My Mates Kingdom

Dom's Mate

Dom POV

I try to follow this crayon drawing. It is honestly just a smudged rainbow of color. I can tell the green are trees. There is a black house in the center of a brown patch. I entered the border smoothly. It feels strange. Where is the border patrol? I assumed this would be a suicide mission. I never thought I would make it past the border. Danny is like a daughter to me. If she wasn’t here at the mercy of that lunatic, I wouldn't dare to come. There is no way I could say no.

I feel at some point that I must have gone too far. I am torn on whether to turn back. I shift into my human form to study the map. I look around for some kind of clue. If I go back I will get lost for sure. This forest is nothing but dark trees that look dead. 

I take a few steps forward and hear water. I look down and see a smidge of blue on the map. It is next to the brown patch. I must be close. I go towards the sound of water. I stop when I see the black house. I am relieved that I found it. I stopped and looked at the door. There is no movement. I don’t smell anyone near the house. Where are the guards?

I ran towards the house. I get to the door and it is locked. I slam my shoulder onto the door. It doesn’t move at first so I slam harder. The door falls open with the sound of wood splintering. I slowly move inside. This place smells awful like something died. The house is small. There’s only a front room and a kitchen. 

I look around once without finding anything. I look at the drawing. This is where she said Danny would be. I look around the kitchen and notice a narrow door. I had assumed that was the pantry before. I open the door and see a narrow stairway leading down. When I reach the bottom step a scent hits me. It smells like the beach and honey. 

Next month I turn thirty. I should have found my mate twelve years ago. I had always assumed I didn't have one. I had assumed I was being punished for my past life. I have done a lot of things I am not proud of. Hurt a lot of innocent people. I was saved when Danny’s father found me. 

I follow the scent and end up standing in front of a cell. My eyes scan the wolf in front of me. "You're a man?" The words leave my lips before I register it. I am stunned. How did my mate end up being a man? 

"Dom!" Danny mumbles. I snap my head in her direction. She is sitting against the back wall curled into a ball. I go to her cell and try to force the door open. The silver burns but I ignore the pain. I cannot break the door on my own. 

"There is a room over there with tools." The man points to a door behind me. His voice was raspy and dry. It tugged at my heart. I try to push my confusion aside. I need to concentrate. 

When I walk into the room my stomach drops. This is a torture room. I look through the tools. There is a drill but the cord won't make it that far. Knives won’t help at all. I stumble upon a large hammer. This should work. 

I slam the hammer onto the cell lock. It takes three strong hits to pop open. I go to step in but stop. I curse under my breath. I step over to the man's cell. I slam the hammer down. Once his door opens I go back to Danny.

I spray her with the perfume and toss the bottle to the man “Spray yourself!” I command. I don't know if that perfume really works but it cannot hurt. I lift Danny up bridal style. "Dom, you're alive!" She whispers in a shaky voice. I shush her. I move quickly to get outside of the house. I shift and that man helps Danny get onto my back. He shifts into a large white wolf. 

Finding my way back was easy. I knew the direction to run. There was no border patrol in our path. We make it back to our pack border without trouble. I didn’t slow my pace. At any moment they may realize the missing prisoners.

We break through the forest and make it to the van. I put Danny in the backseat. I quickly get into the driver's side and notice the man is in the passenger seat next to me already. 

"Hello Casper!" Audrey says excitedly

"Casper?" I asked while looking at the man. He seemed surprised for a moment but was quick to recover. 

"Hello" he replies in that raspy voice. I feel myself wanting to hear his normal voice. I momentarily try to imagine how he sounds. I shake my head to clear my thoughts. What the hell is wrong with me? 

As I drive I study him. With a ton of dirt in his hair you cannot tell its color. His eyes are a cloudy white. The man looks way too thin. I reach back behind his seat and grab a sandwich wrapped in plastic wrap. I toss it to him. 

“Thanks,” He said. I reach back again and grab a water bottle. I toss that at him too. 

“What is with the eyes?” I glance back at him and the sandwich is gone. I reach back and get him another one

“Silver" He replied 

“You had silver put into your eyes? Are you fully blind?” That baffled me. A blind werewolf? 

He fidgets with the sandwich for a moment. He seems nervous. “I can see shapes. No color or details. Everything is blurry. The silver scratched my eyes badly. I assume the silver caused the scratches to scar over.” 

“Damn….I have seen a lot in my lifetime but nothing like that before. Why would they do that?” This caused my heart to ache for him. I feel a strange desire to protect him mixed with anger at whoever did this. 

I have tortured a lot of men in my past life. I never even dreamt up that kind of sh!t. I cannot imagine what he has been through. “I tried to run away but didn’t make it far. This was to stop me from making it that far again.” 

I look in the rearview mirror and the girls are all sound asleep. "I am not into men." I blurt out

"Yeah....I figured that part out." He turns his head towards the window. 

"Are you?" I ask

"Into men? I have only been with women before." He shrugs his shoulders. "Maybe I am. Somehow I guess it makes sense." He turns his head my way. "You can reject me. I have been through a lot worse than that. I will be fine." 

I inhale deeply. The thought of him suffering any more makes my heart ache even worse. I really just feel confused. I cannot bring myself to reject him. "I don't know. I need time to think." If he's affected by my words I can’t tell.