Best punishment

Andre's POV

Tapping my fingers on the tablet, I absentmindedly ran my tongue over my lower lip, a chuckle escaping through my lips, “She ran?”

I gritted my teeth with my fist clenched in anger, vexed at the nerves she possessed,

“That wench had the nerve to flee from me, how dare she? How was it possible that she slipped past the gates, which are usually heavily guarded at all times? Who aided her escape?” I demanded an answer, one that Gavin had no answer to.

I had treated her well, provided food, and a bed, and made her feel good, so how exactly could she escape? Or even think of escaping when all I have done was be good to her?

Gavin sniffed, “I'll assemble a search party to track her down.”

“No,” I refused, shaking my head,

“Don't.” His puzzled expression told me he was struggling to understand what I meant.

“She should return soon,” I extended my hands to flip over the hourglass on the table. Leaning back into my chair, I continued,

“Where were the guards who were tasked with monitoring her every move when she managed to escape?”

“They couldn't account for her escape through the gate, Your Majesty. And what about the alliances? If she's gone missing, it might shatter the pact we have painstakingly established.” he complained,

I let out a wry chuckle, amused by what I had just heard,

“I am the Lycan king, not them, they should be happy that their pack was spared from being raided and focus on better things. Besides, they adored her. When I found out that she was my mate, it was an opportunity I couldn't let slip by, she was the perfect answer to my riddle all of this while”

Silence lingered over the room, accompanied by the rustling of papers and the gentle hum of the air conditioner. The discomfort of causing pain to my mate gnawed at me. I didn't understand why I still felt pain whenever I was hurting her.

From the very day I had lost my mother, I vowed vengeance upon those who had robbed me of her. I had conquered packs, killing their Alphas and merging their packs into my kingdom.

Yet, now I was tied to a werewolf, the very tribe I abhorred just the same way I breathe.

I squinted my eyes at the paper before me, stunned by her age. “She's barely twenty?”

“Nineteen,” my Beta corrected.

I ran a hand through my hair, letting out an exasperated sigh. What was I to do with a nineteen-year-old? Babysit her? How exactly did it go from my vendetta to babysitting a teen?

“Why didn't you mention she was nineteen? What am I supposed to do with a teenager?” I lashed out at Gavin, irritated,

“She is your mate, the one chosen by Selina. It's not a choice we make, Your Majesty.”

I shook my head, rejecting it. “She won't become my Luna, nor will she ascend the Lycan throne as its Queen. It's forbidden. A werewolf cannot sit beside me, not when they took my mother away from me and made my father hurt himself just because he couldn't live without his mate”

Unlike what most people kept on saying about my father loving my mother so much that he was unable to live without her, I thought otherwise, All I could see was him being cruel and selfish, if he wasn't, at least he would have been kind enough to know that he had a son who needed him,

“Then what is your plan for her?”Gavin's voice jerked me from my stream of thought," After all she is your mate.” he added,

A smirk tugged at my lips,

“Selina must have had a reason for choosing her as my mate, there must be something precious about her for her to be chosen as my mate” Yes, there has to be something,

“And I am going to find out whatever it is, I will break her, mold her into whatever I want her to be to me, and when I am done with her, only then can I let her leave my side”

Yes, that was what I was going to do, an evil smile adorned my face as I thought of how broken her parents would be when they saw what I had forced their pearl to.

I couldn't help but laugh out loud when I recalled the smile on her father's face as he called her his pearl, right to my face… I was going to make sure I broke her myself, enjoying the process, and that should be enough warning to the werewolf who wasn't extinct yet.

“ You cannot do that, She is your mate, it doesn't even make sense. It wasn't her fault that she was chosen as your mate neither was it her fault what happened with the late queen. Why will she face retribution for what she knows nothing about?”

I flared up at Gavin, angered by what he had just said, he was the last person I expected to talk in such a way to me, not when he knew how much pain I had gone through without having a mother figure in my life,

“Where was she when Phoebe was by my side? Where was my fucking mate when Phoebe was the only person who consoled me, telling me everything was going to be okay? Huh? No, give me an answer” I pressed on when he was silent.

He opened his mouth to speak before clasping it shut, “But your majesty, your mate is supposed to be the one you tell everyone, and she will help you get better besides…”

I snapped at him, “ All. They. Do. Is. Make. One. Weak” I was vexed already,

“ You saw my father? And how he had acted when he shouldn't have because my mother was killed, It made him weak, and I was forced at a young age to take responsibility for every single person in this kingdom, so do not talk to me about her being my mate, all she will do is birth me an heir and that is it” I pointed that out to him before shaking my head to the side,

“ The position as my queen will be given to Phoebe and no one will dispute that” I assured him,

" Your Majesty”

I pounded my fist into the table angrily, standing up abruptly from the chair I was sitting on,

“ I would rather not hear a word about this anymore from that lip of yours, one more word, and I will make sure you do not say a word out of your mouth ever again” I threatened, walking in large strides toward the door, with my hands on the knob, I pushed it open before flicking my head back to take a look at my beta who stood dumbstruck,

“ Bring her to my room when she is back,” I slammed the door in his face, my chest heaving up and down,

I held the knob to my room tightly when memories from the night my mother had been killed filled my head.

The very same day I had held her dead body in my hands, a part of me had died as I watched her being buried.

Shaking my head to the side, I tried to get them out, but it didn't help.

I picked up the decanter, pouring its contents into a champagne flute, with my hands holding the decanter firmly. I hurled the glass of alcohol I had poured at the wall while racking my head for the best punishment for her when she got back.