Chapter 06

AMELIA

“ Tyson! ” I winced as his fingers dug into my wrist.

He didn’t stop to hear. He continued to drag me forward as if he didn’t care if he was hurting me.

People saw us and whispered about it but they didn’t dare come into his path.

My eyes searched for Adelia or Dad in case they could provide me an excuse to escape. They were nowhere to be seen, to my surprise. It was like they had left the palace and left me behind.

Although, I did catch Daniel’s face among the faces of other people. His wide eyes were zeroed in on Tyson’s hand around my wrist. I couldn’t understand the emotion in his eyes but it was nothing good.

Tyson hauled me up the flight of stairs silently. His aura was growing suffocating and dark, making my heart drum in my ears in fear.

Reaching the first floor, he didn’t stop and tugged me to the King’s chambers in the right corner. My eyes widened when I saw the doors of his room in the distance.

“ What are you doing? ” I placed my hand over his, attempting to push it away.

Electric sparks shot down the whole length of my arm, loosening my hold over his hand. My heart lurched as I unconsciously denied the reality of these sensations.

It couldn’t be.

Moon Goddess would never make me his mate.

“ Tyson. Leave me. ” I hissed as we neared the doors and he opened the right one with a kick.

Yanking me inside, he jerked at my wrist and forced me to stumble in front of him. I gasped, barely maintaining my balance.

My gaze lifted to his face. The blood had dried on his cheeks and on his lips.

He weaved his fingers through his hair, turning his back to me. I swallowed my saliva and stared at the tattoos on his back.

“ You are my mate. ” Tyson repeated what he had said in the throne room in front of the people of the Three Kingdoms.

“ My wolf doesn’t feel it. ” I mumbled, taking a step back from him.

It would be fine as long as my wolf didn’t recognize him as her mate because this connection meant pain and misery that would never end. For him and for me.

“ My scent is masked. ” He told me, without turning around.

It explained why I couldn’t smell his scent or why my wolf couldn’t recognize him as her mate.

My lungs tightened painfully. I grabbed my right hand with my left one to make it stop trembling.

The bigger part of me was scared of the future. But a little part of me was excited. It was like all I ever wanted in my life was thrown in my lap without warning.

Tyson as my mate was the dream of my teenage years, an innocent prayer and a pure wish. But that was before I tainted our friendship with my accusations.

“ Are you going to reject me? ” I whispered, my voice echoing in my ears in the King’s big room.

The thought made my she-wolf whimper in pain. She had suffered due to our limited connection and now she had to endure the agony of having her mate reject her brutally.

“ Reject you? ” Untamed darkness dripped from his words as he hissed.

The hair on my neck rose on its ends. I clenched my trembling hand harder to keep it still. Even if everything was breaking inside me slowly, I couldn’t show the sign of it. It might just make him hate me more. I couldn’t bear that.

Slowly, Tyson turned around and faced me. My breath hitched in my throat when his dark gaze settled on my moist eyes.

“ Reject you so you can take Daniel as your mate? ” He asked bitterly.

I shuddered, taking another cautious step back from him. He must have heard Dad saying I loved Daniel, then did it mean…he still cared?

Defeated hope picked its head inside me again and stared back at him.

“ You think you can be all happy with your lover after ruining my life? ” A twisted smirk lifted the left corner of his lips.

Hope was killed instantly.

My vision blurred with tears. I felt an intense wave of pain inside my heart that affected me every night for these past five years.

“ Do you…hate me so much…that you don’t ever want me to…be happy? ” I whispered as tears started rolling down my cheeks.

“ Did you hate me so much that you had to take everything from me? ” Anger filled his eyes.

My lips quivered. I pressed them together to stop the movement.

Tyson’s gaze dropped to my lips, tracing the seam of my mouth. His eyes softened for a fleeting moment before his face became a hard stone again.

“ I am so—sorry. If you reject m—me, I won’t stop you. ” I stuttered.

My heart protested against my words and urged me to drop to my knees and beg for forgiveness. But my mind told me he wouldn’t forgive me even if I died trying.

Tyson covered the distance between us with two long strides and wrapped his hands around my forearms. He slammed my back into the wall on my right.

My breath caught in my throat. He leaned in, pressing his body into mine, making me feel every tainted muscle in his body digging into my curves. A full-body shudder rolled down the length of my figure.

Pleasure seeped into my bones. A small whimper escaped my lips, despite my efforts to contain it.

Tyson released my forearms and placed his left hand on the wall for support. The fingers of his right hand cupped my jaw the same way he had done before and lifted it so I was looking directly into his deep eyes.

My muscles tightened. I held my breath and watched him without ever daring to blink.

“ Did you feel sorry when you told everyone that I touched you, Amelia? ” His voice was a lethal poison — soft and bitter like chocolate.

“ Did you feel sorry when you told them you tried to stop me but I didn’t listen to you? ” The bitterness shadowed the softness of his whisper.

“ Did you feel sorry when you cried in front of my father and begged him to take me away because I had forced myself on you and I scared you? ” The dangerous note underlying his bitter tone made my heart clench with fear of him and disgust for myself.

The words were sharp slaps on my face. His anger was justified because five years ago, I ruined his life when I accused him of raping me.

His father, who once loved him, almost killed him in front of me.

The people of this Kingdom that saw him as their charming prince, started seeing him as a monster.

And I, who loved him, remained empty-handed and alone.

