Chapter 3: Just like the rest of them

I was relatively familiar with the concept of mates, all thanks to the hopeless romantic that was Ophelia. Two people destined for one another, drawn to each other, connected in some sort of unique, otherworldly way. She spoke of mates as though she’d found hers, but I knew she spoke from loneliness and not from experience. Although I could agree that Ophelia was right about mates being drawn to each other, I couldn’t quite equate the glossy image she’d painted to the one now in front of me. In fact, all that I felt was drawn to him and nothing else. It did, however, make me wonder how on Earth he had known that I was his mate, the person destined to him. Eventually the silence and my curiosity got the better of me and so I began to ask, “King Nicholas−”

“Please, just call me Nicholas.”

I paused and then shrugged before saying, “Nicholas, how did you know I was your mate?”

He pulled his attention away from the blurry pavements outside of the car window and set it on me. The moment his eyes met with mine, a strange and unwanted blush began to warm my cheeks and so I casted my eyes down to the car mat.

“I can’t really put it into words. When I saw you my body… no, my entire being was drawn to you. It was as though there was some sort of force attracting me towards you, calling me to you. I’ve never felt that way towards anyone else. At first, I myself wasn’t sure what exactly it was that pulled me towards you, but then my lips uttered out the answer before I even had time to ponder over it. Do you not feel drawn towards me in any way?”

I stayed silent for a moment and then changed the subject, unable to trust myself with an answer. “What do you want with me?”

“Well… it’s like I said before, I’d like you close to me so that I can keep you safe. I realised earlier on that we’d all caused a huge scene in front of many curious eyes. I don’t need to tell you that not every one of my subjects is a fan of me or the other Lycan Kings and Queens. I’m afraid that you being my mate has put a target on your back now as well. Wolfsbane would love nothing more than to abuse our weaknesses and if they had you, they’d have my greatest weakness yet.”

I tilted my head at him and stayed silent as I thought about what he’d said. He was right. For years the resistance- a group of humans known as “Wolfsbane” who were feverishly against humans being servants to Lycans- had been lurking in the shadows, awaiting an opportunity to strike back against those who created this system of inequity and punishment. I myself had considered joining them years ago, but I found them to be ruthless, cruel and drunk on the idea of vengeance and bloodshed. It was all good and well making grand statements of ‘no more’, but killing innocent people, especially our own people, was where I drew the line. However, now with me being the King’s mate, they had the opportunity to make the biggest statement of all, especially if I was truly this man’s weakness. But the more I thought about it, the more I realised that I wasn’t the only person at that restaurant today. My brother was there too, and anyone there could see just how much I loved him, how much I’d sacrifice for him. He was the only human family I had left. He was my weakness.

“My brother… he won’t be safe either.”

Nicholas nodded. “I’ve been thinking about that very same thing. I suppose I could have a few of my people track him down to keep an eye on him.”

I scoffed before saying, “Maybe your employees will have a better chance of figuring out his general whereabouts than me.”

Although I could tell he’d thought about protecting Kiyan only to avoid exposing himself up to more weakness than he needed to, I still appreciated it. Perhaps there was hope of King Nicholas find some form of common ground despite our vast differences.

Then, much to my surprise, King Nicholas decided to ask me a question of his own. “I’m curious about something as well. Why on Earth did you choose to pick a fight with my fiancé?”

The car ride was honestly relatively pleasant until he brought his fiancé up. And as I thought back to our deadly brawl back in the restaurant, the image of the chained up young man entered into my mind and my fingers touched gently at the tender skin on my knuckles. I’d forgotten, for a moment, that Nicholas was just like the rest of them. 

“I didn’t choose to pick a fight with her. She had a young man shackled up and my brother tried to come to his aid. I attacked your fiancé to protect my brother.” There was a fire in me now. One I’d been trying to keep under control the entire day. One that had now been unleashed and left to spread into an uncontrollable wildfire. I turned to him sharply and in those grey orbs saw the rage burning behind my own dark brown eyes.

“Do you know what I find funny? The fact that you sat at a table with your fiancé while she had a human being chained up, and you said and did nothing.”

He gazed at me, surprised and then said, “I beg your pardon. The people I rule over have the right to make their own choices. I don’t believe it was my place to say or do anything. I can’t interfere with the way my fiancé chooses to treat her servant especially when she did nothing illegal.”

Any hopes of trying to redeem the King was lost when those words left his mouth. Whoever was in charge of the mating system had made a mistake. There was no way I could be mates with someone like him.

“Illegal? You know that’s the problem when the laws protecting human servants are written by imbecile lycans like yourself. But that’s beside the point. Saying that you can’t interfere is a whole load of bullshit. You didn’t want to interfere. And don’t you rule over the humans too? Don’t we then deserve freedom of choice as well? Because if you really cared about us having the freedom to choose then you wouldn’t have sentenced us all to servitude so many centuries ago as punishment. I thought that perhaps there was something salvageable in you, but I see now that there’s nothing. You see humans the way the rest of your kind does. As things-”

“Now that’s untrue Ariya! I have no problem with humans, in fact I’m very fond of them!” he said, trying to justify himself. But it only made him sound more foolish.

“Fond? You’re fond of us. If you were truly fond of us, you would have said something to your fiancé about the way she treated the human destined to serve under he entitled feet. No, if you were truly fond of us, King Nicholas, you would have put an end to our punishment of servitude a long time ago. We don’t want your fondness; we aren’t your pets. What we want is to not be your lowly servants, because we’re so much more than that. It’s as simple as that. And if you can’t understand that well then, I’m afraid that you and I will be on opposite sides of a fence centuries in the making.” I then scoffed as I thought about what he’d said earlier, “Your protection… your majesty, I wouldn’t need your protection if you and the rest of the lycan Kings and Queens had actually gotten off of your high horses and seen all of the damage the five of you caused for a war waged so many years ago. Tell me, what sins have I committed towards you, that I need to be punished for by serving under you?”

He stared at me in silence. That’s when I saw the look of nonchalance disappear from his eyes and transform into one of guilt. But it appeared and then disappeared so quickly, I swore I’d imagined it. He then shifted in his seat and looked away from me. He looked so small in character now, as though I’d taken all of his status and power and rendered it useless.