His future mate

8 My mate

Cathan

I was dreaming. I didn’t even have to pinch myself for that. Not that I could move or wanted out of the dream by doing that. I was fascinated by this place. It had impossibly big buildings. Like the arena but smaller. Some were bigger than others. Between some were roads to walk on. I was on one of those roads with six other boys. They were talking about something called the moon festival.

  A girl came into sight. She was walking unstable toward us. She had a bottle in her hand and when she was closer I could see her blue eyes were dazed. There was probably some sort of alcoholic drink in the bottle. She tried to pass the boys but they blocked her way.

    “Hello, pretty. What are you doing here all alone?” One of the boys said. She wasn’t just pretty, she was beautiful. The most beautiful girl I had ever seen. Long wavy blond hair just over her boobs. Full delicious looking boobs that got me hard. Those made me want to suck her n*****s until she was squirming and moaning underneath me. A small waist and full hips, an hourglass figure. I wanted to grab those hips while burying my d**k inside her. I couldn’t do that though. I was dreaming and couldn't move.

  I didn’t know if I had missed some of the conversations but when someone sneaked his arms around her and whispered something I couldn’t hear in her ear I got mad. I had no idea why but I couldn’t move so I couldn’t help her. She turned around and pushed a knife in the boy's belly. My anger tempered a little until I saw the other boys getting closer to her. She had turned around and cut someone, however, some other guy put his arms around her. I wanted to beat those boys to dead so badly.

  “Nahla.” I heard all of a sudden. Her head snapped up and I saw some hope appear in her eyes. So that was her name. Her name sounded as beautiful as she was. Two-man appeared and started doing what I so badly wanted to do. They started beating the boys. Nahla grabbed her knife from the ground and when she was back up again she was gently pushed aside by one of her saviors. The move put a terrified look on his face. 

  “Shit.” He said. The boys were all knocked out by now. Nahla was nowhere in sight, however. 

  “What happened?” The other asked.

  “I pushed her somewhere. I don’t know where. Or more importantly when. You know I pushed Damy through time. Was pretty pissed when she got back. What if I did the same with Nahla?”

  “I don’t know man. Let's just go. We will ask great-grandpa Leon. He’ll know what to do.” 

  “Yeah, you’re right. Let's just do that.”

  I started to move when the boys moved away. It was light now. I was in the swamp with Nahla. She would fight in the arena for this. Guards were coming our way. They found Nahla and lifted her in their carriage. 

  “This will be an arena fight for her. And a bonus for us.”

  “Yeah, my wife wants a new cloak for the summer. Now I can finally buy that for her.” The guards stepped onto the chariot while talking and rode away.

  I woke from my nightmare. At least I hoped it was a nightmare and not a vision. It always scared me if my visions came true. It was already late in the morning. If I was quick, maybe I could see the arena fight and look if she was really here.

  I heard a knock on the door.

  “Cathan, open the door. I want to talk to you about something.” I heard my mom yell at me.

  “One second, I need to put some clothes on.” I grabbed my nice black pants and a green shirt. If I went to the arena I had to wear something nice. Mom probably wanted to talk about that. Or June walked away again. That were the only things mom ever wanted to talk about to me.

  I opened the door for mom and she walked in. She looked around in disgust. 

  “Your room is a mess.” She states. It wasn’t that bad. My bed was a little messy but that was because I just rolled out of bed. I had no clothes lying around. My paperwork was nicely put on my desk. There was a book on my bedside table. I had read before going to sleep yesterday. It helped me calm down. If I was calm my visions and nightmares were less. Sometimes they still slipped in, like today.

  “What do you want to talk about, mom.” It was no use talking about my, in her eyes, messy room. I had tried it, and it always ended in a fight.

  “Well, Juniper walked away. And your father insists that you go to the arena with him today. So after the fight, you can go find Juni.” Father always wanted me to come to one of those fights. I didn’t really like them. I rather watch the guards practice. I had fought in battles and have been a commander. The fights with guards were much safer and much more equal. The arena just put random people in the ring and the strongest and smartest survived. 

  “I’ll go to the arena today,” that was already my plan. I wanted to look if Nahla really was there. “I won’t go looking for June again. I am done with her little adventures.” Mom wouldn’t be happy with this.

  “You are going! Whether you want it or not. Juniper is your sister. Take some responsibility and go find her. She could be in danger. I want her back without harm, and you are going to make sure of that.” She screams at me.

  “Mom, June has done this far too many times. And I have gone after her every time. Juniper is a grown-up. She’ll be okay. But if she isn’t back in a month I’ll go looking for her.”