The only one who made the most out of this vile lie was my own Dad who was given the position of the General Alpha in the Army of Tyson’s father.

“ Answer me! ” He snapped so loud that I jumped in my spot.

“ Tyson. ” I cried out, closing my eyes.

“ Why? ” The question changed but his voice stayed loud. “ why did you lie? Were you pretending to be my friend so you could ruin me one day? ”

“ No. ” I sobbed. “ No, Please, Tyson. Please. ”

“ Please what? ” His voice lowered a few octaves, hitting the muscles deep inside my stomach.

“ Please let me go. You are scaring me. ” I licked my lips before opening my teary eyes to look at him.

“ Is that what you want? ” He smirked.

I nodded quickly. “ p—please. ”

Tyson left my chin and stepped back. I exhaled a shallow breath, pressing my back into the wall to be away from him.

“Honestly… ” He uttered coldly. “ I was going to kill you today, Amelia. For your lies, you deserve nothing but death. ”

“ Kill me then. ” I whispered. It was better to be dead than to suffer this fate.

Just when I thought about it, Adelia’s face flashed before my eyes and I changed my mind right away. I had to stay alive, for her.

“ Kill you and let you rest in peace? ” He cocked his brow.

“ What—What do you want, Tyson? ” My breath stuttered.

“ You will stay by my side, Amelia. The world will know you are my mate, but I will never mark you. And you will never mark Daniel. In this life, you will never find happiness. I will make sure of it. ” It was a promise and I knew he wouldn’t change his mind about it.

But, the stupid part of me that was still infatuated with the boy who used to smile at me and tell me he would protect me yearned to be with him. The idea appeased that part, made it flutter with thrill.

“ You want to accept this bond? ” I breathed. I hoped.

A frown settled between his brows. “ You think I will touch you, Amelia? That I will fuck you if we are together? ”

The way he said it, his voice laced with revulsion made my skin crawl. My heart bled and tears welled in my eyes once again.

“ Don’t get stupid ideas. As long as we will stay together, you won’t even get to breathe the same air as me. That’s what you get for ruining my life, Amelia. A lifetime of loneliness and suffering. You will stay in your room. You won’t be allowed to talk to anyone. You won’t get to meet your family. You will stay as nothing but a piece of furniture that is useless to me or anyone else in this place. ” He spat venomously.

I could bear anything. He could make me his maid for the rest of our lives and I wouldn’t object but when he mentioned family…

The switch flipped inside my head.

“ I refuse. ” I hissed, taking my back off the wall.

I would never be separated from my sister Adelia. Dad couldn’t do it. Tyson wouldn’t be able to do it either.

“ Bold of you to assume you have a choice. ” Amusement crossed Tyson’s features.

“ Bold of you to assume I don’t have a choice. ” I whispered.

“ Now you are showing your true colors. What happened? Are you done acting pathetic? ” Tyson smirked wickedly.

“ Tyson. I am leaving. Tell me when you are ready to reject me, and I will come. ” My heart was hurting.

I turned to the door so I could walk away from him hurriedly. Before I could take a single step forward, my back was against the wall, and his body was pressed into mine once more.

His hand wrapped around my throat and squeezed roughly. “ It’s His Highness for you, sweetheart. The next time you disrespect me… ”

I held my breath as his thumb stroked the length of my sensitive throat. The sensation sent tingles down my spine, to my curling toes.

“ What will you do? Will you kill me like you killed all of them? ” I whispered over his tempting lips.

“ Nah. I will not hurt you. You are my mate—Your physical health is important to me. ” Tyson clicked his tongue, his nose pressing into mine.

We were so close that I could feel his mint and whiskey breath on my lips. My stomach fluttered as I tried my best to focus on his eyes and not the sin that was his lips.

But his eyes were not on mine. His eyes were on my trembling lips while he felt my pulse under his fingers and heard my ragged breaths.

“ The next time you disrespect me, I will hurt your family for it. You will feel pain. Every bit of it, Amelia and you won’t be able to stop it. ” His eyes snapped to mine, stealing my breath.

“ You won’t. ” I blurted.

“ Your Highness. ” He groaned, his lips inching closer.

“ Please don’t, Your Highness. ” I breathed his air and felt my knees weakening against him.

“ You learn quick. I am sure you will get used to your new life. ” He flexed his hand around my throat twice before he let me go. “ now stay here until I get things done. Do you understand? ”

The moment he stepped back, I let out a huge breath and wrapped my hands around my chest to stop myself from shivering.

He was doing things to me and I couldn’t fight it when these were not emotions alone. The sensations of the mate bond had increased his hold on me.

Tyson lifted his brow. I wet my lips with my tongue, having his eyes follow the movement.

“ Yes. ” I mumbled, taming my heating body.

“ Yes, what? ” His dark voice rolled down my spine and hit me low in the abdomen.

“ Yes, Your Highness. ” I whispered under my breath.

Giving me a satisfied look, he marched out of the room. He thought he had tamed me.

My knees gave out from under me when his back was out of my sight. I fell on the floor, panting as if I had run a marathon.

He was caging me here. He was planning on giving me hell. What would happen to Adelia if I ended up here? What would Dad do to her?

I shook my head and got to my wobbly feet. I had to get home and tell Dad all about it. He was General Alpha. He led the whole Army of East. He could do something.

Making up my mind, I set out to follow my instinct.  I ran away from the Eastcairn Citadel, ran away from Tyson — something I shouldn’t have done even in my dreams.