forehead – I can almost see the bright white crackle of it as it leaves me and shoots through my fingers, into Malcolm’s mind.

Suddenly, I’m fully in the omega bathroom – showering as quickly and silently as I can, feeling my legs ache and my back burn where my whip lashes are healing. It’s very late at night and I don’t want to wake anyone. Just as I’m dabbing myself delicately dry with the towel, the door is suddenly blasted open. Logan stands there sneering greedily, obviously drunk. Beside him are Morgan and Simon, behind them two of the warrior’s sons and one boy I don’t know. The smell of alcohol is overwhelming, and it makes me incredibly afraid – it takes a lot to get a werewolf drunk, never mind and Alpha’s son.

“Nova, Nova, Nova. What are you doing here, you silly little slut?”

A loud gasp from behind me makes me jump and spin round. There, standing as though he’s standing upon the cracking ice of a frozen lake, is Malcolm. How -?

“You’re going to regret stealing that towel…” Logan murmurs in my ear and my head whips back to him – only this time, I’m not me. I am me, but I’m outside myself – watching one of the worst things that’s ever happened to me as if I were the audience in a play. My eyes snap back to Malcolm, who is also watching, and I panic. I don’t want him to see this! I run from the room as fast as I can, still hearing Logan goad me in to giving him the towel, when I blink and find myself standing right back where I was beside my cousin. There’s no way out. He’s going to see what happens…

I turn my back as I hear the towel rip and the laughter start. It’s loud as ever. I glance to the side in time to see Simon walk out the room, never looking back, closing the door behind him.

“What the f**k?!” Malcolm shouts, rushing over. Covering my eyes, I hear him shout and scream at me to fight back. As I feel the sharp judder in my knees, I know that it’s happening. Yelling, crying, Malcolm next tries to fight them for me. He lands punch after punch at nothing. I let myself slide down the tile wall of the bathroom, keeping my eyes firmly closed as I hear the wet choking sounds, the high fives, then finally -

“Are you still hungry? You look quite skinny Nova. Here, swallow this,” as Logan grunts loudly. Then, it’s Morgan’s turn.

“Just stop…make it stop…please stop,” I hear Malcolm crying, here him retching, all the while the memory moves around us.

Then, as sudden as a jolt, it stops.

We’re on the floor of the bedroom in River Moon. My mouth burns and is full of the metallic sharpness of blood. Malcolm is on his hands and knees, sweating and sobbing. I watch him doubtfully, ready to scurry backwards if he makes a move to attack. The others in the room are statue still, shock and fear written on all of their faces, staring wide eyed at the two of us as we get our bearings.

Slowly, his face turns towards me, it was twisted in pain, wet with sweat and tears. His nose had run and he was a mottled shade of red. His eyes weren’t angry through. He – he wasn’t angry with me?

“How – how old were you?” he asked, gulping for air as he fought to speak normally, kindly.

Now is not the time to shut him out – I don’t know what happened, but he was there, somehow. He saw – I think to myself.

“F-fifteen,” my voice muffled by what I’d done to myself.

“How – how many times?” Malcolm looked like he might be sick. I made him sick.

“J-just that o-once. Th-the rest o-of th-the time, I just…”

“Excuse me but what the f**k is going on here?!” Thundered Alpha John, wild eyed and confused. “What in the f*****g hell happened?!” he looked at me, wary. They all were, they were looking at me like I was dangerous, like I was crazy.

“I-I d-don’t kn-know.”