  “A month. Are you crazy? You’ll go looking right away.” 

  “No, mom. Over a month.” She puffs but gives up. She walks away and I go to the kitchen for some food. I grab myself some strawberries and an apple. Fruit is something only the richest can afford. My family, Courtesy, is one of the richest of all. All six founder families are rich, and I don’t know which one is the richest. 

  I walk to my father's office to look if he is there. Maybe we can go to the arena together. He is always early in the arena. It is a place where a lot of people talk about business. It is where plans and alliances are formed. We also throw balls and parties for that purpose. I sometimes go to the balls or parties but usually, I don’t go. I am always busy with the guards. I train with them and fight in wars with them. Now is a quiet period so I can do what every other member of the high families does. Which is not much. You can go to lunches or the arena. There are a lot of parties and balls. I’ll probably go to one tonight.

  Once I crossed the mansion to my father’s office, I knock and open the door. My father is inside and looks up at me.

  “Hey son, how are you?” My father asks.

  “I am fine. Mom said June walked away again. And I told her that I’ll go looking next month if she isn’t back by then.”

  “June is stubborn and childish sometimes. You’re probably right with your decision. She just wants us to follow her. If she finds out we are not following her, she’ll come back.” I totally agree with dad. This is just one of her games.

  “I decided to come to the arena today.”

  “That is nice to hear. Let’s leave right away. It is already late.” We left our mansion and went to the arena with a carriage. It wasn’t a long ride, just 5 minutes. When we arrive, it is already crowded. I see my niece Bailey and walk to her.

  “Hey Bay.” I greet her. 

  “Cathan! You came. How nice, are you coming to the party too. It is really exciting, it is for Tracy and Leon. They found each other. They are mates. You should come.” I didn’t know that. Of course, Bailey does. She loves to gossip and hear who is dating who.

  “Maybe. If mom keeps annoying me with searching for June I’ll most definitely come.”

  “I heard June found her mate and walked away with him. She thinks your parents won’t agree and so she walked away.”

  “Nice theory. I don’t know, she walked away so many times.”

  “Yeah. Maybe it’s not true. But it is nice gossip. And a nice story. It is going to start soon, let's go inside.” We go to the fighting ring and take a seat in the back. Now it’s just waiting to see if she is really here.

  The cages opened and the people came out. I couldn’t really see the people. I saw some kids, but everything was very vague. The crowd around me was very loud. The guard training was much quieter. 

  The fight came to an end. Two women were fighting. One had a knife, red from blood but still shining in the sun. I think she is the one from my dream, I wasn’t sure about that though. I couldn’t see her face from here. I decided that if she won I would visit to make sure it was her. I saw her stabbing the other woman, and the crowd went wild. Screaming and yelling while she got let out of the ring, probably brought back to her cell.

  I stood to go to the cells as well. My father blocked my way as I wanted to walk out.

  “Interesting fight, don’t you think?” He asked me.

  “Yeah, really interesting,” I said while looking behind him to the door.

  “That girl just defeated the champion. I hope she can step up as the new champion. I wonder what her next fight will be. Your distracted, what is going on?”

  “I think I saw her in my dream last night. I want to make sure it is really her.” I say while walking past him to the door.

  “Oh. I see you tonight then. Bailey said you would go to the party as well.” Great, Bailey told everyone I would go to that party. Now I had no choice but to go there.

  I walked through the dark hallways to the cells. I started smelling a sweet alluring smell when I got closer to the cells. I started following it. Mate, I thought by myself. What was my mate doing in this horrible place? I had never met her but looked forward to it. I came to the place where the smell came from. There was a guard in front of the door.

  “What do you want?” He asked rather rudely.

  “That is Cathan Courtesy, man. He probably just wants to see the new champion.” Another said. 

  “My apologies.” The first said.

  “Can you tell me why she is here?” I asked.

  “She was found in the slums this morning. She will probably be here until she dies. You know how these things go.” He tells me. I know that of coarse. Everyone knows. But that doesn’t mean I can’t hope otherwise. I want to be with my mate but I have to get her out first. Maybe I can find a way at the party.

  “Can I see her?” I ask and he opens the door. Her sweet fragrance gets even stronger. It smells like apple and caramel. 

  She looks up with watery eyes. Had she been crying? I wanted to hold her at that sight. Stroke her hair until she calmed down. Keep her safe and close to me, so no one could hurt her. She looked so small and vulnerable in that corner. But I couldn’t do that right now. I had to turn around and leave. I would find a way to get her out of here. And then never let her go again.