Meeting my mate - and his family

Ivy P.O.V.

The guests have been here for a day now, or so the gossiping girls in the kitchen says. I wouldn’t know day from night if it was not for them. I can hear them through the door of my room. There has been no one here to see me. Well, almost no one. The King was here earlier to give me another beating and tell me how much he hates me and is going to enjoy breaking me even more. He is touching me in places he should never touch. Places that are sacred to the person the Goddess would pair me with. But he doesn't care. My feeble attempts to push him off me has him laughing in my face. 

“Oh, Ivy. I am going to take great pleasure in breaking you. I am going to do all the things to you I can’t do to Ashti. I have so many ideas and toys I always wanted to use, and now you are going to be the one to fulfill that dream.” He licks my dirty face, licking my ear and pinching my breast, before slapping me across my already blue and yellow beaten face. 

“You are just a dirty horny whore! Just like your slutty mother.” He says with disgust as he leaves the room again. I am actually uncertain if he was here this morning or last night. Or maybe both? Time flows together. 

Raven keeps talking to me, trying to console me and tell me we will break free from this hellhole one day. She is certain the Goddess would never have given her to me if it wasn’t because our path held more than abuse and torment. The girls in the kitchen are still squabbling and squealing about the handsome King and his men, who are just as handsome as him. I roll my eyes and wince from the pain of the movement. I have not moved since the last time the King was here. It hurts too much, and I am too weak now. I’m hungry, thirsty and dirty. I feel violated and the thought of taking my own life just to escape and ruin his dream of breaking me sounds more and more possible. 

‘We need to hang in there, doll. I feel like something big is about to happen.’ 

‘Big how? Big as in the King officially rapes me and blames it on me? Or big as in someone saves us from this living nightmare?’

‘The last.’ I mentally perk up at that statement. 

‘What are you not telling me, Raven?’

‘I don’t know for sure, but since yesterday I have felt like he is close.’ 

‘He as in our mate?’

‘Yes.’ I sigh inwardly. I don’t have the energy to make the sound out loud, that is how much I am weakened. 

More time goes by. I still don’t quite know how much, but at some point the atmosphere in the kitchen changed. The busy and loud workplace is eerie silent, and all of the sudden my door is thrown off its hinges. Someone growls fiercely, sending a child down my spine, and then I am lifted up into strong careful arms. 

“What the fuck happened to her?” Someone says into the silent room, but no one answers. The one who is holding me growls fiercely again. 

“Answer the Beta!” He commands, and damn that voice. 

“Your Grace, she is not worth the aggravation. She is just a house slave.” One of the kitchen maids says with snide. I know her malice is directed towards me, but my savior is having absolutely none of that. 

“The fuck you mean slave?” The one from before asks, and this time it’s the cook answering. 

“Beta, she is an abomination. A cross between two species. The King hides her away to hide his shame, but trust me, everything that has happened to her is not her fault. She is a kind girl, and she deserves to be set free. However, that is not how our laws work. She is forbidden and should never have been born, so she is enslaved to her family until she dies of age.” She says, trying to tell the truth, speak on my behalf, but also tone down what has happened to me. One of the girls laughs.

“She is a wicked girl, cook. She deserves everything she got and more. I heard the King is thinking of turning her into his personal slave, if you catch my drift. Queen Ashti will not like that at all. She’ll be dead before the year is ending. Either by her own hands or the Queens.” She laughs again, but it’s cut short by a slap. I can hear the hand hit her cheek and her laughs turn to a screech. 

“Quit you insolent girl! Don’t listen to her, your Grace, Beta. She doesn’t know what she is saying.” The kitchen maid protested. 

“But! I heard him! This morning he was in there tormenting her again and telling her what I just said. He wants to experiment on her. He was touching her here and here.” She must have pointed, and that I couldn’t see, but I could feel the anger vibrating off of the one holding me. 

“Your Grace, perhaps taking her back to the King and her Grace? Aunt Isa can heal the girl, and we can get to the bottom of this?” 

“I already mind-linked my son to meet us. He is in a meeting with the King about a possible alliance between the Princess and him. They are very keen to keep us occupied. Maybe this is the reason.” The one holding me says, moving into the hallway. I have one eye slightly open, and the man moves with so much consideration, but it still hurts like hell. I try to keep it inside, but I can’t all the time and he apologizes over and over again. 

“Don’t worry little one, we got you know.” He says, as there are running feet in the hallway. Someone is rushing to us, and then I feel Raven go nuts in my head. 

‘Mate, mate, mate.’ She howls running in circles. I tense in the arms of my savior, while he stops dead in his tracks. The rushing feet have come to a halt, and then the entire hallway shakes with the outburst from the owner of the rushing feet.

“Son, what..” 

“MATE!” He roars, anger vibrating from all directions now. I shake in fear. These men are so much more dangerous and fearsome than the King. Are they angry with me for being mated to one of them? Which one is it? The one with the running feet of course, and it’s not the one who is holding me. 

“Isaiah, we need to get her your mother. I can carry her. I’m not sure it’s a good idea.. Oh for Goddess sake, boy!” I feel a shift, and then I’m in the arms of someone else. The electric current pierce my skin everywhere we have contact. I turn my head slightly, forcing my tired eyes to open. They look up into the impossible green orbs of my dream guy. Is he real? How the hell is he real? He is my dream guy. He is not supposed to be freaking real. 

“Don’t worry, little faerie, we are almost at my quarters. My mother will help you!” He says in a tender voice, rushing with careful movements towards his destination. I can’t find the words to speak, and besides my mouth is too dry to even try. I just lay still in his arms, enjoying the feeling of him in real life. 

I must have dozed off because the next thing I know someone is yelling at someone else and calling them absolutely incompetent. I feel something soft underneath me, and I realize I am in a bed. How did I get into bed? Who’s bed? Is it the Queen yelling? I listen. No, it doesn’t sound as annoying as Ashti. Then who? 

I turn my head, opening my eyes and looking for the voice. A woman is yelling at a castle staff member. The man is looking properly offended and scared at the same time. He keeps apologizing to the woman, but she just scoffs and throws him out. 

“And if the King wants to see the poor girl, he can wait until she can consent to such! She is MY care now, and you are not going to do shit about, UNDERSTOOD?” She roars, and even Raven submits to her authority. She turns with lightning eyes, which turns soft and warm the moment she notices I’m awake. 

“Oh no! I hope I didn’t wake you just now. Isaiah will never forgive me if I woke you.” She says with a smile, walking to the bed and sitting down beside me on it. “I’m Isabella, Isaiah’s mom. And who might you be?” She asks, and I swallow. My mouth is still very dry. “Oh my.” She gives me a glass with a straw, helping me to drink. I gulp down the cool water, swelling in the feeling of finally wetting my throat. 

“Thank you.” I say with a hoarse voice. I haven’t spoken a word in at least one day, and without food or drink. I wonder how long I would have lived if they hadn’t found me. How did they find me? “Who are you?” I ask, and she gives me a confused look. 

“I’m your mate's mother. Who are you?” I pale. 

“Who is my mate?” I ask instead of answering, and she sighs. 

“The King of werewolves.” I pale even more. 

“I’m named Ivy. My mom named me, and I am nothing and no one.” I answer finally and her eyes darken. 

“That is not true, is it? You are the daughter of the first Queen, born a hybrid between wolf and fae. Do you have a wolf counterpart?” I nod, my eyes stinging with unshed tears. I’m waiting for the disgust to take over her face, waiting for the judgment of my pedigree but nothing happens. She just looks at me, waiting for my answer. 

“Her name is Raven, Queen Isabella.” I answer, and Raven insists on me calling her by title. She recognizes the aura of the Royal Lady, and I feel very in awe over being in her presence. 

“You call me Isa, Isabella or mom. I want nothing of those ridiculous formalities. You are family Ivy!” She says with a passion and I like her instantly. 

“So, are you going to tell how you became so.. This?” She asks, gesturing to all of me with her hands. I close my eyes for a moment before shaking it. 

“Ivy, you are safe!” 

“You will leave, and I..” 

“Will leave with us! You are mated to my son, and he is not going anywhere without you. Even if he has to do it against your father, so be it.” I open my eyes again, and am just about to answer her initial question when there’s a careful knock on the door. Isabella stands up to open, and the young man from my dreams, Isaiah, walks in. His intense eyes find me at once and they also soften. 

“Will you please give us a minute, mom?” He asks, and she nods. She smiles at me, trying to reassure me, but it really does nothing. Raven is beside herself with happiness that our mate is here. I try to keep her, as well as myself, calm.  

“Be careful. I healed her, but she is weak and needs time.” 

“I know, I just want to talk to her.” His intense eyes never leave me, although he is speaking to his mother. I feel every fiber in my body reacting to that heated gaze, and I swallow slowly. Is he here to tell me he prefers my sister, or is he here to take me away? Maybe he’ll take me away, only to imprison me again? I have no idea how werewolf mates work. But I have heard rumors, and Goddess I hope they are true!